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Old 08-14-2011, 05:12 PM
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Fastbolt Fastbolt is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ladidi1963 View Post
Yes!!!! I fire the first shot, the hammer stays back, but when I try to fire another shot, I get nothing...the trigger moves easy..so then I put the gun on safe and back to the firing position and I can shoot another round
If the trigger moves easily and freely through its normal arc, but the hammer isn't being released from the cocked position, then likely the drawer isn't being lifted so it engages the sear and can push it forward (which would push the nose out from under the hammer's single action notches, letting it fall forward to fire the gun).

The drawbar is tensioned upward at the tail by a spring & plunger located at the front, within a frame hole at the front of the trigger guard. Also, the disconnector has to rise and let the tail of the drawbar lift so it can be in the correct position to either engage with the hammer's double action notches (a sequenced set of notches), or push forward against the sear body in single action. Anything which prevents the drawbar from remaining firmly tensioned upward at the tail can create the potential for problems like this to occur.

Might be something worn or damaged. (An older drawbar can sometimes crack at a couple of spots after a lot of use.) There are some other small springs and parts which can affect the proper movement of the drawbar, sear and hammer, too.

A last couple of questions ... Does this happen with just ONE magazine, or with more than one magazine? If the ejector were to slip off the top of the left mag lip, it might result in the mag safety mechanism preventing the drawbar from engaging the sear. Does the tip of the ejector appear shorter than normal (broken)? The older ejectors had shorter tips and a sharper angle under the tip (which could create the potential for a stress riser and breakage). The newer ejectors have longer tips (for faster ejection, especially with hotter loads) and a curved angle without the sharp corner (to help prevent a stress riser). Picture of them: (Old part on bottom. You have to look closely to see the corner versus the curve. The shorter tip is fairly easy to distinguish.)


Might even be caused by a lot of accumulated crud and fouling carried into the working parts by excessive amounts of solvents or lubricants over the years, too.

I had a relatively new 4566TSW brought to me for the hammer occasionally following the slide forward during shooting. The fellow who had been using it for 2-3 years had somehow managed to let enough excessive solvents & lubricant flow into the inner fire control parts (where it shouldn't be), repeatedly, carrying fouling with it, and it had solidified into a nasty mess that was hampering the freedom of movement of the sear, preventing it from snapping back under the single action notches on the hammer, to hold it cocked during shooting. None of the parts appeared worn or damaged. Once I gave the frame a quick, complete cleaning ... removing all the crud ... the gun ran perfectly normally.

I've also seen my fair share of older 3rd gen pistols have poor, improper or simply neglected cleaning practices result in parts becoming "frozen" due to accumulated sludge carried into the frame or slide by excessive liquids, gathering where it isn't intended to flow under normal use.

Your gun can't be properly diagnosed online, as much as you and others might wish that it could be.

It really needs to be examined by a gunsmith familiar with 3rd gen S&W's, a factory or authorized service center technician, or even a certified LE armorer if you happen to know one (harder to find nowadays because of the decrease in 3rd gen guns being found in LE service).
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Last edited by Fastbolt; 08-14-2011 at 05:19 PM.
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