Revolver problem, need input

[iamhistory]

So I had a group of friends over to the house for a shoot last week as we do every few weeks. One of the fellas has never attended our "shoot club" and is not proficient with firearms but is taking steps to learn, asked if he could bring his revolver, but there was something wrong with it and it needed to be looked at.

I took a look at it to see if I could help determine what the problem is. It's a S&W .357 mag, I forgot to get the model # but it looked like a model 27 to me after he left and I thought about it. The cylinder will not release when the thumbpiece is pushed forward. The cylinder sticks badly and with some fumbling with it, it will finally release. The revolver cycles normally, it fires normally, and otherwise seems to be fine. Except for the thumbpiece not releasing the cylinder.

It does not appear to be a cleaning issue and I myself sprayed it with cleaner and cleaned it up a bit to see if it would help. It did not. I then took the thumbpiece off and it appeared to have a lot of play in the movement of the mechanism but didn't actually moving anything to allow the cylinder to clear and release out. It did not feel "springy" like moving a thumbpiece in a normally functioning revolver. It felt like something was detached or a spring was weak or broken. There wasn't the typical snap in the movement of the thumbpiece as you would expect to feel.

Not having any experience in revolver gunsmith work, I suggested he take it to a specific smith in our area and told him I would look into the possible issues, that I could speculate but that wouldn't do him any good. I wasn't going to take the face plate off of his gun on the tailgate of my truck either just to look in, scratch my head and say nope can't help you. So now I post my thread to get some input from those who know more than me. What are the possible issues with this revolver?

If you need clarification on the details, say so and I'll try to give specifics.

Thanks!!

[Noah_Zark]

On S&W revolvers when the cylinder release is pressed forward and the cylinder is difficult if not impossible to swing out from the frame, it is a 99.9% sure sign that the ejector rod is unscrewing.

The rod is hollow, and the front end of the rod is actually part of the front cylinder retention system -- the hollow end of the rod captures the spring-loaded taper pin in the barrel lug to help latch the cylinder in the frame. The center pin in the ejector rod is independent of the rod, and it holds the cylinder latched at the rear. When the cylinder release is pressed, the release extension contacts the center pin and pushes it forward, clearing the frame at the rear, and pushing the taper pin at the front out of the hollow ejector rod, allowing the cylinder to swing free.

In the case of your friend's revolver, the rod has unscrewed a bit, and has moved forward on the taper pin. The taper pin cannot be pushed out enough to force the taper pin forward enough to clear the ejector rod, and the cylinder assembly is either difficult to remove, or impossible to remove.

'Smiths use a tiny jeweler's screwdriver to force the taper pin forward while pressing the cylinder release forward simultaneously to release the cylinder. Then to repair the problem, the ejector rod is rotated COUNTER-clockwise to retighten it. The ejector rod is LEFT HAND threaded on S&Ws pretty much since the post-WWII era. DO NOT USE PLIERS! I remove the cylinder assembly from the frame and use a vise with rubber-padded jaws to clamp on the ejector rod and I gently rotate the cylinder to tighten loose ejector rods. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN; the threads are very fine and will strip. The threads are likely oily and your friend should retighten the rod every several cylinders full of ammo. I do NOT recommend disassembly of the cylinder assembly if you have never done it before. The ideal fix is degreasing the threads before retightening, and a 'smith can do that pretty cheap, maybe $25-$35 tops. USE NO LOCKITE.

Best,

Noah

[ROBOWOP]

Yep,probably what Noah said.If it's still opening,DON'T CLOSE IT!!! It can be a real pain to get it open once the rod unscrews far enough.I usually wedge a piece of nylon on both sides of the rod,then pull the hammer back until it hits just the right spot that I can rotate the cylinder backwards.When I get it open,I have a tool to tighten it.Brownell's makes one that looks like a knob,I have one I made that looks more like a little wrench.The padded vise is okay,though..As far as other problems,it's a pretty simple setup,can't really immagine other problems.

[brian]

just agreeing with all the above.

[iamhistory]

Thanks for the input guys. Sounds pretty straightforward and easy. Hopefully we can get together again soon and I can try and tighten it for him. If I tell him what the deal is, he probably will have no idea what I'm talking about. (we are working on that tho.)

I will take another look, closer on the area you point out. Hopefully that is what the deal is and we can get him squared away.

Much appreciated. I'll let you know how it turns out but it might be a while. I wont see him again for a few weeks probably.

[mjporreca]

Midway USA has a great video online for servicing a S&W revolver. It's not hard to open it up and take a look at what's going on.

That said, I still take it to someone I know who has more experience than me either a shop or a gunsmith I know.

[Rundownfid]

Did anyone mention that they usually screw in backwards Not sure why, but trying to tighten up that rod reminded me of the first time I changed a tire on an old Dodge, ugh.

[thebearpack]

I just wanted to throw out there how lucky we are to have Noah around! Seriously, I'm always amazed at your detail and knowledge. Great info.

[iamhistory]

Revolver is Fixed!

It was exactly what Noah originally pointed out. Tightened things up, gave another once over and the cylinder now swings out like it was new.

Thank you fellas. You saved my friend some money and much anguish over his revolver not working properly.

And on a pro-gun/teachable moment note........I told him what was suggested and how to do it. He then fixed it himself and as he did so he scared the hell out of his anti-gun wife as she did not know he was in the backroom handling the revolver when she came out of the shower.

After she screeched in surprise, he took the opportunity to show her the revolver was repaired and pointed out how it operates. She actually took the gun in her hands (she's a bit of a high maintenance liberal drama queen), operated it, listened to some instruction and even asked a few questions. I was very surprised!

Her comment was she is still not thrilled it's in the house but she's more comfortable with it now. I told my friend that she'll be damn thrilled if she ever needs to use it (living in the city in a "used to be a nice neighborhood" w/ two little kids) and now that he has gotten her at least that far, he can take more and more baby steps towards her being less anti-gun.

She is so anti-gun she will not allow him to take their son out to shoot a .22. But, we are working on that too.

[Noah_Zark]

Revolver is Fixed!

It was exactly what Noah originally pointed out. Tightened things up, gave another once over and the cylinder now swings out like it was new.

Your invoice is in the mail.

Seriously, very glad it's fixed, and also glad to help.

Noah