Smith Model 19 problem

M

MSD Mike

New member
I have recently developed a problem on a Model 19-3 that I have. When shooting with single or double action the cylinder will rotate past lockup and stop between chambers. This will occur about 50% of the time. This started rather suddenly and of course I stopped shooting it immediately. All further testing was done dry firing. If you use your finger to cause a bit of drag on the cylinder it seems ok. I have checked are the notches in the cylinder and the cylinder stop. The notches in the cylinder look fine. The stop shows some wear but I don’t think it is worn out. The stop spring seems to have normal tension when compared to my other K-Frames but I have no real way to measure the spring tension. Looking at the hand and ratchet I don’t see anything that stands out. The revolver is clean inside and out. This is a revolver that I have had for some time and shot a lot so I am sure something has worn out but I am having a hard time telling what. I will send it to S@W if I have to but would like to have a go at it myself if possible.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks
Mike
 
Sounds like the stop spring. With the cylinder open and hammer pulled back take a pencel and push on the stop and see if it will move down or lock up.


Jim
 
If the cylinder is over-rotating, then it may be that the cylinder stop isn't popping up in time. It may just need a thorough cleaning to remove any residue that is gumming up the action and thereby impeding the cylinder stop movement.

You said the gun is clean. I take it the cylinder notches are clean too? If they're filled up, there's nothing for the cylinder stop to engage.

Try this with an empty weapon. Insert six snap caps. Hold the gun such that you can see the movement of the cylinder stop. Double action the trigger slowly. The cylinder stop should drop before the hand engages the ratchet to rotate the cylinder. When the hand rotates the cylinder about 1/2 to 2/3 the way through (cop guns are 1/2 way to ensure lock-up; non-LEO guns don't need to be so fast and it tends to ruin the finish), the cylinder stop should pop back up through its window (the hole in the frame for the stop to retract through and pop up through is called a window in S&W parlance). Do it slowly to see if it works. Then cycle it quickly.

Get back to us and report what you have seen.
 
Thanks for the input guys, it is over rotating. The gun is clean including the notches in the cylinder. No buildup inside either, I periodically disassemble to detail clean and in this case I popped off the side plate to make sure it was clean. I have checked to make sure the stop moves freely. I will perform the other tests and let you know what the outcome is.

Thanks
Mike
 
I think I have it sorted out. When cycling the action the cylinder stop would actually drop below the window in the frame allowing it to intermittently snag on the edge of the window and not return to the lockup position. Of course the cylinder would just skip right by. The ball on the cylinder stop was not particularly worn so I disassembled the revolver down to the trigger and cylinder stop so I could watch what was happening. It seems as if a rough spot had developed on the trigger hook and would catch the cylinder stop right before releasing it and pull it below the window in the frame. The trigger hook would pull the stop down to a normal position near the bottom of the window then right before releasing the stop it would catch the stop and pull it down out of the window in the frame so it could hang up. I polished the rough spot on the trigger hook and it seems to have resolved the problem. No longer pulls the stop to low and the revolver locks up every time (at least when dry firing). It was kind of dangerous actually. I used spent rounds to dry fire when testing and several ended up with an off center dent in the primer. I looks like the revolver could have easily fired when out of time. I will be very careful when initially testing.
Hopefully I didn’t pull a bubba job but it ran through 100 dry fires with dummy rounds to simulate cylinder weight and it worked every time.

Thanks
Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top