19-3 Problems on the Range. Misfires and won't eject. Help please. **Update**

It may be a lot simpler than honing the chambers. Of course honing the chambers will indirectly fix the problem but it is more than is necessary. The polish in the chambers of Smith & Wessons is not an issue, in my opinion, if you've ever looked in the chambers of a Ruger, you'll know what I mean (it looks like they have traction grooves). I have owned numerous revolvers that exhibited identical problems. All of them had or developed a burr in the chambers near the case head/extractor. I removed the cylinder, took out the extractor and cleaned just the edge of the chambers and where the extractor contacts the chamber only slightly with a "pointed hard arkansas stone" (I suspect that a small round swiss file would work also). It required so little that I didn't even need to touch up the blue in the chambers. I did this on at least two 29-2's a 57 and a couple of .22's, none have ever had an extraction issue since.

I hope this helps,
Steve
 
any update and what was the time period of the Bangor Punta ownership?
 
A few thoughts here. One is that the 19-3 is old enough that it won't be covered by the S&W lifetime warranty unless they decide to do it simply to prove yet again that S&W has superb customer service. Basically, it's worth a call to inquire but don't expect that they will do warranty service on a revolvers made in the 70's under different ownership.

Second, sometimes a mild to moderate overcharge can cause bulged chambers in the cylinder. Unfortunately, the only solution for this problem is a new cylinder and that may be difficult to find, especially a recessed cylinder. To check for this you'll have to carefully measure the cylinder at various depths using snap gages and micrometers. If you don't know what snap gages are, talk to a machinist and he'll show you a set of spring loaded T's that can be locked with a knurled knob on the stem. Because modern rimmed casings provide a lot of additional "meat" at the base these bulges usually are found deeper in the chambers, say from 3/8 inch in to near the front of the chamber. What you should measure is a very slight taper from front of case to the rear opening of the cylinder. If you find the chamber gets larger as you check deeper, the chamber is bulged and you'll need a new cylinder.Second thought pertains to the period when your 19-3 was made. People complain a lot about S&W Quality today and seem to have a bit of reverence for older revolvers produced during the Bangor Punta ownership. If they had actually been purchasing revolvers during the late Bangor Punta ownership they'd probably be running into traffic in frustration. There were times during this ownership when Quality was just awful. One recurring issue was poor surface finish in the chambers in the cylinders because Banog Punta wouldn't replace a reamer until it stopped cutting completely. Take a good close look at the surface finish in your chambers, if you see deep gouges honing the chambers may provide a solution. However, you do NOT want to go overboard with that honing, just do enough to solve your ejection issues and stop. In some cases trying to remove all traces of gouging from a dull reamers will only result in chambers that are oversize. I would take a very conservative approach and plan on multiple trips to the range. Start with 20-30 revolutions on each chamber, test for ejection, and then repeat until the ejection issues are resolved. Keep in mind, try as I might, I've never had any success in getting my "material putter backer" to work, so only remove what is needed and stop there.

Third thought. Never been really impressed with Magtech ammo. Also not real impressed with Winchester White Box. Ammo's that do impress me are American Eagle, Federal Champion, and Speer Lawman. I would suggest you try any of these 3 before doing anything else. Fact is that cruddy ammo will crud the chambers and cause problems, especially in an older gun that may have a bit of a finish challenge in the chambers.

BTW, Speer Lawman is the ammo that I find most impressive, however it's a bit spendy and VERY difficult to find in my area in 38 spl.. The Federal is every bit as clean shooting as the Lawman, just not quite as accurate as the Speer ammo.

I was able to borrow a friends micrometer, he didn't have the snap gauges you mention, and measured the cylinder at the distal end and then compared that to the 'new' model 60.
The Model 19 measured .358 in three of the chambers, .357 in two and .359 in one.
As a comparison the Model 60 measured .351 in all the chambers.

I know this doesn't give the relative change at varying chamber depths that you mention but either way it is a significant difference.

I thought I would try the 'chamber hone', which should arrive any day now, that was also mentioned above since I was able to get a slight improvement overall after I cleaned the chambers using a brass brush on a drill motor.
 
It has been a while, I know.

I went to the range today with the model 19 and had success, more or less.
My next step in this 'project' was to use a cylinder hone in the chambers.
After acquiring the hone from Brownells, some time before holiday madness took over my free time, I proceeded to hone each chamber at slow rpm, keeping an even in/out pace. About how one would go at honing the cylinders in an engine. I did this such that each cylinder had approximately 30 degree hatch marks relative to one another.

So, when I got to the range the first round of six ejected with a hint of drag. I was still able to push them out no problem however.

The next 6 came out easier than the first.
And that was how it went. All subsequent rounds ejected with minor to no drag.
I wish they had ejected without any drag at all but considering where I started I am happy with the result.
The ammo was the same as I had used before, Magtech, .357Mag for a total of 50 rounds.

I have acquired a few other 357s since the initial post and will probably move my Magnum dietary needs over to those guns.


Thanks again to everyone that offered ideas and constructive suggestions.
 
Back
Top