New to me 629 ND, first time shooting it and the cylinder is binding. When I received it the action was sticky with dried oil residue. Cleaned it up, oiled it up inside and out and everything was fine. Thought everything was good until I shot it, after 13 rounds, nothing heavy, and it's binding. Checked the ejection rod, it's tight and doesn't appear to be bent. .004 gap between barrel and cylinder. What I did noticed, contact between the barrel shroud and front of the yoke is scratched (see photo). When closing the cylinder sometimes it clicks in ok and locks up, do it again and it'll start to drag when the lock-up pin/ejector is depressed by the recoil shield.

Help, thoughts?

Attached Images

IMG_20210910_191005.jpg (144.2 KB, 50 views)

There are many possibilities here, but if you haven't done so, a thorough cleaning of the cylinder assembly, including the yoke, may put it right. If you are familiar, and can completely disassemble it during the cleaning that's even better. Shooting debris can be trapped behind the extractor (and other inaccessible places) and cause this type of binding.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

If the cylinder does not spin freely when open, there is likely dried oil and GSR on the yoke, inside the cylinder. Either disassemble the cylinder assembly or remove it from the frame and give the entire assembly a good soak in solvent.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Sometimes debris from the fired rounds falls on the back side of the extractor when fired cases are ejected. This can then get caught between the cylinder and the extractor and make the cylinder hard to close and/or hard to turn.

It's easy to clean out with a toothbrush by extending the extractor and brushing the back side of it and it's recess on the cylinder. It may take more than one brushing to get it all.

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