I took my 25-3 to the indoor range today and shot a couple boxes of handloads. The good news is I found one that works well. Powder coated .454" sized #452664 over a near maximum fill of Unique worked very well.

The bad news: I got home and the latch does not release the cylinder. I went to the grocery store after the range visit and was inside for maybe 20 minutes on the way home. Maybe it's the temperature? The gun is quite cold. Letting it warm up now.

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Extractor rod loose?

How would I tell?

I have a 10-5 resists opening I imagine may be because the forward center pin latch is not being pushed forward enough. Some others might know the proper names.

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Maybe the revolver needs a bath to get rid of some old gummy lube under the side plate?Could be the bolt and spring gummed up?
With the stocks off place the 25-3 in a tub of #1 Kerosene for a day or two to dissolve to old lube,grit and grime.
I get my #1 Kerosene at Tractor Supply in 1 gallon jugs.
Light synthetic oils and lubes work best for me.

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It is coming loose at the forward location but not at the rear. I unloaded it (dumped the empties) at the range before putting it in my bag. All seemed normal then.

I had it backwards - it is hung up at the front latch. Stakeout might be right, I will try some Gun Scrubber.

The extractor rod backs out and locks up my 29 fairly frequently, I need to actually fix it someday.

M29since14 had it right and so does 67tempest (I had a '66 Tempest in high school). The extractor rod had unscrewed itself and all I had to do was hold the forward latch with a tiny screwdriver to get it to open. The extractor was several turns loosened. I need to get a vice grip with duct tape on the jaws so I can tighten it properly. Thanks for the help guys.

Please! No vise grip! There are tools for tightening, and some guys will wrap the rod with tape and use a drill chuck, but the correct tool is best. You’ll need to have a look at the runout of the extractor rod when you tighten it a bit. If you see runout, it will need to be adjusted/straightened. Hopefully that won’t be necessary.

And tightening it without cleaning the threads (male and female) and applying some thread locker will only be a temporary fix.

Kevin

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Make sure to put 3 empty brass in cylinder before tightening.

You need one of these BROWNELLS EXTRACTOR ROD TOOL FOR S&W | Brownells Shows out of stock though. I regularly use this particular tool and can say it works great. Midway shows this Gunsmither Tools Visesmith Extractor Rod Tool S&W J K L N Frame should do the same thing however I can't personally vouch for it.

You still need 3 empty hulls in the cylinder when using either tool. You'll also need to determine if you have RH or LH thread on your cylinder. If its already loose that will be easy to figure out without damage. A poster mentioned clean threads; yup. Another suggested Lok-Tite; blue only if you use at all.

Don’t use blue. It’s not necessary. Use Loctite 222. Whatever is the minimum amount you think you need, use half of that, or less, and that should be just about right.

Just thoroughly clean the threads, both male and female, with a de-greaser, then tighten up (placing three empties in the cylinder), and using a three jaw chuck or proper tool to tighten it up.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I cleaned it with Gun Scrubber and a cloth, and then put a drop of green Loc Tite on it, then hand tightened it. A couple minutes later it would not budge.

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If you tighten it too much you may bend the rod slightly. If it comes loose again, then just tighten it again by hand as regular preventative maintenance.

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Others may read this and think it's okay to use green Lok-Tite in this application. It's a bad idea as now it's going to take extreme heat to break loose the bond when it's time to do work on the cylinder some year in the future. My usual application for green is to secure the comp permanently to a threaded barrel on a USPSA Open pistol. Lots of heat get concentrated there, enough to break blue or red loose.

And you won't remember if it's left or right hand thread. So write down that it's left hand thread and that the little groove cut just to the rear of the knurled tip of the extractor rod is there to tell you it's left hand.

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Jim
S&WCA #819

If your extractor rod is tight, check to see that the ctr pin comes out flush with the tip of the rod by pushing it flush to the surface of the extractor star at the rear of the cyl.

If the ctr pin doesn't go forward to be flush with the rod tip, the rod is slightly too long. You need to file the front end of the rod until it's flush with the ctr pin (when pushed forward).

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Jim
S&WCA #819

Yes that’s right.

Does that mean "lefty tighty, righty loosy?"

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Are those 8 track tapes off to the side in the photo??

Yes I was replacing pads and splices on a bunch of them.