locked cylinder on mod. pre 27 S&W

Aleck99 · #1 03-10-2012, 03:46 PM

Greetings...just getting back to let all of you...and the good samaritan who helped me, how things turned out with that jammed cylinder problem. I wrote then as "guest" but now I'm a member so you may not make the relationship right away.
Anyway, I took the pre 27 to a gun shop but they had no gunsmith on hand so I did not leave it. Digging further into finding a gunsmith was eddifying... they are like a scarce breed.
I did find one who did not know that on pre 27's the cylinder rod has a clockwise rotation. (I learned that on S&W forum myself)
Anyway, I had a short dialogue with that person and he said that all cyl. rods turn counterclockwise. When I disagreed he suggested I send the pistol to S&W.
Happily, I took my gun and left. After tinkering with the pistol myself I found that the rod, in closed cylinder position, was locked and in fooling with the cyl. release button...it came loose so that I could turn it clockwise with the tip of my finger. Blessed be...the cylinder popped out, I turned it further and it works better than when I started all this. Thr rod is at maximum tight and the cyl. is still a bit sticky so I cannot make any further adjustments on it but I'm glad to have it back to normal.

Green Frog · #2 03-10-2012, 08:54 PM

Glad things worked out for you, Aleck99. A worthwhile investment if you are going to be doing any home gunsmithing on S&W revolvers is a special tool to grasp that E-rod without scoring it. Then if you put empty cases in each chamber to protect the extractor, you can really crank down on tightening up the E-rod to the max so the problem doesn't re-occur soon (if at all.) That, along with a tool for the rebound block spring and good fitting screw driver tips for the various screws you will encounter and just a minimal amount of training, and you won't be subject to the vagaries of finding a competent smith for routine tasks. As for that minimal training, there are several good books and videos out there, and I would go to Brownell's for the specialized tools.

Regards,
Froggie

H Richard · #3 03-10-2012, 09:00 PM

Another thing to look at is under the extractor star. Any crud build up under there can cause a similar situation when loaded up. But, it would drag in (usually) only one area. Clean with solvent, soft brush and blow out with compressed air.

DCWilson · #4 03-10-2012, 09:21 PM

If you still feel a bit of a snag with the ejector rod screwed in tightly, it's possible something is keeping the center pin, which is actuated by the thumb release, from moving forward the last 1/128" needed to get the front locking pin completely out of the ejector rod barrel. This could be damage to the rear of the center pin (flattened) or the face of the bolt (dished) or even something inside the gun that prevents the bolt from going all the way forward -- maybe grime in the bolt channel or on the face of the bolt where it contacts the revolver frame behind the cylinder. I have seen all of these problems in guns I have worked with in the last few years.