I picked up my model 12 2inch snubby on Friday and hit the range on Saturday. I didnt have much time so I only brought one box of PMC fmj 38spl.

The first few shots were beautiful. The target was about 10 yards and the first 3 shot were touching and on the X. The other 3 were very close. All shots were fired in DA. The longer I shot (keep in mind this was only 10 min range sesion.) the stranger the triger felt. Sometimes it would get heavy about 1/2 way through the pull and a few times it stopped and no amount of preasure would complete the pull. If i let off a hair and alaud the hammer to slowly fall farward just a little and then pull the trigger back again the gun would go through the DA movement and fire. The next shot was almost always very fast. The hammer would come back and then fall farward really fast it seemed. In between reloads I did dry fire and everything seemed to function as it should. The last 6 rounds were fired in SA mode. I had no problems manualy cocking the hammer.

I did not take the gun apart before or after. I did however leave it at the range with the gunsmith.

Any thoughts?

Crud on the cylinder face causing a hangup when it gets lodged against the barrel? Cylinder could be just enough out of square that it only happens on one or two chambers.

Crud is possible but the gun was very clean externally. Could have been after the first or 2nd reload I suppose.

If its out of spec can that be fixed or is it a design flaw in this particular gun?

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Not a design flaw.
Some guns left the factory with less than minimum barrel to cylinder gap. Pretty east fix for a gunsmith or hobbiest that knows his shims.
Could also be crud under the extractor star.
I would do a thorough clean with a toothbrush and go shooting.

I'll let the gunsmith worry about it. Im not the type to go digging around myself when Im not sure of what im doing. If other problems show up I wouldn't know if it was me or the way I bought it and it would still end up a time the gunsmith. Alsi I don't have time to do this. If I "fix" it today I might get to the range sometime within the next 30 days.

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I doubt your M12 has a fatal flaw or even any problem that requires serious gunsmith intervention. I've had a few revolvers (both old and new) that showed inconsistent or intermittently draggy actions, and a teardown cleaning fixed almost all of them.That's where I would start with this one, and I imagine the gunsmith will do that for you at a bare minimum.

One of the guns had a small flake of milling debris or something equally hard stuck in the trigger return system. The coil spring was fighting that little solid chip as it slipped around inside the spring pocket of the trigger return slide.

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David Wilson

Strongly agree with the above analysis and recommendation.

Hi Arik! All I can do is approve of your allowing the 'smith to determine the problem. I bought a used 12 three years ago that was nothing but trouble, sticking when firing factory ammo DA. Nothing helped. It went back to the gunsmith 3x before I gave up and had him sell it. A very capable 'smith who has worked on other guns for me.

I hope your 12 can be corrected, but it sounds suspiciously like what I had with mine.

Gunsmith just called. Problem was the end shake?!?! When loaded the cylinder was dragging on the barrel mouth. (This is why I didnt feel it when dry firing) He installed a shim and fired 18 rounds of 130gr independence. Said everything seems to be 100% both in DA and SA. Everything worked smooth and proper.

He also opened it up and cleaned it

I'll pick it up sometime this week and give it a go

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I'm coming late to the update, but I'm glad to hear that a fix has been achieved. Shoot in good health!

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David Wilson

It's good to hear that he found something and corrected it. Looking forward to the range report.