is it possible to repair a revolver with a "sprung crane"?

[da gimp]

Will even the S&W factory be able to repair one, or is a matter of too much cost to get it done? Years ago, I'd see some nice revolvers at gun shows with badly sprung cranes for bargain prices & had always passed them by.

my late father in law had purchased a used 586 that had a sprung crane when he got it, he rarely shot it & as far as I know made no effort to having it repaired.

thanks in advance for an answer, I reviewed all the old pages & FAQ's posted here & saw nothing discussing this.

 

[ColbyBruce]

If not severely damaged, cranes can be straightened. I own a S&W 63 that was thrown from a moving vehicle. The factory repaired the gun, which included straightening the crane.

 

[steelslaver]

Although I myself have never done so it should be possiple to "form"the crane back to its original position. One would need to make some jigs to prevent damage to the tube. I would use an arbor press myself. You could also get another crane.

 

[Bat Guano]

I would sure think the factory could and would. Many years ago I did it with a beater old 1917 Colt. It involved either chucking the crane arbor(s) in a leather jaw vise and whacking things in the preferred direction with a wood mallet; or whacking on the rear of the cylinder with the crane and cylinder out and cradled in the palm of the off hand to persuade it to go where you wanted it to. The results were pretty good, but on the other hand there wasn't much to lose, either.

I suspect the factory does about the same thing. The owner isn't there to watch the process, and that would be a good thing.

 

[da gimp]

thanks for the answers, I'm rather too timid to try whacking on a pretty revolver if S&W can reasonably repair it, rather than to have a revolver with 1 repair needed, to having one with several Bubbaed gunsmith "fixes" that needed to be addressed by the factory at the same time.

Any ideas on what the factory charges?

 

[rck281]

Many years ago I watched Ron Powers beat a yoke back into a perfect fit with a large lead bar. Never seen that done before or since.

 

[Hapworth]

It's perfectly possible and one of the simpler fixes. S&W call cranes yokes, by the way.

A Kuhnhausen manual, a babbit (lead) bar, a nylon wedge, a nylon hammer and a yoke alignment tool are all that's needed; not very expensive at Brownells or other retailers.

S&W can definitely do it, as can any qualified revolversmith and most mechanically inclined do-it-yourselfers who get the right tools and follow Kuhnhausen's instructions.

One of the cheaper fixes if you pay to have it done, I'd think, based on the quickness and simplicity of the work usually involved; lists in the $30 to $50 range with most well-known gunsmiths with websites.

 

[one eye joe]

IT CAN CERTAINLY BE REPAIRED, BUT I WOULD NOT DO IT MYSELF. WHILE THERE ARE PROBABLY MANY QUALIFIED 'SMITHS THAT COULD DO IT, I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU SEND IT BACK TO S&W FOR THE REPAIR. THIS WAY, YOU WILL HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH A FAULTY REPAIR DOWN THE ROAD. JMHO………...

 

[Big Cholla]

As mentioned above; two tools, a little training and your yoke will be as good as new. A trained S&W Armorer is not completely tooled without a lead babbit bar. I had a M 10 brought to me one time that someone had tried to remove the barrel by putting a lever thru the cylinder opening and twisting. The frame was torqued by about 1/4". I got out my measuring tools, my bronze jaws for the vise and my babbit bar. About 30 minutes later the frame was back into shape and was passing the inspections. BTW, I did not let the owner watch this exercise. I told him it was like watching sausage being made. It's best that you don't.
................... Big Cholla

 

[da gimp]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'd rather pay S&W the $30.00 to $50.00 needed for a first class factory repair than to try it myself.

 

[BigCityChief]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'd rather pay S&W the $30.00 to $50.00 needed for a first class factory repair than to try it myself.

A man after my own heart. I just want to enjoy my S&W's, not fix them.[emoji3][emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hapworth]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'd rather pay S&W the $30.00 to $50.00 needed for a first class factory repair than to try it myself.

If there's a good gunsmith, trained on S&W revolvers, within reasonable driving distance, consider that option, too; you'll save on shipping and likely have a faster turnaround. It's not a fix that requires the factory.

However, if you have several things in store for the revolver, a factory trip might be in order -- but just to straighten the yoke you'll pay more to send it than to fix it.

 

[BigChief52]

I've heard people say...there's no advantage in forged steel over cast steel.
Oh yeah? Here's one. If it gets bent, you can bend it back.

 

[dfariswheel]

I've heard people say...there's no advantage in forged steel over cast steel.
Oh yeah? Here's one. If it gets bent, you can bend it back.

You can also bend cast steel.
This is what Ruger does to repair sprung Ruger revolver cranes.

 

[ColbyBruce]

My S&W 63 had gouges full of asphalt on the frame and barrel and burrs along the trigger guard, the ejector rod was bent, the locating tabs on the hand were sheared off, the gun would not cock, the cylinder would not open. It was cosmetically and mechanically repaired, with new ejector rod, hand and some other part, plus shipping back to me, cost me right at $125.00 and took right at six weeks.

 

[Alk8944]

I've heard people say...there's no advantage in forged steel over cast steel.
Oh yeah? Here's one. If it gets bent, you can bend it back.

FWIW, ALL steel is cast! The cast billet is then processed by rolling, drawing, forging, piercing, turning, etc. Cast STEEL is not brittle as cast Iron or Aluminum usually are. Casting the steel directly in the form of a gun frame, slide or other part does not change this.

 

[Hapworth]

My S&W 63 had gouges full of asphalt on the frame and barrel and burrs along the trigger guard, the ejector rod was bent, the locating tabs on the hand were sheared off, the gun would not cock, the cylinder would not open...

Must've been a hell of a range session...

 

[one eye joe]

My S&W 63 had gouges full of asphalt on the frame and barrel and burrs along the trigger guard, the ejector rod was bent, the locating tabs on the hand were sheared off, the gun would not cock, the cylinder would not open. It was cosmetically and mechanically repaired, with new ejector rod, hand and some other part, plus shipping back to me, cost me right at $125.00 and took right at six weeks.

WOW, IT SOUNDS LIKE IT WAS RIDING IN THE HOLSTER OF A BIKER WHO TOOK A SPILL. PRETTY UGLY. I DON'T THINK YOU COULD ASK FOR BETTER SERVICE AT A REASONABLE PRICE, THAN YOU GOT FROM S&W ON THAT JOB. IN GENERAL, I HAVE BEEN PLEASED BY MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE S&W SERVICE DEPARTMENT. I THINK THAT IT'S WORTH A LITTTLE EXTRA MONEY SOMETIMES, TO KNOW THAT THE JOB WILL BE DONE RIGHT……..

 

[BigChief52]

Didn't know that cast steel and forged steel are the same. Now we can cast coil springs instead of taking all that time to draw wire and form them.

 

[dwf6666]

FWIW, ALL steel is cast! The cast billet is then processed by rolling, drawing, forging, piercing, turning, etc. Cast STEEL is not brittle as cast Iron or Aluminum usually are. Casting the steel directly in the form of a gun frame, slide or other part does not change this.

I spent 38 years in the specialty steel business and not all steel is cast. Two heats of the same metalurgical specs will have different properties if cast or poured as an ingot then rolled in a reversing mill with a manipulator. That being said, the properties of that steel can be changed by forging, annealing, normalizing, and heat treating. A forged metal would need to be annealed before machining then heat treated to specifications. I believe a S&W frame starts as a round and then forged, annealed,machined, then heat treated.