I need a gunsmith familiar with the New Century Triple Lock

[paladin42]

I have a New Century Triple Lock in .44 Special, 5" bbl. Under certain conditions the ejector rod jams. The way in which this occurs leads me to believe that the rod is slightly bent. I could probably fix it myself but the revolver holds great personal value.

The revolver has been in the same extended family since it was acquired in 1915. It is now in my care, passed on to me by my late mother-in-law. The serial number is 1290, and yes it has been lettered. And yes, these are photos of the actual revolver, taken by a professional photographer. And also yes, it has been refinished.

Stay safe, Steve


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[WR Moore]

You don't mention where you are. You might call Alex Hamilton at Ten Ring Precision. He's located in TX.

 

[paladin42]

You don't mention where you are. You might call Alex Hamilton at Ten Ring Precision. He's located in TX.

My profile mentions that I'm in the Unaka Mountains of Tennessee. That's NE TN where VA, NC, and TN come together.

I am willing to ship the gun anywhere so my location isn't important. Thanks for the tip I'll call on Monday.

Stay safe, Steve

 

[paladin42]

Does anyone else have any recommendations?

 

[WR Moore]

OOPS! didn't read your profile. Sorry about that chief.

 

[SAFireman]

Does it stick every time in the same place, or just infrequently?

If it is random, clean the inner & outer parts really well (this involves taking the cylinder and yoke off and separating the center pin from the barrel). It may be years of gunk built up and turning to varnish.

If you aren't comfortable taking it down, you can pull the stocks and soak overnight in some Ed's Red solution (you make this at home).

Good luck

 

[paladin42]

Does it stick every time in the same place, or just infrequently?

If it is random, clean the inner & outer parts really well (this involves taking the cylinder and yoke off and separating the center pin from the barrel). It may be years of gunk built up and turning to varnish.

If you aren't comfortable taking it down, you can pull the stocks and soak overnight in some Ed's Red solution (you make this at home).

Good luck

The gun is clean. There's no lube or dirt build-up anywhere. I did soak the assembly in various solvents and I'm confident that gunk is not causing the problem. The rod sticking doesn't appear to be location or position dependent. I can't seem to reproduce the problem at will.

Part of the problem in my DIY is that my modern tools, such as the rod wrench, doesn't fit the Triple Lock. Another is the screw holding the rod assembly in is very tight and I'm not comfortable applying more force. I've been working on S&W revolvers for many years but the Triple Lock is just different enough that I'm reluctant to take the yoke assembly apart.

Thanks for your suggestion. Stay safe, Steve

 

[paladin42]

OOPS! didn't read your profile. Sorry about that chief.

Not a problem - I also do it,

 

[JwesleyN]

The gun is clean. There's no lube or dirt build-up anywhere. I did soak the assembly in various solvents and I'm confident that gunk is not causing the problem. The rod sticking doesn't appear to be location or position dependent. I can't seem to reproduce the problem at will.

Part of the problem in my DIY is that my modern tools, such as the rod wrench, doesn't fit the Triple Lock. Another is the screw holding the rod assembly in is very tight and I'm not comfortable applying more force. I've been working on S&W revolvers for many years but the Triple Lock is just different enough that I'm reluctant to take the yoke assembly apart.

Thanks for your suggestion. Stay safe, Steve

My Triple lock was hard to unlatch the cylinder. You had to push kind of hard to to get the cylinder to swing out. This was due to wear on the unique center pin being worn. I made a new one out of drill rod and hardened it on both ends. Getting back to how to disassemble the cylinder. Forget the rod wrenches or whatever. Remove the cylinder from the revolver and keep in mind there’s a spring loaded plunger in the crane as you pull it out. I’m not sure what it does but it’s there or should be. The knurled end of the ejector rod is separate and threaded to the rod and has to be removed. 2 pieces of wood with a piece of leather place the knurled end in a vise with empty case in the cylinder to prevent torquing on the ejector star. Right hand threads on everything in assembly. Once you remove the ejector rod head you can now remove the crane from the assembly. Now clamp as much of the rod the same way in the vice and turn the cylinder counter clockwise. I use a little rosin on the leather to help it grip and some Kroil on the threaded parts beforehand. Parts unique to the TL are pretty much unobtainium but you might find some springs to replace the old ones. There is a collar retained by a small C clip on the center pin. If you are uncomfortable doing this then take suggestions from others on this forum and send it to a gunsmith familiar with this revolver and has actually worked on them. Hope you get it working right.

 

[paladin42]

My Triple lock was hard to unlatch the cylinder. You had to push kind of hard to to get the cylinder to swing out. This was due to wear on the unique center pin being worn. I made a new one out of drill rod and hardened it on both ends. Getting back to how to disassemble the cylinder. Forget the rod wrenches or whatever. Remove the cylinder from the revolver and keep in mind there’s a spring loaded plunger in the crane as you pull it out. I’m not sure what it does but it’s there or should be. The knurled end of the ejector rod is separate and threaded to the rod and has to be removed. 2 pieces of wood with a piece of leather place the knurled end in a vise with empty case in the cylinder to prevent torquing on the ejector star. Right hand threads on everything in assembly. Once you remove the ejector rod head you can now remove the crane from the assembly. Now clamp as much of the rod the same way in the vice and turn the cylinder counter clockwise. I use a little rosin on the leather to help it grip and some Kroil on the threaded parts beforehand. Parts unique to the TL are pretty much unobtainium but you might find some springs to replace the old ones. There is a collar retained by a small C clip on the center pin. If you are uncomfortable doing this then take suggestions from others on this forum and send it to a gunsmith familiar with this revolver and has actually worked on them. Hope you get it working right.

Thanks for the ah-ha moment! I didn't realize that the knurled knob was screwed into the rod itself. I couldn't find much assembly/disassembly information for the Triple Lock online. I'll work on the revolver again tomorrow with this new information. Thanks ever so much! I'll keep posting progress here so maybe some other unfortunate soul will find it helpful.

 

[Hondo44]

A simple check without disassembling anything:
Open and swing out the cylinder. Point the muzzle at your face, look at the front of the extractor rod and spin the cylinder. Do you see any wobble in the rod as it spins slowly? If it’s bent, you’ll see it.

Another check: push the rod all the way in and examine the extractor star shaft at the rear of cylinder. You’ll notice it has a square cut groove running its full length. Examine for nicks, dents or crud.

Caution:
As JwesleyN posted above, the TL extractor rod is unique from all other S&W revolvers. It uses a tiny “e” clip to retain the rod’s return spring. I’ve seen that clip partly dislodged from its groove in the rod and cause binding. But to trouble shoot the clip you will need to remove the cylinder from the yoke. So soak the front side plate (yoke retention screw) with Liquid Wrench (the best) or similar product. Use a perfect fitting hollow ground screw driver blade. Tap the handle of the screw driver to help “break” the screw loose while turning it.

And once you remove the yoke screw pull the yoke forward. But not until you put the entire gun inside a zip lock bag!

You’ll notice when the cylinder is open, you can turn the gun upside down and the cylinder will not close by itself.

That’s because:
The yoke has a cylinder hold open device (spring and plunger) that likes to take off into another zip code, hence the zip lock bag!

With the yoke removed from gun and the rod knob removed from extractor rod, you’ll be able remove the cylinder assembly from the yoke.

Let us know what you find.

 

[series guy]

Andy Horvath at the Diagonal Road Gun Shop in LaGrange Ohio is also an excellent gunsmith.

 

[paladin42]

I was asked what a rod wrench is. That's the name of the tool below that I was given by an old gunsmith. Having said that, Jerry Kuhnhausen calls it a Wessinger tool in his S&W shop manual. Does anyone else know it by a different name?