Working on some loads for a little Mod. 36. Noticed on a few sets that the hammer locked, would not pull back. After careful inspection, the ejector rod was noted to have a very slight bend. Hard to detect visually, but it was binding slightly at the hole in the recoil shield and so not fully re-entering the hole, which meant the thumb piece was not fully pushed back, which locks the hammer. Otherwise, cylinder rotates freely.

I relieved slightly with a file the end of the rod that was furthest off center and it does not bind anymore. That end was slightly out of round, constributing to the issue I imagine.

Anyway, what is the usual effect on accuracy of a slightly bent ejector rod?

The gun is not spitting any lead. Groups are wider than I like, but I just started load development, and it has improved into the decent range. Usually throws at least one unexpected flyer, not extreme, just away from the others.

Opinions?

If the rod is bent, this usually causes the cylinder to be slightly off-center. Cock it and observe closely the gap between chamber mouth and barrel forcing cone; likely you will see it widen and narrow during a full turn of the cylinder. It can be so severe that the cylinder face actually comes in to contact with the barrel, and the action gets very stiff, or even locks up completely, at a particular spot in its rotation.

The rod needs to be straightened, and sometimes -- sometimes -- it is fairly easy to do. Find a solid, flat surface; remove the rod and roll it around on the flat surface; observe where the bend is; very lightly and gently, tap the bend with a light hammer, check again, tap a bit more, check again, as needed. This will usually fix a mild case.

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Pisgah

I have a Ruger Sec. Six that had a bent ejector rod when I bought it. I saw somewhere a gunsmith recommend using a drill press. I chucked the rod in the press and rotated it slowly (by hand) and saw the bend. Very careful work with a brass hammer straightened it out.

Understand that I AM NOT a gunsmith, and any advice I give is intended to be taken with that understanding.

But it worked for me.

I bought a used Python years ago and discovered afterward that the ejector rod was bent. A gunsmith went ahead and replaced the rod rather than try to straighten it. Don't recall if I asked him why he had to replace it. Regardless, it might be good to have a gunsmith look the piece over to determine why it bent and if there was any other damage.

It might have been that the replacement part cost less than labor required to straighten it.

Many years ago my 320i got a fender bent. The shop replaced it and I asked why they did that rather than straighten it. Simple. A factory fender at the time was about $70 and straightening it would have taken at least three hours at $35 an hour.

Replacing is often far more expedient and less expensive than fixing.

Thanks Gents. I think I'll try to straighten it and if not successful, replace it... gee... that seems obvious now though.

While you are at it, you might like to make sure you have proper yoke alignment. This is done by using a precision ground spud that drops into the yoke barrel after you remove the cylinder assembly. Move your yoke into battery and when you pull back on the cylinder release latch, the pin end on the spud should drop into the hole where the center pin goes. Misalignment of the yoke will also cause cylinder bind.

For ejector rod straightening, I use a fixture made by Ron Power custom that uses a dial indicator to determine the degree of run out and straighten it out. I have about $250 invested in this tool, which is a lot less than I have invested in my revolvers. Sometimes replacing a bent ejector rod is the best solution, but over tightening it will induce the run out again. Be careful and do not get too ham handed.

Mike