I bought it sight unseen - an old cop friend's neighbor had gotten it for his daughter, but the gun was plagued with sticky extraction. He sent it to Smith, and they returned it saying it was an obsolete gun and they wouldn't work on it.
I paid $450, thinking I could polish out the chambers a bit. First range visit I noticed the rounds dropped in very easily, and then stuck hard after firing. I worked the chambers over with some polishing compound and Q-tips, and followed with a little teflon spray, also applied lightly with a Q-tip.
I used shorts, subsonics, and standard velocity rounds. All stuck still, and could only be ejected by judicious whacks with a mallet.
I then looked at the letter that Smith had sent - they diagnosed oversized charge holes, and they had no replacement cylinder.
I would bet it was a little sticky when it was made, then a previous owner (not the guy I bought it from) got overzealous in polishing the chambers, thereby making it far worse.
I've got no complaints with the seller - he said it was sticky, and he included the letter. I should have asked him exactly what it said, but that's my fault, not his. (The gun was shipped from Idaho)
So I guess these are my options.
- Buy a replacement 63 cylinder from eBay, knowing I may be getting another problem child.
- Buy a replacement .22 mag cylinder, either stainless or blue. The cylinders are the same length, only the chambering is different. I know the .22 magnum bore is .224 and the .22 LR bore is .223, but I'm not going to worry about a thousandth of an inch. If I explode, I explode.
- Ream this cylinder out to .22 mag. I can get a reamer for about a hundred bucks, or try to find one to rent.
(Yes, I did check to see if it was already reamed out. No go on any .22 mag ammo I had.)
- Try to find a gunsmith to ream it out.
- Leave it as is and use the mallet.
It shoots great, other than this issue.
Your thoughts?
