Revolver malfunctions
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Bailey Boat
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The only "malfunctions" I'm aware of are either user induced (short stroking the trigger) or an ammunition issue (bad primer, no powder charge)
That is assuming that the revolver is in good working order to begin with.
That is assuming that the revolver is in good working order to begin with.
Assuming the gun's in good working order, the most common type of malfunctions arise from buildup of crud on the front and/or rear of the cylinder, or under the ejector star.
Mechanically, the most common malfunctions can be traced back to either a loose ejector rod or loose strain screw. A gun in "good working order" ought not have these problem, though.
Beyond this, since they're mechanical devices, there are a myriad of ways a revolver can stop working, but fortunately, they're pretty rare. Below's a link to a thread on the topic.
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-198482.html
Mechanically, the most common malfunctions can be traced back to either a loose ejector rod or loose strain screw. A gun in "good working order" ought not have these problem, though.
Beyond this, since they're mechanical devices, there are a myriad of ways a revolver can stop working, but fortunately, they're pretty rare. Below's a link to a thread on the topic.
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-198482.html
The chances of a revolver crapping out RIGHT when you need it is extremely small.
It can't have a feeding or ejection problem while you are shooting it, those are taken care of before and after the festivities. And, that is where an auto can fail. It can jam on round one-two-three etc. (of course, an auto may jam on round 13 out of the same magazine..so, you are already ahead of the revolver after TWO reloads. During the reload, the revolver can have a problem. Case slips under the star, grit under the star, short stroke of the ejector rod.)
It doesn't care if you have a crappy grip, upside down or sideways.
IF it worked the last time you pulled the trigger and, if its clean, the odds are astronomically high that it will fire the next time you pull the trigger. The majority of revolver problems are a cumulative effect of shooting it, getting dirty, things unscrewing etc.
That said, a part can break at any given moment. That can happen to any mechanical device. The odds of that happening during the six rounds you need to defend yourself? Again, pretty remote.
It can't have a feeding or ejection problem while you are shooting it, those are taken care of before and after the festivities. And, that is where an auto can fail. It can jam on round one-two-three etc. (of course, an auto may jam on round 13 out of the same magazine..so, you are already ahead of the revolver after TWO reloads. During the reload, the revolver can have a problem. Case slips under the star, grit under the star, short stroke of the ejector rod.)
It doesn't care if you have a crappy grip, upside down or sideways.
IF it worked the last time you pulled the trigger and, if its clean, the odds are astronomically high that it will fire the next time you pull the trigger. The majority of revolver problems are a cumulative effect of shooting it, getting dirty, things unscrewing etc.
That said, a part can break at any given moment. That can happen to any mechanical device. The odds of that happening during the six rounds you need to defend yourself? Again, pretty remote.
I’ve advised several friends and family who are new to firearms to consider a revolver for home defense primary because of the reduced likelihood of a failure. Buy a new revolver, shoot it a few times a year, clean it afterwards and the thing will almost certainly work when called upon.
CosmicCoder
New member
My primary "malfunction" with a revolver is running out of ammo.
lee n. field
New member
Peculiar to revovlers? A case can get stuck under the ejector star, preventing it from closing.
Crud can build up on the front of the cylinder, causing the cylinder to bind (not turn).
Common? Not especially, but it does happen.
Check out Grant Cunningham's blog and books: The Gun Digest Book of the Revolver and Defensive Revolver Fundamentals. (The latter book is less about revolvers than about personal defense. In it he has a rather different take than what one sees on internet gun fora on what we ought to be training for and how we ought to be training. I find it persuasive. But, what do I know?)
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Dfariswheel
New member
Probably the most common problem in revolvers is not holding the muzzle upright as you eject fired cases.
Not doing so may allow burned powder particles and other debris to get trapped under the ejector and prevent the ejector from fully seating in the cylinder.
This can cause sticky or difficult cylinder rotation and a hard trigger pull.
A sometime problem is usually only found in reloaded ammo, but a light weight revolver fired with heavy bullet hotter loads can pull bullets from the case and interfere with the cylinder rotating at all.
Again, usually a problem with reloads is a round without powder can push a bullet into the bore, blocking the barrel. With an auto this isn't a danger issue because the gun won't feed another round.
If you don't notice the problem in a revolver it's easy to just pull the trigger again and fire the next cartridge, damaging the gun.
However, if you have a revolver and ammo in good condition and don't allow debris under the ejector, the revolver is about as reliable as any firearm can be.
The NYPD used to call the revolver "Six for sure".
Not doing so may allow burned powder particles and other debris to get trapped under the ejector and prevent the ejector from fully seating in the cylinder.
This can cause sticky or difficult cylinder rotation and a hard trigger pull.
A sometime problem is usually only found in reloaded ammo, but a light weight revolver fired with heavy bullet hotter loads can pull bullets from the case and interfere with the cylinder rotating at all.
Again, usually a problem with reloads is a round without powder can push a bullet into the bore, blocking the barrel. With an auto this isn't a danger issue because the gun won't feed another round.
If you don't notice the problem in a revolver it's easy to just pull the trigger again and fire the next cartridge, damaging the gun.
However, if you have a revolver and ammo in good condition and don't allow debris under the ejector, the revolver is about as reliable as any firearm can be.
The NYPD used to call the revolver "Six for sure".
Revolver Burps
Aside from an occasional oddball issue that required return to the factory, pretty much the only reliability problems I've had were with Smith & Wesson revolvers' trigger return when firing fast DA strings...and they were all self-induced with the installation of reduced power rebound springs.
I've long since abandoned the practice.
Others that I've seen stemmed from someone filing the point off the strain screws to get lighter trigger actions and got misfires for their efforts. It's the first thing that I check for after buying a used Smith...and about 25% of time, it's been done.
Aside from an occasional oddball issue that required return to the factory, pretty much the only reliability problems I've had were with Smith & Wesson revolvers' trigger return when firing fast DA strings...and they were all self-induced with the installation of reduced power rebound springs.
I've long since abandoned the practice.
Others that I've seen stemmed from someone filing the point off the strain screws to get lighter trigger actions and got misfires for their efforts. It's the first thing that I check for after buying a used Smith...and about 25% of time, it's been done.
Magnum Wheel Man
New member
I didn't see this mentioned... my only issue ever with a modern good quality service type revolver ( aside from the very rare bad priming compound on rim fire, & even rarer bad primer on center fire ) was with bullet "jump" on magnum revolvers ( where the energy of the combined recoil & mass of the bullet are stronger than the friction of the crimp, & the bullet moves forward, & locks up the cylinder ) I've personally only run into this with 454 Casull, but have also heard of it happening with light weight 357 magnum revolvers & hot loads ( which can be fixed by using a bullet with a deep crimp groove )
I also have both antique & specialty revolvers, my Dan Wesson's are running a tighter than normal barrel cylinder gap, & the cylinder can start scrubbing due to carbon build up ( which is easily remedied by either cleaning the cylinder face, or setting the gap bigger ) & I have had pop gun loads on some of my antique revolvers push the primers out slightly, without enough force for the case to push them back in, & had the exposed primers scrub on the recoil shield both of these conditions only "slow" the revolver down, not stop it completely
IMO, over all, a good quality service type revolver is still the most reliable of handguns, with the lowest percentage of letting you down...
I also have both antique & specialty revolvers, my Dan Wesson's are running a tighter than normal barrel cylinder gap, & the cylinder can start scrubbing due to carbon build up ( which is easily remedied by either cleaning the cylinder face, or setting the gap bigger ) & I have had pop gun loads on some of my antique revolvers push the primers out slightly, without enough force for the case to push them back in, & had the exposed primers scrub on the recoil shield both of these conditions only "slow" the revolver down, not stop it completely
IMO, over all, a good quality service type revolver is still the most reliable of handguns, with the lowest percentage of letting you down...
I put 5 or 6 boxes a week ...thru a variety of my S&W revolvers...mostly in
.357 mag ....but some in .22 / and .44 mag..... ----- and I've been shooting them off and on for over 50 yrs....
and I can't remember the last time I had a malfunction in one of my revolvers...
but I agree with the comments above ...it could happen - dirt, lack of maintenance, bad ammo, etc...
.357 mag ....but some in .22 / and .44 mag..... ----- and I've been shooting them off and on for over 50 yrs....
and I can't remember the last time I had a malfunction in one of my revolvers...
but I agree with the comments above ...it could happen - dirt, lack of maintenance, bad ammo, etc...
a properly maintained revolver should have a 99.9999% success rate. it doesn't take a gunsmith to maintain a revolver, just adequate cleaning.
no ammo issues except where they print v. where you aim.
a semi-auto properly maintained should be just as reliable depending on the brand, the ammo, the magazine, the shooter's grip, et cetera. a revolver much less so.
no ammo issues except where they print v. where you aim.
a semi-auto properly maintained should be just as reliable depending on the brand, the ammo, the magazine, the shooter's grip, et cetera. a revolver much less so.
Jhenry is right . Years ago one of the few powders for magnums was 2400. But it was impossible to burn all the powder. It takes only ONE unburned grains of 2400 under the extractor star to lock up a revolver !!! I tried to explain that to thos e seriously carrying but to no avail !
There can be numerous issues.
Failure to fire. Bad ammo or spring too weak (shouldn't have swapped out that factory spring).
Timing. Worn hand, ratchet, cylinder stop/bolt.
Barrel/Cylinder alignment. Each cylinder must be aligned to the barrel.
Trigger Return. Sticky trigger. Man, it could be so many things on an older Colt. On S&W, it could be someone clipped too many coils off the rebound slide spring.
And on, and on, and on.... (I'm running out of time).
Anyway, there's a good thread on inspecting revolvers before you buy it. I like and trust my revolvers.
Failure to fire. Bad ammo or spring too weak (shouldn't have swapped out that factory spring).
Timing. Worn hand, ratchet, cylinder stop/bolt.
Barrel/Cylinder alignment. Each cylinder must be aligned to the barrel.
Trigger Return. Sticky trigger. Man, it could be so many things on an older Colt. On S&W, it could be someone clipped too many coils off the rebound slide spring.
And on, and on, and on.... (I'm running out of time).
Anyway, there's a good thread on inspecting revolvers before you buy it. I like and trust my revolvers.
Sheikyourbootie
New member
Here are the malfunctions I've had on 3 different revolvers:
SW 340PD: 1. Ammo issue with bullet pull from recoil (Winchester White Box) locked up the cylinder 2. Internal lock engaged and locked up the shrouded hammer of the gun (solved with a lockectomy right at the range)
Ruger Service 6: Action locked up (the gun is a very high round count and had to be sent back to Ruger) They replaced some of the internal parts and the gun has been 100% ever since
SW 627: No problems until it was sent to gunsmith for a tune up and have the end shake fixed. An action job was done to lighten the pull for COMPETITION, when I just wanted to have him make sure it was suited for a SD weapon. The damn thing was giving me light strikes, even with Federal primers.
These are the only issues I've had with revolvers...high mileage ones, at that.
SW 340PD: 1. Ammo issue with bullet pull from recoil (Winchester White Box) locked up the cylinder 2. Internal lock engaged and locked up the shrouded hammer of the gun (solved with a lockectomy right at the range)
Ruger Service 6: Action locked up (the gun is a very high round count and had to be sent back to Ruger) They replaced some of the internal parts and the gun has been 100% ever since
SW 627: No problems until it was sent to gunsmith for a tune up and have the end shake fixed. An action job was done to lighten the pull for COMPETITION, when I just wanted to have him make sure it was suited for a SD weapon. The damn thing was giving me light strikes, even with Federal primers.
These are the only issues I've had with revolvers...high mileage ones, at that.
I had one failure occur many years ago while shooting my 2 1/2" Mod. 19. A piece of the jacket on 110 gr .357 shaved off against the forcing cone and locked the cylinder up. It never happened before or since, but I never again used anything other than 158 gr .357 or .38 special loads.