Great grandad’s gun, was a great shooter and fun, now has problems.
1) This is a.32 long, 5-screw, Serial # from butt and flat of barrel above ejector rod area is 154,500. Is this 3rd Model?
2) Cylinder gap problems. With pistol cocked, .007 tightest and .017 cylinder pressed back.
3) Cylinder is not clicking into place during firing. Slowly cock it, and a very light amount of rotation is required to make the cylinder click into lock up. Cock it briskly to SA, it locks in place. Double action briskly locks, a slow DA pull and 50-50 if it locks.
4) Bulged barrel.
5) I’d like to check alignment of the crane. I’ve removed cylinder from crane, measurements of the “cylinder barrel” that the ejector rod goes thru are different than listed dimensions of J-frame cranes, so the alignment tools I’ve seen appear wrong size. I have not tried a pencil or anything.
Problems 2 & 3are new problems and big problems. Problem 2 is probably new, but I did not measure gap before I jacked this gun up.
Here is the back story on this. I hope you enjoy it, I do not. I have a S&W .32 Long Hand Ejector. Came to me from my great grand-dad. When I got it it looked like dirt. Peeling nickel, broken & glued mother of pearl panels. I won a free refinish and the nickel was removed and gun blued. I added J-frame boot grips. End result was a peach of a pistol, looked good & shot good, easy to reload ammo. My youngest son (named after my GGF) loves shooting it. I’ve enjoyed it for 20+ years of occasional shooting.
Last month I had the brilliant idea of loading up some Lehigh Xtreme Defense bullets, partly to have a mini project, partly to play with these new bullets, partly because what the hell. Cutting to the punchline, a glitchy chrono and being in a hurry to get home led to me stacking 2 test loads in the barrel, and a trip to gunsmith to drill out the rock hard all copper Lehigh bullets. Now has a bulged barrel. Now has “probable” poor accuracy (haven’t benched to check) with my lead loads and definitely shoots left. Being brick-head stubborn/stupid, I tried again with the Lehigh and stuck that one also. Not squibs, the .312” bullets were just too hard to make it thru the pipe for the rather stout minimum charge Lehigh lists. And they are a cast iron bitch to get out if stuck in a barrel.
I tried anyway after the second instance. I might have been a bit pissed, I might have not thought to remove the cylinder, and I might have rested the forcing cone on a wood hammer handle between vice jaws and tried driving the round out with a squib rod. In the process, I somehow jacked up the crane and the little nub on the frame that acts as a cylinder stop. Back to gunsmith. He fixed it to the condition it is now.
I have both a guilty conscience and 96 boutique Lehigh bullets that need a pistol, so a SP101 in .327 is on the way. Despite my ham hamhanded mangling when I lost my temper, I actually can follow directions and fix things successfully. I have hand tools but no lathe, mill or drill press.
But I’d like to fix granddaddy’s gun. Any guidance appreciated.
Ben
1) This is a.32 long, 5-screw, Serial # from butt and flat of barrel above ejector rod area is 154,500. Is this 3rd Model?
2) Cylinder gap problems. With pistol cocked, .007 tightest and .017 cylinder pressed back.
3) Cylinder is not clicking into place during firing. Slowly cock it, and a very light amount of rotation is required to make the cylinder click into lock up. Cock it briskly to SA, it locks in place. Double action briskly locks, a slow DA pull and 50-50 if it locks.
4) Bulged barrel.
5) I’d like to check alignment of the crane. I’ve removed cylinder from crane, measurements of the “cylinder barrel” that the ejector rod goes thru are different than listed dimensions of J-frame cranes, so the alignment tools I’ve seen appear wrong size. I have not tried a pencil or anything.
Problems 2 & 3are new problems and big problems. Problem 2 is probably new, but I did not measure gap before I jacked this gun up.
Here is the back story on this. I hope you enjoy it, I do not. I have a S&W .32 Long Hand Ejector. Came to me from my great grand-dad. When I got it it looked like dirt. Peeling nickel, broken & glued mother of pearl panels. I won a free refinish and the nickel was removed and gun blued. I added J-frame boot grips. End result was a peach of a pistol, looked good & shot good, easy to reload ammo. My youngest son (named after my GGF) loves shooting it. I’ve enjoyed it for 20+ years of occasional shooting.
Last month I had the brilliant idea of loading up some Lehigh Xtreme Defense bullets, partly to have a mini project, partly to play with these new bullets, partly because what the hell. Cutting to the punchline, a glitchy chrono and being in a hurry to get home led to me stacking 2 test loads in the barrel, and a trip to gunsmith to drill out the rock hard all copper Lehigh bullets. Now has a bulged barrel. Now has “probable” poor accuracy (haven’t benched to check) with my lead loads and definitely shoots left. Being brick-head stubborn/stupid, I tried again with the Lehigh and stuck that one also. Not squibs, the .312” bullets were just too hard to make it thru the pipe for the rather stout minimum charge Lehigh lists. And they are a cast iron bitch to get out if stuck in a barrel.
I tried anyway after the second instance. I might have been a bit pissed, I might have not thought to remove the cylinder, and I might have rested the forcing cone on a wood hammer handle between vice jaws and tried driving the round out with a squib rod. In the process, I somehow jacked up the crane and the little nub on the frame that acts as a cylinder stop. Back to gunsmith. He fixed it to the condition it is now.
I have both a guilty conscience and 96 boutique Lehigh bullets that need a pistol, so a SP101 in .327 is on the way. Despite my ham hamhanded mangling when I lost my temper, I actually can follow directions and fix things successfully. I have hand tools but no lathe, mill or drill press.
But I’d like to fix granddaddy’s gun. Any guidance appreciated.
Ben
