I have a 19-4 that is slightly out of time. The hand appears to be worn down on the inner bevel.

I am going to replace the hand. I am fairly certain an "oversize" will not be needed. It is hard to tell which hand to order. There are at least four options....... 2 different factory replacement hands, power custom oversize, and factory oversize.

I would just like to try a new original size hand. Can anyone advise a specific part number?

And no, I do not want to call the customer service robots at the factory.

The part number for the hand is 07768.

If you can measure the upper width of your current hand, I can send two or three different sized ones in that ball park for you to try, to see if this resolves the problem.

You also want to be certain the rear gauge, or headspace, is correct, (.010" - .014" between the breechface and rear of the cylinder) and that you are checking for proper carry up with empty casings inside the cylinder chambers.

Many members here (who will be along shortly) advise that carry up issues can be solved by peening the ratchets. I'm not a fan of that "remedy". The factory does not teach this shortcut, or peen ratchets as a "solution" to this problem, and, installation of a slightly wider hand will solve the issue.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

I am NOT checking it with empties.

I will check this and the headspace and report back.


I will NOT peen the ratchets. If a hand replacement can not remedy the problem I will enlist the services of a pro.

I'm not even sure it requires repair. On slow single action cocking with slight resistance (empty chambers) three chambers are a tick slow. Any other way I check it things are fine.


Thank you for your help.

I recently had the same issue with a model 10. It was very slightly out of time. It would only show when I very slowly cocked the hammer. I replaced the hand with a stock sized one from Midway. Not a oversized one, in my case it worked well. Timing is great now. I thought I may have to slightly file a little on the new hand, but I didn't have to do anything to it. Hope my experience helps, good luck.

If by "resistance" you mean you're touching the cylinder, to create slight drag ... that's NOT how it's taught by S&W. Don't touch the cylinder while slowly thumb-cocking the hammer or performing DA presses.

Also, when they taught us to check the carry-up doing slow DA trigger presses (or thumb-cocking), they said they didn't mean slooooow. Just a bit slower than you'd normally do when pulling the trigger through a moderately paced, unhurried dry-fire DA press or thumb-cocking.

I've always preferred a bit of early carry-up myself, with the stop's ball briskly rising into the cylinder notches noticeably before hammer fall (in DA). However, armorers are told that carry-up is normal and within spec as long as the stop ball & cylinder lock no later than hammer fall.

FWIW - (and I've only been to one revolver armorer class, so I'm not as experienced at it as I am with the different S&W pistols) ...

I ordered some various oversize J-frame hands when I was trying to fine tune the carry-up on one of my own snubs many years ago. The former head armorer (who built very nice PPC wheelguns) was observing my work and offering suggestions (meaning to how NOT damage my gun ). None of the oversize hands the factory sent me solved the carry-up without creating another problem or condition I didn't want. (I did NOT want to 'adjust' the hand or the hand's window, either.)

I finally resorted to using the factory extractor cutting tool to cut a new extractor to work with the original hand. Problem solved. It was good practice, anyway. (So I cut 2 new extractors using that factory-made tool. )

The "tool' is just the right trigger for the frame size, with a length of steel bar welded to it, and a hardened carbide cutting "hand" which cuts off the ratchet tips. You have to watch the welds used to connect the bar to the tool's trigger, though.

On one of the hand-cutting tools we got in some kits I noticed the trigger couldn't be pulled sufficiently through the normal arc because the thickness of the weld at one spot was causing it bottom out against the frame. Well, that was annoying. A little judicious filing (using one of the kit's fiels ) relieved the offending spot of the weld enough to let it move normally. That ought to have been caught at the factory, obviously, but to be fair, the guy doing the welding probably didn't have any revolver frames at hand to check the completed tool's function. An armorer's work is never done ...

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer