I was starting to have trouble opening the cylinder on my 438. That's when I noticed the extractor rod was unscrewing. I turned it back in and just hand tightened it. My question is should I use pliers and tighten it some more or just hand tight? Is this common?

Thanks.

i would say pliers would mess up the finish!!!!!!!!

__________________
"343" Never Forgotten

Pad those pliers well, if that's the way you decide to go! And put a couple of empty chells in the cylinder before you crank down on it. Usually, hand-tightening as much as possible is suffcient, but frequent checking for looseness is wise. If all else fails, a small dab of BLUE LocTite usually cures the problem.

__________________
Pisgah

Do you have a padded vise in your garage/shop?
If not...use a pair of vise-grips (pad the jaws) but hold the vise-grips stationary and twist the cylinder. You must be careful not to bend the rod when tightening. I always use the bench vise to tighten the rod.

P.S. don't forget to put snap caps in the charge holes before tightening.

Keeping the crane in place helps prevent the rod from bending. Pad the vise or lock jaw pliers with leather, possibly from an old belt.

Buy the correct tool, its cheap. Gunsmithing Tools - 005-001-SWJ - GST Extractor Rod Tool, S&W "J" Frame - Capps Sales Co. - Gunsmithing Tools custom made for gunsmiths
Or in a pinch use a drill chuck (the part that holds the drill bit)

The extractor rod is threaded to tighten to the left.
Lock-Tite the threads and screw it in.
Then you should not have any more trouble.

Use a pair of pliers and pad the jaws with one of those rubber lid openers and tighten it down.. U don't have to use both hands, but tighten it.. The last thing U want is for the ejector rod to work loose and when the **** hits the fan, U can't open your cylinder...

Dave

Thanks for all the replies.