629-3 trials of a bubba

[oink]

First off I apologize if your name is actually Bubba. No offence intended. I've known several great guys birth named Bubba over the years.

I recently bought a 5" 629-3 with clearly very low miles. It felt very un-broken in. Upon cracking it open it did have an unusual amount of fairly clean oil. I cleaned up the action a little bit, double action trigger wise. I still left it a bit raw so it would shoot in naturally. I can go back later if it seems needed.

A problem I had difficulty addressing was the operation of the bolt. It was very crunchy and difficult to manipulate. Upon removing the bolt it looked like it was a MIM part that had been finished by a beaver. It was very rough as if from a bad casting and where it was machined it had deep gouges/scratches.

So I went through several episodes of mainly stoning but some filing, removing most of the crude roughness. I also cleaned up it's channel some as it was pretty rough looking like it was cut with a very dull cutter. I only achieved minor improvement.

I then noticed that the sear pin was standing proud on the side where the bolt crossed it. It looked like the bolt, bolt stud for the thumb piece crossed that area. I then drifted the sear pin so that it was properly centered and not protruding from either side. I think it may have helped a tad but still bad.

To eliminate the bolt as the problem I switched it out with the bolt from my 629-1. Well the -1 bolt worked fine in the -3. And the -3 bolt worked smooth in the -1 but it was too long. I couldn't push the thumb piece all of the way forward. If I did I couldn't open the cylinder. Upon looking, it was obviously protruding too far from the shield. I didn't want to file it shorter.

So, I swapped the -3 bolt with the one from my -4. The -4 bolt worked perfectly in the -3 but the rough and difficult issue switched to the -4 but was even worse.

Finally while inspecting the -3 bolts function in the -4 I saw that the tail of the bolt just forward of the pin (plunger) and spring was catching on the back of the hammer when the thumb piece was pressed forward.

Enough aggravation! out comes my little Otis square file. I lowered the little shelf that's cut near the tail of the bolt where it was catching on the back of the hammer and then finished it with 400 paper. Anybody know what that little shelf is called?

Anyhow, problem solved. All revolvers are working great with smooth operation of the thumb piece. I've never had an issue with a bolt before.

I know you guys are freaked out by bubba at work. Oh well!

[Protocall_Design]

Well, you got the job done. Good for you. The only way you're going to learn to fix things is to fix some things.

One of my sayings is - Experience is what you get right after you need it. I have many years of "experience", and have ruined my share of parts along the way. Amazingly, I didn't die from it. I got a new or used whatever part, and got 'er done. Now I have done so much with so little for so long, I'm qualified to do anything with nothing. Keep at it, you'll get there.

[ggibson511960]

The nice thing about the S&W revolver mechanism is that very little is hidden once the sideplate is off. A long thoughtful pause is always in order to study problems and you certainly did it and did well. Our beloved S&W's are not Swiss watches and are large enough to see what is going on. That said, it is wise to not file things down till you have figured out what's wrong.

[mikerjf]

I’m in the midst of some Bubba-like activity myself, so I can relate. Having multiple assemblies to swap parts between must have been a big help!

(BTW, I recall a joke from the old computer days… How do you ID an [IBM/Control Data/Burroughs/whoever] service tech? He’s the guy at the side of the road with a flat, swapping tires on his van…)

(Also, experimentally removing parts one at a time and seeing if the item still functioned was called “Muntz engineering”, after the tv manufacturer…)

[dogdoc]

That’s great that you got them going! I have been a Bubba for many years ,like about 45 years. I started because there was no one locally to work on guns and I enjoyed it. I definitely ruined some parts along the way but like protocol ,you have to pay some dumb tax along the way! I always try to alter the cheapest part if I can ! My gun tool supply has increased to the point I have a lathe and a mill! I have so many handgun tools, a gunsmith friend of mine sometimes borrows them from me for work (he taught me how to thread on my lathe). It is a great addition to the firearm hobby.

[stu1ritter]

Here is a 629-3 that I Bubba'd quite a bit. It was a 6.5" barrel that is now 4" and the lock work have been gone over in great detail. It is a wonderful revolver to shoot with my homebrew 44 Special Skeeter loads in mag cases. Everyone who shoots it smiles and says, that was fun!

Stu