Have a 29-3 which I shoot mostly single action as all my other revolvers. Shooting 44 special I have no problems whatsoever. But when I shoot hot mag loads (my reloads or factory ammo) seems that always on 1 or sometimes 2 of the cylinders the hammer doesn't want to lock back for single action. I have almost let it slip a couple times and that is what I am afraid will happen one time. So I then have to keep cocking and go all the way around- then it will stay back for single action???? Anybody seen or heard of this, any ideas? The gun has been well taken care of and looks great but probably has quite of few rounds shot out of it.

The place that I always start, is a good cleaning of the internal components.

I cleaned it nice a year ago when i bought it but looks like it's time to go in there again. Very possible some shmutz might have made its way down in there. At least it's good starting point to rule out variables. Thank you!

I have a 29-3, but have not experienced that problem with full loads. But I certainly have experienced cylinder stop issues as a result of the cylinder stop spring popping out of its seat. A stronger spring did not help that problem. I finally invented a simple device to keep the spring in place, cut from a can lid. No problems since. Have you tried removing the sideplate after one of those events to see if there is anything amiss in the works?

Hmmmm, when you drop in the 44 Mag ammo does it 'drop in' or do you have to apply pressure to them to sit flush in the cylinder?
Possibly a build up from firing the 44 specials is not allowing the 44 Mags to seat flush and causing some binding when you are pulling back the hammer and you don't get quite a full pull back?? So the cylinder is not indexing completely to the next round and your hammer won't set?

Just a thought since you say you have no issues with 44 special ammo.
Karl

Well I pulled the side plate and there was some dirty ballistol in there. Just enough so that when I wiped it off left dark mark on wipe. I shoot it almost every week maybe 18 -24 rounds. So it's back together and working well dry firing (but it always did). So this weekend I will take it to the range to see if I have to apply any pressure to insert the rounds to test the second possibilty. Again THANK YOU to everybody for your help in this matter.

Here she is all cleaned up. It's a big gun.

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Check for those sticky magnum rounds and report back, please.
Ref. the sticky magnums, (if found). Is the cylinder completely indexed when the hammer won't lock?

I will report back after range trip but I don't think indexing is a problem. I get no drag of any sort on the cylinder as I pull hammer back and checked last time the stop is locked in the cylinder with very little movement. The hammer seems to come all the way back to hitting the frame smoothly on the one cylinder first pass just doesn't seem to want to catch. (just falls forward without locking in). second time around it will then lock into single action. I put very very little lube on the internals this time we will see?

A rare possibility that the hammer is hitting the frame when at full cock.
Have seen it a few times.
Had to very slightly remove metal where hammer touched the frame at full cock.
Primarily found it on "J" frame revolvers.

Back from the range today. Mostly good news. 4 cylinders full of spl-no problems. 5 cylinders full of mag it did happen again 1 time. I have noticed that whenever the gun is in full cock the hammer is definately àll the way against the frame. So when it happened today that one time I pulled hard back on hammer and did get it to stay. It was then all tied up!! Could not pull trigger the only way to unstuck it was to pull back on hammer while pulling very hard on trigger then it finally let loose. Funny thing was it then cocked fine all the way back around then it seemed to want do the same thing on that same chamber. Kinda felt notchey in the hammer on that oNE chamber. I did check and everything was indexed fine. Just seems like once it's warmed up the hammer won't go back far enough but only on that one particular chamber is the problem everytime. Strange indeed! I'm tempted to lightly run a file on back of hammer to give it a little more clearance???

So are you just totally against sending it back to Smith? After all that you've mentioned, that's what I'd do. But under NO circumstances would I take a file to that thing. A file in the hands of an expert is one thing, but you can't put metal back. Do yourself a favor and at least try the mother ship option. Just remember that this non satisfactory ***, will soon become the crown of your collection.

Of course someone may provide the answer, with one brilliant insight. But short of that, send it back. Just my opinion, but I think you'll be better in the long run, since the factory will fix it free.

Does it have a trigger stop on the hammer or a pin inside the rebound spring? If one of those is a tiny bit too long, that will cause that problem.

Another possibility might be if the strain screw has been backed out or shortened, the top of the mainspring may be keeping the hammer from going all the way back.

I have never experienced that issues before, so not sure what is causing it. Could be one of many things or a combination. So, before trouble shooting the gun should be thoroughly cleaned. Then gun should be checked to make sure it is within specs. Is there endshake ? Rod runout? Etc.
For this unusual problem, a trip to the factory may be the best solution. Their repair rates are very reasonable.

__________________
Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

I thank everybody for your valuable input to my particular problem. Not to worry I will not do anything rash to this beautiful gun! This is only the beginning of my effort to delve into what is going on. I await my 5th edition S&W shop manual to help me to look at what is going on inside and bring on this occasional issue. If unable to find a simple solution, a trip to an expert is going to be step 2. I was hoping that somebody would see my post and know exactly what is happening and have seen it before and a simple fix would ensue. Looks as this is not the case.

It probably is something simple, but not being able to look at the gun in person, these things are sometimes hard to diagnose.

Bull's eye!

The symptoms the OP is describing happened to me twice ... both times the strain screw was backed out a bit. It changes the angle of the top of the strain spring and link on the hammer causing interference.