Well, probably copper and not lead since the bullet was jacketed, but I got hit in the face by debris from the cylinder gap when firing my Model 66-1. I shot two boxes of 38 Specials and everything was fine but at the end I ran a couple of cylinders of 357 Magnums (158 grain) and one of those shots threw a piece of something back in my face resulting in a nasty cut (think of the worst cat scratch you ever got -- could not stop the bleeding for a couple of minutes). (This is a great illustration of why safety glasses are a must.)

When I got home I measured the cylinder gap and the end shake. The gap turned out to be uneven -- 0.004-0.005" on the right side and 0.011-0.012" on the left (not surprisingly, my face was hit on the left side). The end shake is somewhere between 0.003" and 0.005".

I am kind of afraid to shoot this gun again, even with 38s. What do you think caused the spitting? The excessive gap on the left side? The fact that the gap is not even? The excessive end shake? Would this problem be fixable? This is an old gun so the barrel is pinned. Thank you.

The uneven gap is not a good thing, but probably not the cause of spitting. More likely the cylinder is out of alignment to the barrel when the round goes off, shaving some bullet material. The forcing cone may need to be a bit larger too.

All this is fixable. Set the endshake, set back the barrel, recut the forcing cone, retime the cylinder. These are all commonplace things for a good revolver smith. Probably a good idea not to shoot this gun until these issues are addressed.

Thank you -- should I contact S&W for this kind of work or would I be better off going with a highly recommended gunsmith (and if so, are there any recommendations)?

I had that happen many years ago with a Model 29. I shot metal silhouette with it, the accuracy load was a max load. Practicing one day, I felt a "bug" crawling on my neck, swatted at it and came away with a bloody hand. One of those shavings had richochetted straight back and punched a hole clear through the web of my ear.
++++for safety glasses++++.
Anyhow, the late great gunsmith Fred Schmidt told me the crane was slightly warped and the revolver needed retiming. The early 29's were not up to a steady diet of max loads, and after that, Fred put in a ball detent for the crane and retimed the gun about twice/year. No more lead-in-the-face after that.
Good luck getting your gun back in shape and take one attaboy for mentioning safety glasses.

S&W or any of the long established revolver smiths can do the job. I like Clark Custom, but there are others who are competent.

Shipping is a. big expense. Smith may be able to send you a shipping label, you would get billed their corporate rate......may that is, but you could ask.

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Sure you did