Hand Ejector timing?

[duman444]

I was given a 1903 32 long Nickel plated Hand Ejector SN 65XX. The gun had been stored in cosmoline for over 30 years and the cosmo ate off most of the finish. The bore has a couple of rough spots, but overall is in good shape. I figure the gun is a shooter, so shoot it. I have and the accuracy is horrible. I have 8 other Smith revolvers, but they are all modern and shoot rings around this gun. From watching this site it seems like the HE has a rep. for good accuracy, so this had me puzzled.
I looked it over more today and noticed that after cocking the cylinder can be rotated a 64th to 128th of an inch before the locking lug fully engages and locks it in place.It does this on all 6 cylinders. It then has the same amount of play as my modern revolvers in the cylinder. There is no percetible front to back movement. I have never shot the gun where I forced it forward to lock up.
Two questions:
1. The extra play has to contribute to the bad accuracy, right?
2. Is there a cheap (done by me) fix?

I have some competency inside of a revolver, but if this is an issue of fitting a new hand and timing the gun, then it's probably beyond my skills, unless someone can talk me through it.

Tim

Edited to add: I have found out that when I hold the hammer and pull the trigger, the cylinder moves into the locking lug and locks up. My modern Smiths fully lock up on the cock. Is the lock up upon trigger pull normal for a 1903?

 

[Pisgah]

Clearly, the gun has a timing issue which could well be a source of inaccuracy. Unless you have already done this, it would be a good idea to do a very through internal cleaning of the action. It is very possible that grease has solidified in the action, causing the timing issue you describe. I was once gven a .32 Hand Ejector that had been used decades ago in a suicide. It had been throughly bloodsoaked, never cleaned, and wrapped in a cloth and stored in a drawer for 40 years. The finish was ruined, of course, and the timing was off just as you describe. A complete cleaning turned it in to a fine shooter, although ugly as all get-out.

 

[m1gunner]

Cosmolind can get nearly as hard as plastic. As mentioned, detail strip the gun, and clean very well, use solvents (not on grips) and light penetrating oil when reassembling.

The hand spring setup is different on that gun than later Smiths. There is a spring loaded plunger on the sideplate that forces the hand into the ratchets. Pay careful attention to this spring and plunger, make sure it moves freely.

 

[duman444]

I did not mention in the original post that I had the side panel off and the cosmoline was not in in the workings, but just to be sure I put the gun in my ultrasonic cleaner for 15 minutes.
The gun still works the same way.
It carrys the cylinder within a hair of lock up, then when the trigger is fuuly pulled to the rear the cylinder moves in to the lock up position before the hammer hits the firing pin. Looking at the hand, it does not go up high enough to carry the cylinder all the way until the trigger is pulled.

It looks to me like the gun was made to work this way? This does not explain the crappy accuracy, but maybe I'm expecting too much from a 100 + year old beater.

 

[m1gunner]

It should give good accuracy. Have you considered peening the ratchet pads?

This would enlarge them and make it lock the cylinder before the hammer falls.