Howdy folks!
I purchased my father's Model 19-3 that he bought new in 79 and only put about 5 boxes of .38 through it. I've had the gun about 3 years and have only put roughly 100 bullets through it, and nearly all of those were .38. I understand that shooting .38 through a .357 can lead to carbon build up in the cylinder and I can attest that despite this gun being in mint condition it did in fact have this build up.
This past weekend I shot maybe 24 .38 through it and then put in 6 white box winchester .357 hollow point rounds. They all shot fine however when I tried to open the cylinder it hung up. I had to pull (slide) the cylinder rearwards towards the hammer a slight bit and then it would open. I had to then pry 4 of the 6 .357 rounds out of the cylinder. I (maybe dumb of me) then shot 6.more of these rounds and the same thing happened.
I haven't shot the gun since. I took a .357 bore cleaner, attached an extension and then put it in my drill and drilled out each cylinder hole to get out the carbon buildup from the .38's that were shot through it. I then meticulously cleaned everything else.
The cylinder will still not open properly. I have to slide or pull it rearward (so it doesn't bind up with the firing cone) for it to open.
I checked the ejector rod and found it to be perfectly true.
I read that I could take a buisness card, open the cylinder, insert the buisness card on the bottom of the frame so it is covering the cylinder catch, close the cylinder, and the spin the cylinder counterclockwise while holding a finger snugly on the ejector rod to tighten it. I feel like it tightened a little bit, however it is STILL binding.
Any recommendations on how to fix this?
Would you think that it came from shooting .357 magnum rounds?
With this being said my dad wants the gun back and is willing to buy me a new 686 or GP100 in the stead. Now I'm scared that even the 686 won't be able to hold up to occasional hot loads and have read that despite its bad trigger out of the box, that the GP100 is a much stouter handgun. What's your opinion on this matter?
I've basically asked 3 questions and understand that I'm posting on a S&W forum so will probably get a subjective answer to the 3rd question but that's ok. Everyone's opinion counts to me.
I purchased my father's Model 19-3 that he bought new in 79 and only put about 5 boxes of .38 through it. I've had the gun about 3 years and have only put roughly 100 bullets through it, and nearly all of those were .38. I understand that shooting .38 through a .357 can lead to carbon build up in the cylinder and I can attest that despite this gun being in mint condition it did in fact have this build up.
This past weekend I shot maybe 24 .38 through it and then put in 6 white box winchester .357 hollow point rounds. They all shot fine however when I tried to open the cylinder it hung up. I had to pull (slide) the cylinder rearwards towards the hammer a slight bit and then it would open. I had to then pry 4 of the 6 .357 rounds out of the cylinder. I (maybe dumb of me) then shot 6.more of these rounds and the same thing happened.
I haven't shot the gun since. I took a .357 bore cleaner, attached an extension and then put it in my drill and drilled out each cylinder hole to get out the carbon buildup from the .38's that were shot through it. I then meticulously cleaned everything else.
The cylinder will still not open properly. I have to slide or pull it rearward (so it doesn't bind up with the firing cone) for it to open.
I checked the ejector rod and found it to be perfectly true.
I read that I could take a buisness card, open the cylinder, insert the buisness card on the bottom of the frame so it is covering the cylinder catch, close the cylinder, and the spin the cylinder counterclockwise while holding a finger snugly on the ejector rod to tighten it. I feel like it tightened a little bit, however it is STILL binding.
Any recommendations on how to fix this?
Would you think that it came from shooting .357 magnum rounds?
With this being said my dad wants the gun back and is willing to buy me a new 686 or GP100 in the stead. Now I'm scared that even the 686 won't be able to hold up to occasional hot loads and have read that despite its bad trigger out of the box, that the GP100 is a much stouter handgun. What's your opinion on this matter?
I've basically asked 3 questions and understand that I'm posting on a S&W forum so will probably get a subjective answer to the 3rd question but that's ok. Everyone's opinion counts to me.