Fitting the hand - L frame project

[-BTM-]

The 586 rebuild has turned into a full remodel LOL. It’s going to be a Pinto!

7-shot cylinder fits like a glove and timing is good, verified by range rod and endoscope. Lockup is tight but..

Won’t come to full cock. It’s hard to see in there but I believe the hand is not slipping by the cog after carry-up. Makes sense as the cogs are in a different position altogether compared to the 6 round cylinder. If I move the cylinder a hairs width to the left w/o the ejector rod in place it does come to full cock and locks up tight.

It’s not going to a gunsmith. I’ll bubba it first if that’s how it goes then put a power custom hand in there. Would I correct this by carefully removing material from the hand on the left side?

 

[Protocall_Design]

That is the best way to do it. You will need a diamond file, the hand is hardened tool steel. Only work on the nose part, not the whole thing.

The other option is to file each ratchet, but that is a bad idea, unless you've done a lot of them. It's super easy to mess up the ratchets, and hard to get them all equal. You can easily trash the extractor (ratchets) and have to get a new one and start over.

 

[Alk8944]

If the cylinder "carries up" evenly on all of the ratchet teeth then fit the hand by thinning, but carefully, as very little makes a lot of difference. If the issue is only on specific ratchet teeth then the ratchet needs fitting, not the hand, using a fine cut barrette pattern file.

Are you sure know which side of the ratchet teeth to file? Study it very closely before doing any cutting if you don't. Only do one tooth at a time!

Please note that the ratchet teeth are located in exactly the same place relative to the stop notches on the cylinder! It makes no difference if it is a 6, 7, or 8 shot ratchet, they just have a different spacing.

Protocol Designs comment about how easy it is to destroy the extractor ratchet is exactly correct! Fitting a new extractor to the cylinder, if you can get one, can be extremely difficult,