I agree that firing pin looks good. Big question is -- what might be caked and layered and dried and piled up in that firing pin channel? I would get q-tips, or the overpriced gun-specific wood rod q-tips that are a bit larger, longer and more sturdy than cheap q-tips and I'd get plenty of Hoppe's #9 in there and I would get a bright light and clean and confirm it is clear.
S&W Model 52-2, failure to fire quite often.
- Thread starter mikemyers
- Start date
donk52
Member
Pin looks ok. clean channel, safety and spring and reassemble dry. Next move on to the main spring. pictures help.
donk52
Member
Just a note, when building these we never used excess oil on any internal parts. maybe wipe with lightly oiled rag if needed, we used regular motor oil. Just a few drops in the slide/frame rails.
donk52
Member
It's been many years, not sure of length. I would recommend comparing it to the one in your other gun to be sure. Compare depth "inside" plunger also.
So far, everything is clean. Hardly any "stuff" came out. I thought it felt rough pushing on the pin, but that was probably the spring rubbing against the channel. I will clean it, and inspect it. That's looking less likely for the cause of my problem.
New spring arriving tomorrow via UPS. Will compare length. I don't have a way to compare spring tension.
Same problem as yesterday with that "side plate", but now it seems worse:
http://sgrid.com/2019/MOVIE.mov
I can buy a new part, if that plate is what's wrong, but what does it do, and does it have anything to do with my problem?
Open the link, click on the image in the middle, then wait for it to load and play.
http://sgrid.com/2019/MOVIE.mov
I can buy a new part, if that plate is what's wrong, but what does it do, and does it have anything to do with my problem?
Open the link, click on the image in the middle, then wait for it to load and play.
donk52
Member
you should wait to take the hammer out to check that pin/plate before you order anything, I've never seen one of those "go bad". While the back strap is off, pull/twist that out. Be careful of the ejector and the spring under it, just keep your thumb over it when you remove the pin. With the hammer out, check the pin in the hole, should rotate easily.
donk52
Member
That's ok leave it. just keep an eye on it so it doesn't walk away.
Don, at 4:23 into this video, I think this is what you want me to do?
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGOzAu1oGug&t=508s"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGOzAu1oGug&t=508s[/ame]
Everything we do from this point on, is lowering my confidence that I can re-assemble it. As of now, I know enough to get the firing pin components back where they belong, but the hammer is now "stuck" towards the rear, andI need to have it upright before I put the mainspring back on.
It helps me when I know what the parts do - I'm already too close to "over the edge"......
If you want me to push out that pin in the above video, and lift out the hammer and attached components, I think I understand that
Should I take a photo to post, looking down into the gun from above?
donk52
Member
Pull the pin, We'll get it back together, no problem. If the hammer is stuck back you've got nothing to lose. No use putting it back together if it's still not going to work.
Done......
Attachments
The endplate rotates perfectly smoothly in the hole, but when the round "plug" drops down into the frame, it's held in place. The hole is larger than the diameter of the "plug", so it can rock back and forth.
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Don, you, and several others here, have the ability to allow me to do things that I'd never have attempted on my own, but after doing each step, things start to feel "intuitive".
I'm still using the turkey bag for taking things apart, but not a single part has flown off the gun so far. Even the spring in the last step stayed right there - needed to use a light and a small rod to verify it really was there.
donk52
Member
That's normal to move a little. Put the pin through the hammer hole, there should be no binding. Did you check the hammer main spring agaist your other gun? Just curios if they are the same.
The pin goes through the hammer hole with no problems, no binding. As to the spring in the other gun, I'd rather have only one gun apart at a time, until I'm sure I can re-assemble. I have a new mainspring being delivered by UPS tomorrow, so I'll wait until that arrives.
If that extra play is no problem, I'll forget about it. All the parts look good. The machined hole in the frame looks fine, and the round part on the sideplate looks good.
I was going to drop the hammer down into place and put the sideplate pin through it, but there is a part protruding into the channel that keeps the hammer from dropping down. I suspect that is the disconnector?
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I will take a photo of my other gun, for comparison. I would prefer not to take the spring out of the other gun, until I'm sure I can put the backstrap assembly back into this gun.
I woke up at 5am thinking of all the possible explanations why this gun isn't getting full strikes on the primer. My list so far includes:
Mainspring not strong enough. (top of my list)
Firing pin not correct. (checked)
Firing pin area full of "stuff" (cleaned)
Friction/binding any of the parts (so far, no issues)
Firing pin not extending far enough towards the hammer (need to check)
Firing pin spring (new spring on order)
Recoil spring (I don't think this could cause it, but new spring kit on order)
Ammunition (no, because it's the same problem with any ammo)
There may be other things I'm not aware of, but the mainspring seems like the most likely culprit right now. Don, I wish I lived near you!!! You would probably find the issue in just a matter of minutes.
I spoke to people at the range about this gun yesterday. Someone asked "who's the sucker who bought it? Me, of course. The gun has apparently been sent to many people over the past year to try to get it working. I was told it went back to S&W twice. Nobody could fix it. So the owner bought a new M-52, and I bought his non-working gun. I still need to talk to the person at the club who sold the gun to him originally, and try to find out what was done regarding mounting optics on the gun. Was anything changed to try to get the gun to cycle.
......and to repeat, even not working, it's a great tool right now for me to learn how to control it better, like a "ball and dummy drill" where a gun may or may not fire, so the shooter can tell if he is disturbing the aim when firing. When we do "fix" it, I will keep the "incorrect" part around, so I can"unfix" it for use in training.
I woke up at 5am thinking of all the possible explanations why this gun isn't getting full strikes on the primer. My list so far includes:
Mainspring not strong enough. (top of my list)
Firing pin not correct. (checked)
Firing pin area full of "stuff" (cleaned)
Friction/binding any of the parts (so far, no issues)
Firing pin not extending far enough towards the hammer (need to check)
Firing pin spring (new spring on order)
Recoil spring (I don't think this could cause it, but new spring kit on order)
Ammunition (no, because it's the same problem with any ammo)
There may be other things I'm not aware of, but the mainspring seems like the most likely culprit right now. Don, I wish I lived near you!!! You would probably find the issue in just a matter of minutes.
I spoke to people at the range about this gun yesterday. Someone asked "who's the sucker who bought it? Me, of course. The gun has apparently been sent to many people over the past year to try to get it working. I was told it went back to S&W twice. Nobody could fix it. So the owner bought a new M-52, and I bought his non-working gun. I still need to talk to the person at the club who sold the gun to him originally, and try to find out what was done regarding mounting optics on the gun. Was anything changed to try to get the gun to cycle.
......and to repeat, even not working, it's a great tool right now for me to learn how to control it better, like a "ball and dummy drill" where a gun may or may not fire, so the shooter can tell if he is disturbing the aim when firing. When we do "fix" it, I will keep the "incorrect" part around, so I can"unfix" it for use in training.
