Diagnosing/Fixing Hard Cylinder Opening:

[Alk8944]

After a few threads about cylinders being hard to open it may be time for this again:


First, you need to be specific about the problem. Is the "Thumbpiece" (There is no such part as a "cylinder release" on a S&W revolver) hard to push, or is the cylinder hard to push out of the frame once the thumbpiece is pushed forward? These are two totally separate issues.

First, open the cylinder and look at the end of the "bolt". This is the pin you see in the center of the breech face. Is it flush with the breech, or is it below flush? If flush that isn't the problem. If it is below then the bolt (attached to the thumbpiece) isn't pushing the centerpin far enough to disengage the "locking bolt", the beveled pin in the barrel lug that engages the front end of the extractor rod, fully out of the end of the center pin. This could be the result of improper fitting of the bolt, or debris inside the action blocking the bolt from full motion. Remove the sideplate and clean the action and see if this fixes the problem. Be sure to get the area between the front of the bolt and the frame.

The other problem can be a loose extractor rod as mentioned above. Tighten it. The centerpin can also be short, or the extractor rod too long. If the centerpin is not flush, or slightly above, the end of the extractor rod then the locking bolt isn't completely disengaged and is catching on the locking bolt. The front end of the extractor rod needs to be shortened slightly to fix the problem. This is the most likely cause of the cylinder sticking when you try to open it.

To check the extractor rod length remove the cylinder from the gun and hold it vertically on a hard, flat surface to push the centerpin fully flush with the rear face of the extractor center bearing. While holding the cylinder feel the front end of the extractor rod. If you can feel the rim of the extractor rod when moving your finger over the end of the extractor rod it is too long. The end of the centerpin should be at least flush, and if it is you will not feel the rim of the extractor rod, but your finger will slide freely over the centerpin/extractor rod gap. The extractor rod needs to be trimmed slightly until you don't feel the drag anymore. The extractor rod must be fit to work correctly, and even the factory doesn't seem to do a very good job of it! Hardly anyone replacing a damaged extractor rod even has the slightest idea the replacement needs to be fit and just installs it as received!

The extractor rod can be trimmed with a fine file or a stone such as an "India" in fine grit. Smoother stones, like "Arkansas", are simply too fine and will not cut efficiently. Best is to remove the extractor rod from the gun and either face it in a lathe or chuck it a drill press and place a fine file or piece of abrasive paper on the table. This will assure the end of the extractor rod stays square. Usually only .002-.003". Rarely as much as .005" needs to be removed, so don't get too carried away.

While centerpin springs vary in tension I have never seen one so heavy that it could be said to cause the thumbpiece to be so hard to push that it would cause hard opening.

 

[grice]

After a few threads about cylinders being hard to open it may be time for this again:


First, you need to be specific about the problem. Is the "Thumbpiece" (There is no such part as a "cylinder release" on a S&W revolver) hard to push, or is the cylinder hard to push out of the frame once the thumbpiece is pushed forward? These are two totally separate issues.

First, open the cylinder and look at the end of the "bolt". This is the pin you see in the center of the breech face. Is it flush with the breech, or is it below flush? If flush that isn't the problem. If it is below then the bolt (attached to the thumbpiece) isn't pushing the centerpin far enough to disengage the "locking bolt", the beveled pin in the barrel lug that engages the front end of the extractor rod, fully out of the end of the center pin. This could be the result of improper fitting of the bolt, or debris inside the action blocking the bolt from full motion. Remove the sideplate and clean the action and see if this fixes the problem. Be sure to get the area between the front of the bolt and the frame.

The other problem can be a loose extractor rod as mentioned above. Tighten it. The centerpin can also be short, or the extractor rod too long. If the centerpin is not flush, or slightly above, the end of the extractor rod then the locking bolt isn't completely disengaged and is catching on the locking bolt. The front end of the extractor rod needs to be shortened slightly to fix the problem. This is the most likely cause of the cylinder sticking when you try to open it.

To check the extractor rod length remove the cylinder from the gun and hold it vertically on a hard, flat surface to push the centerpin fully flush with the rear face of the extractor center bearing. While holding the cylinder feel the front end of the extractor rod. If you can feel the rim of the extractor rod when moving your finger over the end of the extractor rod it is too long. The end of the centerpin should be at least flush, and if it is you will not feel the rim of the extractor rod, but your finger will slide freely over the centerpin/extractor rod gap. The extractor rod needs to be trimmed slightly until you don't feel the drag anymore. The extractor rod must be fit to work correctly, and even the factory doesn't seem to do a very good job of it! Hardly anyone replacing a damaged extractor rod even has the slightest idea the replacement needs to be fit and just installs it as received!

The extractor rod can be trimmed with a fine file or a stone such as an "India" in fine grit. Smoother stones, like "Arkansas", are simply too fine and will not cut efficiently. Best is to remove the extractor rod from the gun and either face it in a lathe or chuck it a drill press and place a fine file or piece of abrasive paper on the table. This will assure the end of the extractor rod stays square. Usually only .002-.003". Rarely as much as .005" needs to be removed, so don't get too carried away.

While centerpin springs vary in tension I have never seen one so heavy that it could be said to cause the thumbpiece to be so hard to push that it would cause hard opening.

Thank you for this tutorial, I recently had the same problem on my new 25-15 and was struggling with this. Bought it new and it came that way and I should have sent it back but i thought it just needed to be shot but that didn’t help at all, I had to shorten 4 thousandths off the extractor rod to get it to operate right but it did the job!

 

[Protocall_Design]

Additionally, we are finding that the spring loaded ball lock that's in the front of the crane on some models has light internal rust. With the ball not wanting to move, it's hard to open or close. The fix is to put some penetrating oil in the hole in the back and let it soak for a day or two. Then work it to get it freed up, and put synthetic gun oil in after that.

 

[WR Moore]

One problem, rarely seen, not mentioned in the OP is with the locking bolt.
The end of the bolt has a taper that's meant to match that in the extractor rod. However, there's supposed to be a slight flat at the end to bridge the gap between the center pin and the rod. Every once in awhile, the factory-or bubba, doesn't put enough flat there and the locking bolt can hang up in that gap.

While not part of this particular issue, sometimes the flat on the left side of the locking bolt doesn't match with the end of the extractor rod and needs attention to help cam the locking bolt back so the cylinder can close.

ETA: only seen it once (IIRC) but there was one locking bolt that either had the retaining pin slot or the nose off, but I had to create a wee bit more travel to get proper functioning. A spare or two can come in handy. The locking bolt was just one of several parts in my model 64 fixerupper that needed to be replaced thanks to wear or bubba. Bubba cost me more $$.