Hello all,

Friend of mine just bought a new .44mag backpacker. She enabled the key lock with the cylinder in place and now can not open the cylinder.

Any help or ideas please.

Thanks

My first thought is to unlock it

The way you wrote your question, it sounds like she did not try that.

My second thought is go back to the gun store she made the purchase at
and have the salesperson show her how her new firearm works

She, myself, and a few others have tried unlocking it and fiddling with it.

I just recommended that very thing, about going back to the store.

Thanks for your reply

Don't forget to let us know what the problem was NedlejAK.

__________________
.:God Bless America:.

If the latch and the cylinder release seem to be working, but the cylinder is hard to swing out, the ejector rod could be loose. Sometimes, you can work some masking tape around the ejector rod and tighten it just enough to get the cylinder to swing out. Then the rod can be tighted correctly. Good luck and welcome to Forum.

I had just recently run into a similar problem with an original .44 Special 1950 Target revolver (no lock, of course). I knew what the problem was in my case - the ejector rod had unscrewed itself. I needed to drop off a Ruger TALO flattop .44 Special at my pistolsmith (Jack Basham, Cincinnati, Ohio) for a trigger job so took the 1950 Target along.

Jack showed me the neatest trick I ever saw to open this revolver without ANY stress or effort involved. He tore a piece of typing paper off a sheet and slid it between the cylinder and frame and slid it to the rear which unlocked the cylinder lock - the revolver opened magically...

I had never read or seen of this being done. Smith's are prone, on occasion, to having he ejector rod loosen. This tip may save you some grief. Generally, I catch it before needing any help but this is one time it kind of got away from me.

Dale53

Absolutely correct here. I called her and told her what to try and she was able to tighten the rod with normal paper.

Gun is functioning again and she is very happy.

Thanks for the help.

Welcome to the wonderful world of S&W, too.
All is well then?

Reference post #6. I'm not at all saying it can't be done and I have never tried it. But, it must have a very weak center-pin spring. I realize the rod would have been somewhat loose and remove some tension off the spring, but I bet this would not work on....say a J-frame with the very strong center-pin spring and having to overcome the lug-latch spring as well.

You saw it....I believe you, but I'll have to try it.

Glad she got it open. FYI, S&W instructions state to engage the lock with the cylinder open, and to open the cylinder prior to disengaging it. If it is locked incorrectly (i.e., with the cylinder closed), S&W's instructions state to 1) keeping your finger out of the trigger guard, and pointing the muzzle in a safe direction, pull the hammer fully rearward to ensure the hammer is in the fully cocked position; 2) keeping your finger out of the trigger guard and the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, unlock the lock using the key; 3) open the cylinder and verify it is unloaded. It may be prudent to call S&W, describe the situation and what was done to open the cylinder, and ask them whether she should go through that procedure, as you don't want to take a chance on possibly damaging the internal workings of the gun by not having properly cleared the problem.

I recommend she read the manual for her gun, if she doesn't have one, a call to S&W will get one in the mail promptly. Although I don't care for "The Lock" in any way, shape or form, I now have four S&Ws with the darn thing (very much a minority in my collection, but you just can't get some calibers or certain interesting models without it). That is the only reason I have a manual covering operation of the lock, and I remembered seeing it in the manual.