Took my 19-4 for a test drive. Big Surprise!

Have you checked the cylinder? I'll tell you why..........

First, take a look at your brass. Is the headstamp still distinct? Any signs of high pressure--cratering, ironing out the headstamp, pierced primer?

Next, check the cylinder. Are the chambers nice and clean?

One thing that will cause this, beside all of the other excellent reasons listed above, is that someone fired a lot of .38 Special in it, and did not properly clean the cylinder. This will leave a residue ring in each chamber that will cause high pressures upon firing.

If the gun is clean, then I would try firing some .38's myself. Use light ammo; maybe some target wadcutters. If the gun functions normally, send the ammo back to the manufacturer for testing.
 
Sorry for the previous, PigPen. I couldn't resist.

S&W's gunsmithing services seem to be located in the Performance Center now. 1-800-331-0852.

Good Luck!

Clemson
 
PigPen, sorry for your problems. I have owned five S&W revolvers, J- and K-frames, and never a problem with a one of them.

Believe me, S&W will make the situation right for you. Their customer service is very, very good, and quick, too. They had to repair my Model 41 TWICE, back-to-back, but were nice about it. I never paid a penny for any parts, labor, or shipping.
 
One LAST chance

Are all the holes the same size? SOMEONE could have either bulged a case or reamed a hole and allowed pressure to set back subsequent rounds.

Or it is CURSED.
 
Lavan, it does this when fired from different cylinders so I am assuming it is not just a one cylinder thing.

PigPen
 
Well how about did you measure ALL the holes?

I saw a Colt SAA that got rusted up a bit in the holes and the guy had HEAVILY spun some sort of abrasive and "cleaned" up the rust. Course he turned it into a "Colt .47" or so.

It COULD happen. Some extry polish and a good swab of cold blue and it would look normal.
 
I am guessing, but perhaps either the cases are setting back into the recoil shield due to dirty chambers or something on the cylinder is lacking sufficient clearance. I suspect the former.

I have had revolvers lock up on me when the chambers were dirty causing the cases to move backward when fired until they were firmly pressed against recoil shield. If the gun doesn't do this when dry firing, it must be something about live firing that causes problem. I don't know what that might be other than what I described.

Try a thorough cleaning of chambers and fire for effect again before returning to * or any other punctuation.
 
I had the same thing happen with my Model 19 last year. Turned out to be unburned powder in the action, and jammed under the extractor star.

I sent it back to Smith, and for $20 bucks or so, they returned it in like new condition. New springs were needed, throughly dis assembled and checked, a new part or so, and timed to meet specs. Great deal, and turn around was a week.
 
Burr

This happened to me with my first model 629 back in the mid 1980s. What caused it was a small hard to see burr on the extractor star. I took it to a smith and he filed it down in about five minutes. Never happened again.
A friend had a model 19 that locked up like that all the time , however. In his case it was because the old extractor rod head would loosen up from the recoil of the first shot....
 
PigPen, you didn't say what the primer looked like. Sometimes when the mainspring is too light (someone has replaced to get lighter trigger pull) this will allow the primer to flow back onto the firing pin and lock up the gun. This can also happen when a particular load is "too hot" for the gun. Does it do this with .38's?
 
I think someone sort of touched on this above, but I had what sounds like identical trouble with a NEW M19 years ago. The problem was a tiny burr around the firing pin hole. The gunsmith took a hard Arkansas stone (like used to sharpen knives) and smoothed the area in a few strokes, and it was fine thereafter. Until then, a primer would occasionally flow back into the firing pin hole burr, and the gun would "stick".

I've owned six M19's and my present M66 and only that one gun had the problem. No other S&W's I've owned had the problem, either. It was just a machining flaw that the quality control people should have caught and didn't. The ammo I was using was Remington 158 grain JSP, not even the high pressure 125 grain stuff, which I avoid in K-frames.

I really like the idea of checking the chambers to see if firing too many .38's without cleaning has "ringed" the chambers. Glad someone mentioned that. If there's burned-on crud there, you have a nasty cleaning job, but I'd check it before sending the gun off to the factory.

Keep us posted!

Lone Star
 
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