I have a 25-2 that I have owned for a while, but never shot. It has no push off, locks up tight when dry fired single action, and when dry fired slowly. Seemed to be a great gun.

Took it to the range, with 4 moon clips just to see how it would do. It would fire fine 3-4 times rapid fire, then not fire. Checking the rounds after, 2-3 would have light hits that were off center. I then dry fired it fast and found that during fast firing (faster than single action, slow enough to get back on target), and found that the cylinder would not lock up tight, but instead was over-rotating, and it would lock up ok if I rotated it back by hand.

I am not a gunsmith- don't like doing more than taking grips off usually!! But is the problem something more than timing or needing a new hand? Should I send it to Smith for a fix?

I would absolutely send it back! No reason to get frustrated every tome you shoot it. Call them and ask for a return label to be emailed to you.

Overrotating can have a few causes, some requiring expertise, but might be as simple as a little dried gunk in the cylinder stop spring causing weak or slow return of the cylinder stop during rapid fire.

Suggest a thorough disassembly, clean and lube, then try again. If the problem persists, let a qualified revolversmith check and fix.

Over-rotating probably needs a gunsmith if you feel under-qualified to work on it yourself.

Under rotating when pulling the trigger slowly DA is normal in a lot of guns. If you shoot DA fast, the momentum will carry up the cylinder until it locks in position. It's simply tolerances in a mechanical system.

Check the trigger strain screw. It may not be fully tightened. That is the usual cause of light hammer strikes.

Your 25-2 predates the Lifetime Warranty by nearly 20 years so any repairs needed will be on your dime for both shipping and the repair. There is also a possibility that S&W won't even look at it because they may not have any repair parts for it.

Due to it's age I think that there is a very real possibility that all it needs is a good cleaning. Because dried up old oil can be quite gummy and what you are describing is exactly what can happen if the cylinder stop is impeded by gummy old oil residue. Now, some good news is that this particular problem doesn't need an expert revolver smith to fix it, if you want to take a real cave man approach the fix may be as simple as a good soak in a bucket of mineral spirits followed by a dip in isopropal alcohol and then the judicious application of a few well placed drops of oil. Another option would be to take it to a shooting range that offers ultrasonic firearms cleaning for a small fee.

Note, the above is not the ideal method for cleaning, the ideal method would be a full detail strip with all parts cleaned completely. Doing this is actually not very difficult with the right tools and the Kuhnhausen S&W Shop Manual. If your handy the tools needed are the correct screwdrivers (2), a Rebound Spring tool, and the Shop Manual. Note, the tools and manual are available from Brownells. It will also help a lot to take good clear pictures with a digital camera as you proceed in taking everything out of the lockwork. Because that Kunhausen manual is rather dated and the pictures don't clearly show the positioning details for items like the "tail" on the Hand Spring. I would also advise NOT removing the Double Action Sear from the Hammer because the spring for this part is "trapped" in drilled holes in both the Sear and Hammer and it can only be removed by walking the spring into one hole using two Exacto knives one coil at a time.

Pitfalls.

The number one pitfall is the Rebound Spring, even with lots of practice there are still times when it pops off the rebound spring tool just at the point where I have it in place. I would advise purchase of a few spares because it's not uncommon to launch one into whatever dimension socks disappear into. The factory weight is 16 lbs. and the most commonly used weight in an Action Tuning is 14 lbs.

The second pitfall is getting that hammer block back in place correctly. Unfortunately it will be out of position as soon as the sideplate drops free but the Kuhnhausen manual does have an illustration. Note, it's a HAMMER BLOCK, so with the trigger returned it should be in the fully up position with the tab in place blocking the hammer. Note, if the sideplate won't go back in place with thumb pressure it's because the hammer block is not correctly placed, so NEVER EVER use a hammer to force the sideplate home. Don't feel bad about not getting it right the first time, I'm a Mechanical Engineer and it took my at least 1/2 hour to get it placed correctly the first time I went under the hood on one of my revolvers.

As for a quality oil to use for lubrication, that would NOT be WD-40. Use WD-40 and in 5 years you'll think you used glue, it's a Water Displacing Rust Preventative Oil (specifically formula #40). I like M-Pro 7 Gun Oil, others like good old Mobil One. Basically any quality non drying lubricating oil will be just fine.

Thanks for all the answers!