Hey guys,
The 29-2 my dad passed down to me has some sort of issue with one of the chambers on the cylinder. If I cycle in double action the triggerpull is noticeably longer, harder and grittier. In fact if I don't pull in one fluid motion it sticks and doesn't want to pull all the way back. It's only on the one chamber... in single action it seems fine. I'm going to do the finger drag on the cylinder test to see if it's out of time... but what else would be doing it? Would it be the notch that the cylinder stop clicks into? Or could it be how the hand is interfacing with the ratchet? The rather in general looks pretty worn, and the chamber in question seems to have more metal filling the negative space between the ratchetstar points... any thoughts or advice is much appreciated... I'll post a pic soon

Most likely things to check: whether or not the extractor rod is out of alignment (run out), an issue with the yoke barrel being out of alignment, damage/wear to the offending ratchet as you suggested.
Excessive end shake can also play a role in how the hand interacts with the ratchet contact surface. You can't rule out impacted dirt inside the cylinder assy, or under/on the extractor itself. And, a missing extractor alignment pin or pins can also cause problems with the hand/extractor interface. Sorry, but the list goes on.

If the double action pull is smooth when cycled with the cylinder open and the thumbpiece held back, then the issue is most likely in the cylinder/yoke assy. somewhere.

__________________
Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

No need to apologize at all sir! Gives me a bunch of things to check! Thanks a bunch for the response

44: I echo what armorer951 said about the dirtiness issue. About 3 weeks ago I bought a 5 screw pre-28 that I took to the range to shoot. After the first cylinder the action was damned near locking up on two chambers, the other 4 were fine. I finally got around to cleaning it yesterday and removed the cylinder assembly and also took the assembly apart, really cleaning every piece, nook, cranny, etc. After the thorough cleaning of these parts the action works perfectly now. I would also check if there isn't some bit of built-up goop on the face of the cylinder at the offending chamber. Hope the gun is alright.

For sure... I had a couple minutes to take a look at it yesterday, and sure enough the ejector rod wasn't threaded tight all the way... that fixed it about 90% but there is still something going on with that chamber, but just tightening the rod down fixed it greatly

Here's a beauty shot of my 29...

Check it to see if it's bent slightly.