Hello,

Can anyone link me to a video or pdf manual on disassembling a pre-Model 10 cylinder?

I recently used a video on YouTube to disassemble and reassemble the revolver innards, and was satisfied with it, but the video didn't have anything on how to take down the cylinder.

I had taken my revolver shooting some weeks ago, and when cleaning, noticed that the cylinder was a lot harder to swing out and also push back into place. While in battery, the trigger pull in both DA and SA are the same as before, and the cylinder rotates fine from one chamber to the next, but pushing the release latch forward and singing out the cylinder takes more force than before.

I've cleaned under the ejector star, oiled the cylinder pin front and back, oiled the latch at the front where it locks at the front of the ejector rod, but it still feels sticky. Any help would be appreciated!

Larry Potterfield Midway USA has a cylinder disassembly video

I do believe your problem has nothing to do with the cylinder internals. The exact same problem has happened to me too. The screw on the right side directly above the trigger area is just too tight. Try loosening that screw just a 1/10 of a turn and I bet your cylinder will swing out just as easily as it used to. That particular screw is the only screw of the side plate screws that should not be torqued all the way down. Just snug, maybe 10-15 ft. Lbs. Of torque is all that is needed. Try it and see

Classic symptoms of an unscrewed extractor rod. Just turn it in - probably a right-hand thread. Keep the cylinder closed. The reason the thread was later changed by S&W to left hand was because of the unscrewing problem. No need to disassemble anything.

DWalt,

Just to be clear, a right hand thread means the traditional "righty tightey, lefty loosey," correct? So a left hand thread means "lefty tightey, righty loosey?"

What's a good way to tighten the ejector rod without marring or worse, torquing so hard that something gets bent? TIA

PS - my ejector rod is the kind that has a knob at the end, such that it doesn't allow the yoke to be simply slid off the cylinder/ejector rod assembly. Not sure if this affects anything.

If I understand what you’re describing (yoke not swinging freely), then I think daddio202 is on the right track. The forward side plate screw does the double duty of retaining the yoke and is binding on it. That screw was hand fitted at the factory. You probably put the wrong one back in that hole when you had the side plate off. Rather than leaving it loose (it will eventually fall out), swap them until you get the right one. Happens to everybody at least once. Next time, use a little cardboard template to poke the screws into as you disassemble.
Good shootin’,
Doug

The sticky unlatching of the cylinder could very well be from the extractor rod being loose, but surprised no one mentioned the sticky rotation of the yoke could be due to crud on the yoke barrel (the part that pivots within the frame). Making sure that area is clean and lubricated is a good idea.

Most recommend putting empty brass in the charge holes and using a non-slip material like a small piece of leather to tighten the extractor rod (righty tighty). It doesn't take too much effort or movement to go from loose to tight. Please let us know what happens?

__________________
Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Hello all,

The yoke itself was not sticky - once the cylinder was unlatched and swung out, it wasn't sticky - it behaved like normal. The difficulty was in latching/unlatching the cylinder.

I did very slightly loosen the front side plate screw, as recommended, but this had no effect on the latching/unlatching. So, I suspected the problem was the ejector rod getting slightly unscrewed.

I proceeded to remove the front side plate screw, removed the cylinder and yoke, and then used a vise to unscrew and take down the cylinder. As DWalt suspected, it is a right-hand thread (righty tightey, lefty loosey). However, once I thoroughly cleaned up all the parts (there wasn't really much to clean, just old oil, not caked on gunk) I then screwed everything back together until tight. I wanted to make sure that maybe I could tighten it as much as possible without damaging it, so again, used the vise (padded with some very thin sheets of wood) to hold the ejector rod while I screwed on the cylinder filled with snap caps.

It went on easily, until it stopped, and at that point, applied some farmer torque (well, oil worker torque anyway - I'm not as strong as a farmer) to maybe take up any slight slack that was causing the problem. I was afraid to go much more because I didn't want the threads to get distorted, then I reassembled the yoke and cylinder into the frame.

It still feels like it doesn't want to freely unlatch and latch, but it does feel slightly like it is marginally better (but this light just ve wishful thinking?)

Does the extractor rod have a knob or a knurled tip?

It's both, I guess?

The extractor rod is knurled at the end, but is also flared out such that the yoke cannot be easily slipped off it once the crane/cylinder assembly is removed from the frame.

When assembling the extractor rod to the cylinder ejector please put 3 fired cases in every other chamber to help out the little pins that align the ratchet.

I suspect one of the following: the rod is a bit bent, the center rod is a bit dirty and sticky or the piece that moves in the lug under barrel is dirty and sticky, the bolt (piece operated by thumb piece) is dirty and sticky

So, I took out the cylinder again and tried to screw in the ejector rod some more. I did fill the chambers with snap caps to help brace the extractor star.

The cylinder was as tight as it is going to get, short of me putting a pipe wrench on the cylinder and REALLY putting some force on it (which I wasn't planning to do, anyway). I do not think I can tighten this thing up any more without damaging the threads on the center pin.

Upon reassembling, the cylinder does seem to work "normally," in that it appears to more freely latch and unlatch, but intermittently, it still feels sticky.

I've oiled up all the contact and locking points, and short of taking a file to either the center pin at the back of the cylinder, or the front of the ejector rod, I think this is the best I'll get.

FWIW I cannot honestly recall whether this problem was already present in this gun when i bought it. I bought it from a man who said it was his father's, and neither his father nor he had shot it much. I bought it because I liked the older Smith's, and it seemed like it indeed hadn't been shot much and was in overall great shape.

However, after I got it I mainly just put it in the safe and only took it out for cleaning. Again, I don't recall that the gun was hard to open (don't remember that it wasn't, either)