Friends,

I recently purchased a very nice Model 18 and shot it for the first time yesterday. It fails to fire about one round in six when fired double action. It is more reliable on single action, but there are still misfires.

Brand does seem to make a difference. The CCI was the most reliable, Remington less so, and it didn't like Federal at all.

Further, the cylinder binds up and fails to rotate completely after some of the misfires. Firing DA, it locks about 3/4 the way into the trigger pull. I cannot manually cock the hammer in this event either. Opening the cylinder frees the stoppage. I suspect this to be related to the misfires.

Any theories? Thanks!

Friends,

I recently purchased a very nice Model 18 and shot it for the first time yesterday. It fails to fire about one round in six when fired double action. It is more reliable on single action, but there are still misfires.

Brand does seem to make a difference. The CCI was the most reliable, Remington less so, and it didn't like Federal at all.

Further, the cylinder binds up and fails to rotate completely after some of the misfires. Firing DA, it locks about 3/4 the way into the trigger pull. I cannot manually cock the hammer in this event either. Opening the cylinder frees the stoppage. I suspect this to be related to the misfires.

Any theories? Thanks!

Rimfire revolvers are prone to problems that we rarely see in centerfires. My suspicion is that there is gunk from a combination of lubricant and powder residue caught under the extractor. This will, in effect, cushion the blow of the firing pin on the rim of the cartridges. Also, possibly some gunk in the recesses where the cartridge heads sit. You could also have some thread from a cleaning patch or other source caught under the extractor. Each brand of cartridge has slightly different characteristics which explains why some brands work better than others.

It also may be that some yahoo thought he was giving himself a cheap trigger job and backed the strain screw out. The one at the front/bottom of the front stap on the grip frame. Use a proper fitting hollow ground screwdriver and make sure it is screwed in all the way.

Check everything the poster above mentioned as well.

If you're still having trouble, get some type of spray gun cleaner such as Birchwood Casey's Gun Scrubber. Take the stocks off, then blast the insides out, down through the cylinder bolt stop opening, cock the hammer, and spray down through the opening in front of the hammer. Spray up through the bottom of the action, below and behind the hammer. Allow all the gunk to drain out, by sitting the gun in an upright position. Then lightly oil the insides right in front of the cocked hammer with one or two drops of a good oil. S&W's are designed to work wih a minimum of lubrication. Too many people lube the snot out of their gun every time they clean it, and together with the fouling normally associated with rimfire ammo, they end up with a gun that functions as yours is doing now.

I hope this helps. G4F