L-Frame S&W being finicky w/ cylinder closing...

G

Gewehr98

New member
My beloved 696 (No-Dash) has begun to get very balky when I open and close the cylinder lately. Opening is no big deal, but when I try to close the cylinder, it fights me the last little bit, and when I have all 5 chambers loaded, it's even tougher. I keep the gun spotless, and at first I thought maybe there was some dirt under the extractor star. It's spotless in there, too.

As I rock the gun backwards and forwards, I do hear something "loose" near the hammer, trigger, or rebound slide area when the sideplate's off - but nothing's visible so far. Maybe when I remove the hammer and trigger I'll figure out what it is. The gun does look bone dry inside, so it'll get cleaned and lubed, but I'm still chasing down the reason for the hard cylinder closing.

I'll dig through my stack of books in the garage to find my trusty Kuhnhausen manuals, but in the meantime, has anybody else experienced this with the stainless L-frame family?

The gun is one of the older variants that still has the hammer-mounted firing pin. The only thing I've noticed so far internally is that the hand has a goodly amount of scratching on the sideplate side of the frame window as it moves in and out, like it had been binding over time.

:confused:
 
Is the ejector rod screwed in tightly? The crane is not bent or binding?

The ejector rod locking bolt might need a little oil.

Where exactly is the binding taking place, front or back of the cylinder?
 
The crane looks nice and straight...

And it should be, I don't let anybody "Hollywood" the cylinder closed.

I did notice that the tightness happens at the ejector rod locking bolt end, so that may indeed be the long pole in the tent.

Actually, the whole gun is bone dry, I don't even see any traces of factory S&W lube. In addition, I see traces of rust inside near the rebound slide and cylinder stop.

A general cleaning and lubing looks to be in order. I will still do a complete disassembly and inspection, because I can't find the source of the small part rattle. It's driving me nuts. :D
 
Spray some Breakfree or WD40 onto the ejector rod locking bolt and push it in several times, that should help.
The rub marks on the hand are not unusual, they are particularly bad on floating hands. Lube it up well and it should also improve the trigger pull.

It is a misperception that stainless steel does not rust, I have seen rust spots on a S&W M65 and had some appear on a 686 myself.
 
Yeah, she's bone dry.

And the annoying rattle that's been bugging me?

There's a trigger overtravel rod/pin inside the rebound slide spring. So a dab of Lubriplate on that pin will keep it quiet, yet still working the way it's supposed to. :D

Working with the ejector rod locking bolt right now. It's STIFF, and even with the soaking of WD-40, it's not moving in and out very smoothly. I hope I don't have to drift out the retaining pin and disassemble that. Is the small hole at the bottom front of the underlug designed for flushing that out?
 
The "rattle" is probably the hammer block safety. Your hearing is better than mine if that bothers you, but you can put a dab of light grease in there if it really worries you.

Jim
 
No, it was the trigger overtravel stop pin.

The hammer block safety came out with the sideplate. I had to go by a process of elimination. The S&W exploded parts diagram doesn't even show the little guy. The only reason I figured it out was because I had fabricated and installed a similar part for my PPC/Steel Challenge race revolver, and when I got the rebound slide and spring assembly out of this 696 (after basically everything else), there it was, rattling around loose as a goose inside the spring.

I was getting frustrated working out the little bits of grunge and grime that came up with the ejector rod locking bolt every time I moved it in and out. The WD-40 wasn't doing the job, it acted like it was some sort of slow hydraulic buffer.

I took an eyedropper and used a few drops of pure ethanol. Voila! Dirty black ethanol dripped out the underlug drain hole within seconds. I kept flushing and working the locking bolt until the ethanol dripped clear. Now the crane and cylinder open and close like greased lightning. I'm finishing up that end of the gun by flushing it with BreakFree, then I'll clean and lube the lockwork.

PzGren, thanks for the hint on the ejector rod locking bolt. That's one place I probably wouldn't have looked for trouble! :D
 
Your hearing is better than mine if that bothers you, but you can put a dab of light grease in there if it really worries you.
Click to expand...

A couple of boxes of ammo without any hearing protection will take care of it too.:D :D
 
My hearing is actually quite crappy.

It's particularly bad in the 5000Hz range. I've lost enough hearing flying B-52H and WC-135 jets over the last 20 years that when I retired last May the VA granted me 10% disability just for the hearing loss and tinnitus. 8 screaming Pratt & Whitney TF-33 turbofans have an uncanny way of getting through both foam earplugs and David Clark headsets and ruining your hearing.

The rattle was more felt than heard, as I tipped the muzzle of the empty revolver up and down. It was driving me nuts. My PPC/Steel Challenge K-Frame race revolver didn't do that, but I used a dab of grease on the overtravel rod when I installed it.

Now I wonder if the 696 trigger overtravel rod was something the previous owner installed, or if S&W did that at the factory. :confused:
 
Glad to hear it's fixed!
I am still waiting for my hand from S&W to change out the floating hand in my 629-2 Classic Hunter. I had to canniblize my 625 for a trigger assembly and hand.

Is your hand a floating hand, since you mentioned drag marks on it?
 
Depends what you mean by floating.

It is spring-loaded into the cylinder star by means of a tiny coil spring inside the trigger. I used a dab of TW-25B to minimize the wear it exhibits as it moves in the recoil shield window. (Love that stuff!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top