I wanted to open a debate about revolvers. Has anyone had a failure to fire with a revolver for whatever reason that was NOT due to ignorance or neglect? I was under the impression that a Smith and Wesson revolver or any other revolver for that matter is one of the most reliable things on planet Earth. I understand all revolvers shoot different and some are better quality than others. With that being said what are some of your favorite and most reliable makes of revolvers? I do have to say that I never had a S&W revolver that broke or didnt function properly that I could not fix or correct the problem quickly myself. That also goes for all revolvers I have owned too! I hope to continue my revolver obsession but I dont want to get turned off them because I had to much high expectations for them.

Has anyone had a failure to fire with a revolver for whatever reason that was NOT due to ignorance or neglect?

Yes

In over 40 years of shooting Smith and Wesson revolvers, the only gun related failure was a broken firing pin/nose on the hammer on a M-624.

I got back to town, took out the hammer and took it to a gunsmith in San Diego CA and in about 5 minutes while I waited, it was fixed. Never had any other issue ever.

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A Snider squibbed n the Jungle

I love the 45 acp cartridge but I had lots of 1911 failure to fire for numerous reasons. Though NEVER had a Colt 1911 fail on me EVER. Love the 22 but had many failures with all types of 22 autos. Love the 9mm cartridge but had a few failures with some autos. NEVER had a failure to fire on ANY 9mm Smith autos and NEVER as of yet had a failure to fire with ANY revolver regardless of make..... Oh well I did have an issue with a few revolvers. One sticks in my mind though besides the Smith revolver that the hammer broke off while shooting but it would still shoot double action so that doesnt count. I did have a failure to function properly with an old H&R revolver but it still shot that 38 S&W bullet every time! I called it the gut buster special! lol

Just curious how did that firing pin break? I do prefer the internal firing pin of the Taurus and Rugers more than the exposed one of the Smith and Rossi revolvers. I do have to say this that the only Smith revolver problems I ever had were all hammer related.

Never had any Smith revolver fail to fire or function as designed except when firing a little break-top .22 we found when my first wife's grandmother died. Ammo was copper-cased and green with corrosion. Two rounds failed to fire. No fault of the little gun--they fired the second time around,

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Oh well, what the hell.

During 45 years of shooting 38/357 and 44 mag Smith revolvers, I've never had a malfunction other than a loose ejection rod. No problem with factory ammo or reloads.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

I've never had a S&W revolver fail to fire for me. Nothing broken or jammed up. Firing perhaps 1500 rounds a year. J's, K's, and my new L.

I've had numerous FTF's and FTE's with semi-autos, including a Colt Series 70 Mk IV that NEVER got off a full magazine of ball ammo, and a S&W 457 [corrected] that was a jam-0-matic. I have to say, I've never had a single problem with my S&W SD9, any M&P pistol, or any Sig I owned. Ever. I have a couple of S&W 3rd Gen pistols that have been good but my round counts are too low to say they are as good as they seem so far.

My working hypothesis is that once a gun (revolver or pistol) has fired reliably for me for a couple of hundred rounds, I can expect it to be reliable in the predictable future.

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S&W Rover

The only failure I've had that isn't due to my ignorance or stupidity (like reloading too high primers) was with dud ammo, but pull the trigger again and you get another shot without going through tap, rack, bang and stuff.

I think I've only had one dud with commercial ammo, and a few with my reloaded stuff. That's out of about 5000 shots out of my revolvers.

I expect that if a gun will fire it will fire the next time. If it decides to break on the very shot that I REALLY need to take, that would be very long odds.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I have never had a failure to fire on any of my Colts, Rugers or Smiths. I had a hammer nose on a Rossi 357 break once. As soon as it was repaired I sold it because I knew I would never trust it again.

^^^^ This.

I remember a couple of occasions with older K-frames where I was unable to open the cylinder for re-loading after shooting a full load, which in both cases turned out to be the ejector rod having loosened (likely over time).

Three that I can think of in the last 40+ years, All S&W.

First was a model 27-2 bought new around 1975. The cylinder gap was too tight so the powder fouling on the cylinder face would jam the cylinder after 12-18 rounds. Smith & Wesson fixed it and haven't had a problem since.

Next was a model 63 with a lose ejector rod. Tightened it myself and it has worked ever since.

Last was a model 340 Sc. After four rounds of Federal 158gr 357's, the last round had inertia pulled beyond the cylinder locking the revolver up. Could not turn or open the cylinder. Hurt way too much to shoot and I had lost faith in its reliability so I traded it in.

The only "malfunction" I've ever had with a S&W revolver that was not "directly" ammo related (bullet backing out, dud primer, etc), was a couple instances where unburnt bits of colloidal ball powder found it's way under the ejector star and prevent the cylinder from going back in the frame after a speed reload.

It's a bit of a PITA to clear quickly as well. You end up having to dump the rounds, then extend the ejector, pick or flick the offending bit of powder off, and then re-load.

It's one of the reasons I avoid colloidal ball powders in my 2.5" .357 Mag self defense revolvers.

A few failures to fire because of ammo, but zero problems with the any revolver in 45 years of shooting hand guns. A few jambs,fail to feed/eject with semi's..

No........

Had the cylinder jam and refuse to open on a 1967 model 40 centennial.

Bought gun in online auction and did a quick clean before shooting 20 -30 rounds.
Cylinder would not open after last 5 shots. Gunsmith found nearly 50 years of dirt, rust and other crud inside. Good internal cleaning and good as new.

Lesson learned - I open side plate on all used guns for inspection and cleaning before shooting 1st time.

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2B1ASK1

S&W 1975 J Frame - No failures
S&W 627 5" Barrel - No failures
S&W 627 2.625" Barrel times 3 - no failures
S&W 586 L-Comp - No failures
S&W 629 - No failures
S&W 617 - No failures


S&W 1911 Melonite - jammed frequently on certain .45 ammo such as Blazer Brass
S&W 1911 Gun Site Edition - 1 malf.
Wilson Combat 1911 CQB Elite - 3 Malf.'s
Wilson Combat 1911 X-Tac 9mm - 4 Malf's
Kimber 1911 Super Carry Custom HD - Frequent malfunctions (NEVER another Kimber)
Glock 22 3rd Gen - No failures
Glock 27 3rd Gen - No failures
Glock 35 3rd Gen - No failures
Glock 22 4th Gen - No Failures
Glock 35 4th Gen - No Failures (one malf. my fault)
Glock 34 4th Gen times 2 - No Failures

Smith & Wesson & Ruger revolvers just shoot, kind of like it is their job.

The only S&W revolvers I had chronic problems with were the Model 52 .22 Jets. That was due to the design of the ammunition.

Had the ejector rod loosen up and prevent the cylinder from closing on a revolver. I don't recall which one. Never had another problem with it. It might have been my fault anyway, because there's a good chance I detail stripped this gun and the problem was afterwards. Lesson: requalify your gun before packing it after detail stripping.

Broke a firing pin from excessive dry firing, but caught it before shooting. By excessive I mean dry firing numerous times a night for several years. I use A-Zoom snap caps now. The Pachmayrs snap caps would wear out within a few days.

Had the hammer pivot pin break on a Model 25-5. Factory fixed it under warranty.

The above happened over a span of about 35 years and out of several dozen S&W revolvers.

Contrast that with my only Colt revolver being an absolute piece of junk.

Yes. Model 14 that the firing pin shattered/broke during a match. The gun had several thousand rounds through it at that point.

New Model 686 no dash that locked up the cylinder when firing some Magnum ammo. The L frame was new at the time and S&W was unaware of the hammer nose bushing/firing pin dimension problem yet, which later led to the recall ("M" stamped modification).

A first year Model 642 cracked the frame just below the forcing cone after 20 years and a lot of use, but the gun was still functioning just fine when I found the crack.

I've had a few on my 1851 Colt Navy.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Yup.

When I was a prison guard, I was assigned to the towers a few times. Among the weapons there were a number of .38 special M&Ps. Of course, I checked them for function. One of them wouldn't cycle every time. I got permission to bring my smithing tools and disassembled it. Wound up taking another M&P apart and swapping parts. Got both of them workings.

These were basically new, but any mechanical device can fail.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Yes. Cylinder locked up on nearly new 642. Maybe only a couple hundred rounds through it. Sent it back to S&W. No problems since. Maybe 1,500 more rounds since.

Anything that has ever been made will wear out or break if it is used enough. I have found that S&W and Colt revolvers won't break or wear out as fast as the X brand guns. Larry

During the decade I was an assistant range office, the guys on my department were able to "break" the S&W M19 or M15 many times. The most common was the cartridge under the star but I also had to repair broken firing pins, a broken main spring and numerous loose extractor rods.

Kevin

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Unshared knowledge is wasted.

Two that I can think of.

Model 12 that would sometimes bind when pulling the trigger in DA. You'd pull the trigger and the cylinder would start to rotate and then it would hit a wall. Hammer half way back, cylinder half way rotated and nothing could be done any further. If you released the trigger and tried again it was 50/50.

1962 model 27. Random light primer strikes

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Yes as well; broken parts: K frame (hammer nose), J frame (hand), Python (pin). In all cases gun was not functional.

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K & N S&W revolvers

Three. Two S&Ws, one Colt (twice).

I had a 547 which apparently pierced a primer, and the firing pin would not retract. Completely disabled. This was at a commercial range/gunshop (A&P Arms in Va Beach). The guy behind the counter drove the case back with an appropriate rod.

My 29-2 would sometimes cycle backwards with heavy loads. So would a 37 with +P. Of course you only had to index the cylinder and pull the trigger again (and maybe have it happen again). I don't count the 37 as a failure - easy enough to avoid +P ammo.

Had a Colt Diamondback which broke a hammer nose (in a bobbed hammer). Replaced the nose. Before long, it broke again. Read Kuhnhausen, checked that gun every way from Sunday, couldn't find a reason. Put a new nose in the hammer, put a new hammer (complete) in the gun and sold it. Eventually put the bobbed hammer in an Agent, and it's still doing fine.

Anything can break. In ~50 years of shooting lots of different handguns I have had two absolute failures. Not shooter or ammo caused.

In the Army, while qualifying, had the milled steel extractor on a 1911 break into two pieces. Glad it wasn't in combat.

Years later, practicing with my EDC, a Model 60 (no dash) the revolver locked up. Totally. Thumbpiece was fully forward.
Upon disassembling it, I discovered that the milled steel bolt had snapped. Glad it wasn't in a defensive situation.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Like any mechanical device, failures happen. In my opinion, S&W, Ruger, and Colt quality historically far exceed Taurus, Rossi, Charter Arms, et al. Any of the former three are well built and consistently reliable. If you shoot enough, and watch others shoot enough, you're going to see and experience failures . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

That I do not know. Was just shooting it and then it would not fire. Checked it out and found the hammer nose snapped off. Just a weak spot I guess.

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A Snider squibbed n the Jungle

The only FTF or functions that I've ever experienced with any S&W revolver (many!) over the past 50 or so years has been ammo related, most often a primer problem or squib load (bid priced practice ammo during training and qualifications). I have known of a very few incidents where an internal part of the action ceased to function properly either due to Bubba-smithing or just plain wear and tear on revolvers that were used to fire multiple thousands of rounds during years of recruit training.
I have also seen a few incidents where either the hammer or trigger stud were broken loose from the frame, usually caused by someone operating the action under full spring tension with the sideplate removed, I think.

I actually purchased a Model 13 with a three inch barrel sight unseen that had this problem. When it arrived at my dealer, I carefully inspected it (no disassembly involved) before accepting the delivery. The action functioned with out problem both single and double action other than the action was a bit sluggish as if the innards needed a good cleaning and relubrication. The gun actually had a pretty decent and smooth operation and the external condition was very good. When I got it home and removed the sideplate, I found that the hammer stud was broken off the frame and that the pin that secured the hand and spring inside the slot in the trigger was also broken and loose in place. I was astounded to know that the action appeared to be in good condition and produced a really pretty good function. I reported the findings to the seller who was unwilling to accept any responsibility for the condition of the gun or make any adjustment for the cost. So I bought some experience and since I really liked and wanted the revolver, I sent it to S&W for repairs. They replaced the broken hammer stud as well as the complete trigger assembly and hand, timed the action and tuned it, and of course, refinished the whole thing since replacement of the hammer stud required refinishing.

The revolver is now is perfect operating condition and shoots well. The refinish was not with the same type of bluing that originally came on the revolver but it is very well done as was the polishing done prior to the rebluing. I've got the price of the gun plus about 2/3's more invested now in it, but given some of the high prices commanded in recent months for three inch S&W revolvers, my investment doesn't look quite so bad. Irregardless, I like it, don't intend to sell it, and I'm satisfied to have it as it is now. I'm still disappointed in the seller, but can't say for certain that he was aware of the problem when he sold the gun to me. I do have my suspicions, but that's another story! In any case, the revolver is now as good as new, considering that it's hard to get the same kind of a bluing job as the ones that came on those fine old revolvers.

I've never owned nor used nor seen any product, especially of a mechanical nature that have been as reliable as the S&W revolvers that were made during the 30's through the 70's and into the 80's. I prefer the older ones, and even the majority of the revolvers produced after this time have a pretty good track record over all. There have been times when quality control slipped, and none of the newer models had the individual hand's on attention of the older model during manufacture. Actually, I guess I have had one product that has been maybe more trouble free than my S&W revolvers, and that is an anvil that has been used for four generations and which I have passed along to the fifth generation.

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So long ... Ken

My only failures with revolvers have been misfires from loose strain screws or the ejector rod backing out.
One thing can be said for sure, while most auto malfunctions can be cleared in a few seconds most revolver issues totally lock the gun up until remedial action taking a lot more time can be applied

My 67 did the same thing.

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K & N S&W revolvers

I have never had a failure for any of my revolvers to fire, but I have had a few critical failures. The two critical failures involved:
- 1. A Model 27, where the extractor star separated from the ejector rod.
- 2. A Model 57, where the cylinder would not open after a period of storage.

I have had the ejector rod back out a few times over the past 30 years in bullseye matches, but it never affected the ability to shoot.

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Judge control not gun control!

i've fired several thousand rounds through my older (1926 - 1949) S&W revolvers..........always accurate and reliable.....

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There's nowt so queer as folk

Me too.........

So reliable, it's scary. I got my son an old nickel 38 Special from the 1920's when he was about 15. He reloaded for it. While he had the manuals, he reloaded light 357 magnum loads. After 2 years of constantly shooting a gun that was over 60 years old, it finally became so loose and rattle-trap it's a wonder it just didn't fall apart. Never failed to fire and never blew up. . .it should have! It was stolen from him in 1986. I gave him the insurance money and he bought a brand new 686. He still has it and has killed a multitude of deer with it. That gun will probably still be shooting 500 years from now.

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Dr. B

"Is that old S&W revolver as reliable as you think?"

Yep, it is.

One of my most used Smith & Wesson revolvers has been in my possession for more than 40 years now. I still use it and abuse it as I still do with several other Smith & Wesson revolvers I've had nearly that long. They all work as expected.

I been shooting handguns since the mid 70's.Revolvers(mostly S&W but also Dan Wessons ,Colts and Rugers)and autos(Colts,S&W,Ruger,Sigs,Walther,Unique,Beretta,Browning,Glock and maybe a few more I forgot about).All guns being mechanical things will eventually malfunction.
If we except ammo related malfunction,I must say that autos came a long way from behind to be almost as reliable as a revolver.
But when you need it,the malfunction being caused or not by inadequate ammo is still a malfunction.When it counts,give me a revolver!
Qc

I have never had a failure to fire that was not traced to defective ammo. I did loan my 10-8 to someone I used to work with. They tried to qualify with it but kept having problems. They tried another person's revolver and qualified. I took my 10-8 and shot the same course with 0 malfunctions. I had just had the springs changed a couple months earlier and determined they were short stroking the trigger. They did not allow the trigger to fully reset before trying to fire the next round. I kept the 10-8 in that same condition. Being in private security I figured if my gun was taken and used against me the attacker could easily have the same problem giving me an opportunity to get my gun back. I did have problems with my 6 inch Colt Python but that was traced to a worn hand (timing issue). I had already switched to S&W before my Python had problems. BTW I had the Python repaired and still have it.

I've had a couple of failures with S&W revolvers. One was a 629-1 that had a habit of "skipping" with factory full-house loads. I bought this revolver new, and it didn't have a very high round count at the time, fewer than 150 rounds. I sent it back to S&W twice, and that seemed to do the trick. It's been just fine ever since, and that was probably close to 30 years ago.

The second one was a 625 model of 1989 fresh out of the box. I only got one cylinder through it, and when I went to reload it, the cylinder fell off. The crane screw was loose from the factory. Luckily, I somehow found the screw, tightened it down properly, and it's been a fantastic shooter since. That one was partly my fault. I make it a habit to check over any gun, even a brand new one, before I shoot it. That time I was just a little too eager and got bit.

Any mechanical device can fail. So it pays to test your revolver, especially before you rely on it for self defense. And my advice is, once you verify function, carry that one, and find another one like it to practice with. That way your risk of having some critical part break at the worst possible moment is reduced to almost nil in your carry gun. Even though the odds of breakage aren't very high, even in your practice gun, it gives you an excuse to own both a model 65 AND a model 13. Now, who would want to do that?

I like revolvers, but they can and do fail. When assigned to the Firearms and Tactics Unit in the New York City Police Department every day of qualifications at the Outdoor Range would have a bunch of officers heading over to the department gunsmith to have their revolvers taken care of.

Every problem you can imagine, from just gunked up from twenty years of pumping gun oil in their innards to broken parts.

Once (nearly 50 years ago…), during an indoor qualification cycle, one of the shooters tried to fire his Colt Detective Special. Wouldn’t go off. Looked at the gun. Broken firing pin. Guy almost fainted. Apparently he was an active officer and had depended on that revolver for his life only a short time earlier.

I bought a new Colt Detective Special (1972) from the department's Equipment Section ($80 bucks or so). As was my habit I was going to put a hundred rounds through the handgun before carrying it. Got to 94 rounds (really) and then the cylinder would not open up. Froze solid. Walked over to the department pistolsmith, Kenny Socker, and Kenny fixed the gun in fifteen minutes. Perfect ever since.

Yeah, revolvers are reliable. But they ain’t perfect.

Rich

I purchased a model 19-3 that based on the lack of any trace of markings on the recoil shield was nearly unfired when purchased. It also had a misfire rate of 30% with 38 special ammunition and 100% with 357 Magnums so I suspect that the reason it was nearly unfired was that from the factory it was equipped with a "short" hammer nose. Note, I tried shimming the strain screw to produce an 11.5 lbs. DA trigger weight and that did not improve the misfire issue at all. Good news is that Power Custom and Brownell's provided a solution to this problem with a new Hammer nose and it is now 100% reliable with any type of ammunition with any type of primer I have access to, even the hard Remington Magnum primers.

BTW, I am a reloader and CCI primers aren't nearly has "hard" as the Net may lead you to believe, it's Remington that I've found to run a bit "hard". I've also found that Magnum primers all run a bit harder than the standard pressure primers.

Finally this 2 1/2 inch model 19-3 has become my most favorite revolver to shoot and one benefit of that short barrel is that the "fill" between front and rear sight is quite tight. As a result if I cheat with some reading glasses so I can actually focus on the sights I've been able to keep 12 out of 12 within a 11 inch circle at 50 yards shooting offhand with it. Not too shabby for an old fart with CRS, CSS, and CHS. (Can't Remember, See, or Hear "stuff)

Yes, hand spring broke on a 36-1 which turned the revolver into a single shot.

After just a few rounds, my brand new Model 625-9 "Mountain Gun" in .45 Colt would not reliably detonate the primers. Took off the grips and tightening the main spring strain screw, which was visibly loose, corrected problem. No problems since.

Interesting thread. I love revolvers ( S&W,Ruger,Dan Wesson), and carry a J frame that I trust with my life. However, I have to say the most reliable handguns I've ever owned in 55 years are my two 1980s vintage Hi-Powers.

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John

Model 52-2 sometimes finicky with certain new ammo or other reloaded ammo, but once you have it right, it's flawless.

Other than that, only a few times with post war revolvers where the ejector rods starts to back off making it difficult to impossible to open. The latter being a failure to function and not really a failure to fire.

A later 1990s a model 642 that went back to S&W for service twice for the same reason. It came back with the same malfunction, twice. I never like the rectangular shaped extractor tree after that. It would fire 2 to 3 shots after which the trigger pull was impossibly hard and the cylinder refused to rotate. Cool completely down and it would do an exact repeat of the same malfunction. I sent it to my local smith who took care of it perfectly.

In 1994, a brand new 3913, 1st time out of the box would not feed the ammo. The round would not seat thus the slide would not close. After stopping to disassemble. there was what seemed to be a dried, hard, blob of of brownish, box glue on the inside breech of the barrel. A very careful removal with a snap-on miniature mechanic's "pick"(careful not to damage the inside of the breech) followed by a brass bore brush with Hoppes and it never failed to feed or function again.

My original 39-2 from 1979, recently gifted to my eldest son, has NEVER failed to function and fire properly in all these years.

Conservatively it has only had approximately 2000 rounds through it, which I'll admit, was quite light duty for all those years. My eldest son confided in me that he always admired that, specific, 39-2 (nickel) much more than I realized, since he was a child so I gifted it to him.

He toasted 200 rounds through it the first day he owned it. 37 years now, it still has NEVER malfunctioned but I will admit it was always well taken care of.

I taught all my children first on an early 1950s K22 graduating to a 1949 K-38, both were purchased in well used but not abused condition, 30+ years ago. Several years back the 1949 K-38 broke the cylinder indexing lock so it was put away in disassembled condition for many years..

After ordering the cylinder indexing lock for a 5-screw, pre-model number 14, twice, I found neither of them fit. I discovered it was an early post war (transition). I measured out and match the part to discover it had an older, pre-war style (1905, 4th) cylinder index lock and NOT the 1950s forward type. I replaced the part with a matching part from my parts box which was ether a pre-war 1905 4th or WWII Victory part.. It's now back in service, functioning perfectly once again.

Seems the part originally used in that period manufacture, when built, was very thin where it narrowed as compared to the 1950 to 1956, 5 screw type. Evidently S&W using up all the WWII and Pre WWII parts first, in post war production, before the newer style parts were manufactured.

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

I had two Ruger Vaqueros fail after thousands of rounds of Cowboy Action Shooting and many more thousands of dry fires. The hammer plunger spring broke, one within a week of the other.

My model 60 broke the hammer stud. Snapped off clean at the frame. Gun still functioned but the trigger pull was very rough. So it really wasn't a failure to fire. S&W fixed it quickly.