Revolver DA pull 'tight' 1/2 the time

[Coronach]

I got a S&W .22 revolver used from a relative quite some time ago. The gun is a model 18-4. I had noted when I first got it that the gun, while in seemingly good shape, was rather cruddy and ill-cleaned (expected from this relative), so bad in fact that it you usually had to push rounds into the chambers and that extraction was sometimes a chore. The DA stroke was also sometimes REALLY tight.

I chalked this up to poor cleaning, gave the gun thorough scrubbing, stashed it in my safe and forgot about it for quite a while. I recently got it back out and took it to the range. The DA stroke is still kinda tight on about 1/2 of the chambers. Not really bad, but noticably stiffer on 3 of the 6 chambers, as if the cylinder was having difficulty turning on those 3.

Other than that the gun is a gem. Fine finish, no obvious visible problems, but the more I fiddle with it the more apparent it is that something is up, and I want to figure out what it is before it gets worse.

Thoughts?

Mike

 

[Chris McDermott]

If the gun really is clean (I've bought a couple over the internet that took me several sessions to clean up), see if the front of the cylinder is rubbing on the barrel, or the rear of the cylinder is rubbing on the recoil shield.
If the cylinder is repeatedly "swung" shut with a twist of your wrist instead of being firmly held in your hand and closed, you can bend the crane. If your relative didn't clean the gun, he might have also mechanically abused it.

 

[mikey357]

Yeah, lots of thoughts...hard to "diagnose" without seeing/handling the gun, but...let's give it a shot. My first suspicion would be that the ejector rod might not be straight...you can check this by "spinning" the cylinder with the revolver "open", i.e., with the cylinder out. A little run-out is okay, but if there's a VERY NOTICEABLE amount of "wobble", well...there you go! This particular problem is best left to someone who is intimately familiar with the S&W revo's...a gunsmith or "advanced hobbyist." As Chris McD suggests, the front of the cylinder could be "dragging" on the rear of the barrel...again, a problem best left to someone with more than just a passing knowledge of revos...my last "guess" would be the there is a "burr" or some trash on or near one of the "ratchet teeth" on the rear of the extractor...if its just DIRTY, you can clean it up yourself...if there is a burr(or burrs) present, again, seek competent help...let us know what you find out....mikey357

[Edited by mikey357 on 01-31-2001 at 09:11 PM]