Got my first revolver. Took it to the range. No problem firing and hitting the target. except that maybe once every cylinder when I pull trigger back I get a click and no bang. Looking around the Internet, the revolvers don't have a trigger reset. I have to let go of the trigger all the ways back before I can fire again in DA. That would be disappointing in its own right but understandable. However, what happens is that cylinder spins and I lose a round until it rotates all the way back to the barrel. A few times I somehow managed to get two two fails in a row, but I'm not sure what I could be doing to cause that.
Is this normal, preventable on SW revolvers? At least I would like to not 'lose' a perfectly usable round due to a short-stroke.
Howdy, grasshopper, and welcome to the wonderful world of revolvers.
Yes, this is completely normal, there is nothing wrong with your revolver, you are just not used to shooting it yet.
Yes, there is a trigger reset. It is your trigger finger. Let's take a look inside a typical S&W revolver and I will explain what is happening.
When you pull the trigger of a revolver in double action mode, a whole lot of things are happening all at once inside the gun. The hand, or pawl is the shiny vertical piece. It pivots on the trigger, and when you pull the trigger, the hand rises, pushing the cylinder around. At the same time, a tab at the front of the trigger pulls down the piece in front of it, called the bolt, or cylinder stop. So as the trigger is pushing the hand up, it is also withdrawing the bolt into the frame, allowing the cylinder to rotate. The third thing that happens is the rear end of the trigger, pointed to by the bottom arrow, hooks under the double action sear, pointed to by the top arrow, forcing the hammer back. When the trigger has been pulled far enough, the rear end of the trigger slips past the double action sear. That allows the hammer to fall.
There is actually more stuff than that going on as you pull the trigger, but that is what concerns us here.
What is happening in your case is you are not allowing the trigger to return quite all the way forward. Normally, as you release the trigger, that tab at the rear of the trigger pivots the double action sear back into the hammer. This allows the trigger to go all the way forward, and as the trigger reaches its final resting point, the double action sear pops forward again ready to repeat the cycle. In your case you are stopping the trigger just short of its final position. It has not quite cleared the double action sear and the sear has not popped forward yet. So when you pull the trigger again, the hand goes up and bolt retracts, allowing the cylinder to rotate, but the rear end of the trigger is not under the double action sear, it is in front of the double action sear. So it slides past the double action sear and the hammer does not move back, but the cylinder rotates.
I assume from your comments, you are used to semi-automatic pistols. The mechanism in a double action revolver is much more complicated than a semi-auto, and they are very finely tuned. Everything has to function just right, or the gun will not operate properly. S&W double action revolvers have been working exactly as I explained since 1905. All you have to do is get used to allowing the trigger to return all the way forward, and the problem will go away.
Sorry for the grasshopper remark, I just could not resist.