Endshake bearings or stretching the crane?

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Me and my friend are debating this, he says that using bearings to correct an endshake problem would not ever pose any problems as far as reliability, I have seen one revolvers used in competitions that ended up wearing through a bearing and then it overlaped itself and locked the gun up. I would think that for a competition gun or a carry gun stretching the yoke would be the safer bet.....any other thoughts on this? anyone ever seen this happen before?
 
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i don't think you will wear through the bearing, since it is hardened steel. i prefer to stretch the crane, that's how s&w does it.
 
I shoot about 30,000 competition rounds through a K Frame PPC guns a year, and have done so for the past 16 years... in all that time I have only ever replaced the cylinder shims - and never stretched the crane.
I believe that the shims are a long term adjustment, stretching is a quick and easy short term fix.
For reliability, longevity and smoothness use shims and a little lube, you will never regret the effort.
 
I shoot revolver in IDPA and rely on the shims to correct endshake.

Cleaning, lubrication, inspection and replacement of worn parts goes a long way to keeping a competition gun going.

If you "stick 'em in and shoot 'em 'til they break" any gun will eventually break.
 
The only time I have ever seen problems with the shims is when they've been installed in a cylinder that has a "groove" worn by the yoke and the "person" doing the installing didn't true up that surface. Square up the end of the yoke, true up the cylinder surface, shim as needed and you're good to go.
 
Thanks for the input, I'm not sure who installed the shim that I saw go bad, but it does sound like it wasn't installed correctly.
 
The end shake shims are actually harder steel than the gun is made from. They act as thrust washers and cushion the wear surfaces and reduce the wear on them that caused the end shake in the first place.

I have found that after installing the washers on my guns, I never had to fix end shake again.

AS previously stated, a torn or failing washer occurs only if incorrectly installed. The inside surface of the cylinder that the washer rides against has to be smoothed flat to get rid of the wear groove.
 
Use the washers; don't begin reworking yoke metal without some experience(which, of course, you can't get without doing it!
icon_confused.gif
). Anyway...the washers will work fine.
 
Interesting question. How do you guys true up the inside of the cylinder prior to fitting the shims? Is there a tool made for this?

Thanks.
 
Originally posted by dirtysanchez:
Interesting question. How do you guys true up the inside of the cylinder prior to fitting the shims? Is there a tool made for this?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I use a "W" size drill bit with the shank end ground flat with a piece of 320 grit sandpaper glued to it. A "W" bit fits the cylinder perfectly.
 
I called Smith and Wesson after I bought a nice used 29-4 that turned out to have plenty of endshake and slop in the action. They sent me a shipping label and restored the revolver to original factory specification, including actions parts replacements. All for no cost. I was amazed at the quality of work done. The revolver was perfectly timed, tight, like new. I have been reloading for some time and I don't think this gun will ever get anything more than a mid-range load through it again.

I just don't want it to loosen up one bit, it's so perfect.
 
My gunsmith likes to stretch the crain because that's what he learned 30 years ago but he told me to go ahead and put the washers in my guns if I wanted. I now do most of my own gunsmithing but glad I still have him as a backup.
 
The factory authorized practice is to stretch the yoke. However, this reduces the cross sectional area of the yoke at the point of the stretch. The reduced cross section also reduces the strength of the yoke, reducing its service life.

While the factory rep I spoke to acknowledged the reduced strength/life, he had no choice but say that "It's what the factory recommends."

I use shims.
 
i have stretched the crane on several smiths which were "like new" guns when i got them, in spite of the endshake issue they had. seems odd, after shooting thousands of rounds, many hot magnum loads, i never had to do it again. makes me wonder if they were not manufactured with a bit of a problem.
 
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