I have an old model 65-3 that was used at my Dad's PD back in the 80's and early 90's. It's a sweet shooter for sure however I am running into a strange problem. The cylinder is tough to swing out. Ive done all the simple things like really clean the cylinder, ejector rod, and behind the star really well as well as check the tightness of the ejector rod. All that seems good and it is still difficult to swing it out. Am I missing something simple I can check before I start ordering a bunch of stuff I may not need? It's really driving me nuts as I really like the gun and with sweat shirt weather upon us, I'd like to start carrying the old girl again.

Try loosening the yoke screw. That is the one below the front of the cylinder.

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I'll give that a shot tonight, I wouldn't be surprised if I tightened it down too much. Thanks.

A drop of oil might help, but you have probably tried that already.

Yeah, its lubed well but not dripping oil. Its almost as if the ejector rod is getting hung up on the detent at the end. The one under the barrel that the ejector rod rides on.

I'm going with the yoke screw.

To tight as noted above or....
Wrong screw in the yoke screw hole?

Does that mean you took off the
side plate.

Did you, perhaps, assume
that the yoke screw and the center
screw are the same. The center screw
is a tad longer and if mixed up will bind
the yoke, making it hard to open.

So try switching the screws.

You should be able to snug down all
three screws but you don't need
gorilla strength to do so--just snug down.

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Based on above I do not think an overly tight yoke screw is your problem. Try tightening the ejector rod. They sometimes do work loose and it is difficult sometimes to open the cylinder. It has left handed threads. Hand tighten and see if that solves the problem.

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First of all, if the cylinder is just hard to unlatch, it's probably the ejector rod. If it is tight through the whole swing, go for the yoke screw.

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I did this on a 66 with the same result. My gues as to the problem.

Yes, this sounds like an UNLATCHING hang-up...
not a SWINGING OUT/DOWN issue.
I agree, check the rod...
it may be 'loose' but still require some strength to screw it in/out by hand. As mentioned, it is BACKWARDS threaded.

OK I played around with the screws and I did in fact have them mixed up. It is much easier now. Stupid me should have looked at the screws in my model 10 as reference. Thanks for the help.

Don't be too hard on yourself; we've all done it, and sometimes those two screws look identical, except for the little bit that's been removed from the yoke screw to make it fit properly

Happens all the time.
On a piece of corrugated cardboard draw a picture of the side plate. With a pencil point make a small hole where each screw goes. As you remove the screw pl ace it in the small hole. Then move on to the others and do likewise. It may help.

^ I like that idea. With my S&W collection growing, I'll have to do that.

I have a Model 10 that was doing that. I brought it to my gunsmith. There was a tiny burr on the inside of the ejector rod where it locks into the indent. 5 seconds twisting a drill bit by hand into the end of the rod and it was fixed.

As for mixing up the screws, we’ve all done that. I use one of those large vitamin dispensers, he ones with the days of the week in a straight row. Screws go in order from left to right in the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday boxes. Kept totally separate. I used the cardboard drawing but found this works better for me.