I have a late-1970s N-frame S&W revolver that is dirty inside (and has some surface rust on the hammer). I want to disassemble the gun and thoroughly clean it piece by piece. I know how to remove the side plate (I have Kuhnhausen's S&W book and I have removed several side plates in the past). However, I have never taken apart an S&W revolver completely. Is there anything that I need to be especially careful of while working on it? Any difficult areas that could hinder my attempts at disassembly, cleaning, or re-assembly?

Thanks in advance.



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Remove the cylinder and yoke, then the mainspring, then take out the rebound slide, being careful to not let the spring fly out as it could hit you in the face, and or get lost in the netherlands. Once that is done, remove the trigger and then the hammer.

You should not have to dis-assemble any further than that.

It helps to have a special tool to take out and reinsert the rebound slide spring, but it is not necessary. The book you have is EXCELLENT and will not steer you wrong.

There are many videos on You Tube. If you search "Complete disassembly of your specific gun" you will find some amateur and maybe some professional videos. It's worth a look. I have done so and found videos on almost all my guns an down loaded the best ones and copied to cd all of them for future reference.

Removing the rebound slide with the revolver inside a clear plastic bag may save you a lit of trouble if you do not have the correct tool to do it.

If you have Kuhnhausen you will find nothing on this forum that will improve on his book! Read it, thoroughly.

The best "special tool" to install the rebound spring is a #0 or #1 Phillips screwdriver. There is no tool on the market that works better, and you probably already have one!

"Removing the rebound slide with the revolver inside a clear plastic bag may save you a lit of trouble if you do not have the correct tool to do it." Simply put your opposite thumb over the end of the rebound slide as you pry it up. The spring isn't going to go anywhere!

Make sure you have a perfect fit screwdriver for the sideplate screws. I get one where the blade thickness matches exactly then I grind the blade width until it matches the width of the screw head. You don't want to bugger the screws.

Where are you located

Areas of concern are removing the hand from the trigger assembly and removing the cylinder stop arm and spring.

Karl