early chief spl issues.

[crsides]

I found a baby chief spl in Tulsa a few weeks ago. The cylinder is rubbing the back of the bbl on two chambers. The ejector rod was a bit loose, so I tightened it up by hand, and then the cylinder would not close. It feels like the cylinder is hitting the recoil shield and is jammed. I have trimmed the center pin and the ejector rod tip, but it is still jamming when the ejector rod is tightened. I loosened the ejector rod more, the cylinder will now shut, but the cylinder will then not open. I have had to insert a knife blade to press on the lock under the bbl to open it. Any suggestions ?

 

[s&wchad]

End shake can cause the cylinder to rub on the back of the barrel. Did you check that before trimming the center pin and ejector rod?

 

[crsides]

yes, I should have mentioned that, but there is no end shake movement at all.

 

[Green Frog]

Sounds to me like a bent crane or ejector rod from too many times having the "Private Eye" maneuver done, flipping it shut to impress the surrounding tourists. Take the cylinder out and check frame to crane fit, and then take the ejector rod out and roll it on a flat surface. I'd bet a printed picture of Geo Washington to a glazed circular pastry one or both will be bent.

Froggie

 

[crsides]

never had a bent crane. I checked the ejector rod and center pin, but will check them again, too.

 

[crsides]

checked the crane and the fit is perfect. Ejector rod is not bent.
I'm going to order a new ejector rod and center pin and see if that fixes it.

 

[Hondo44]

It sounds like the barrel to cyl gap is too tight/small on two chambers You've checked everything else.

Since the rub marks are just on two chambers and don't go all the way around the face of the cyl the front face of the cyl may be slightly out of square a few thousandths. This is not uncommon on production revolvers.

If the yoke shaft is not bent, you can have it turned and trued up. But it doesn't have to be turned. Most likely, it just needs the end of the barrel squared off and/or the gap enlarged by carefully filing the end of the barrel (keeping it flat and square) for a .004" to .008" gap.

 

[Green Frog]

Jim, just a thought, but before taking any metal off the rear face of the barrel, wouldn't it be better to see what is out of square? If it's the front face of the cylinder, that should be trued up first, IMHO. Cutting the rear face of the barrel to clear the closest chambers means there will be larger gaps at the chambers that already cleared, right?

Your phriendly 'phibian

 

[Hondo44]

Froggie, yes I posted "If the yoke shaft is not bent,".

But not everyone has access to a lathe. And if the cyl is not square (has run out), it's usually only a thousandths or two. The cyl gap can accommodate that small amount of adjustment w/o unduly opening the bar/cyl gap. Early 1950s gaps were pretty tight, sometimes too tight. Current gaps from the factory can run from .006" to .010".

I would measure the gap where the cyl face doesn't rub and I'll bet it's even too small or at the minimum.

 

[crsides]

Got a new center pin and adjusted it to fit properly. My buddy has a bbl facing/cutter and we took .003" off, recut the forcing cone and everything is running smoothly now. thanks for all the suggestions. I'm a happy camper.