I purchased a used model 69 a while back and upon receiving it I dry fired it and it felt "crunchy". I took it to my gunsmith to find out why it was "crunchy". After his inspection and trials, he returned it to me. It is not "crunchy" anymore but according to him, if you dry fire it, it is okay. If you introduce recoil into the mix, the firearm will irregularly lock up. In addition to the original hammer/trigger/sear, he has installed two additional hammer/trigger/sear sets (one from his personal model 69 that has a PC hammer/trigger/sear set) and the firearm locks up with recoil. He also installed a longer firing pin to make sure that the primers were hit each time. He is stumped as to why the firearm will lock up at odd times when fired. According to him, this is the first Smith revolver that has beaten him. Anybody have an idea why the irregular lock up with recoil? Thank you for your help.
Model 69 problem
- Thread starter brick
- Start date
The internal lock?
Toolguy
Member
Knowing when in the cycle it locks up, and what part(s) quit moving will provide some clues.
brick, You've mentioned it felt crunchy when dry firing it and also that you have not fired it (with live rounds I will assume). Reads like your gunsmith has been in there more than once.
There is a spring that attaches to that lock flag (which is what locks the hammer, and then the trigger too). Could be he disturbed the lock without realizing it and it's not together properly. I can see the flag behaving when dry firing but jumping up into the hammer when live fired if not assembled correctly.
Toolguy:
He told me that it would shoot fine for 2 or 3 shots then as soon as he would pull the trigger for the next one, it would only go back so far and the hammer would be back a little bit and he would have to manually reset to make it work.
He told me that it would shoot fine for 2 or 3 shots then as soon as he would pull the trigger for the next one, it would only go back so far and the hammer would be back a little bit and he would have to manually reset to make it work.
I once had a 627 PC that would occasionally lock up about halfway through the trigger pull. I learned that if I reached up and turned the cylinder back all the way to cylinder stop engagement and then pulled the trigger again, it would work every time. This was not chamber specific, just very erratic, with either .38 or .357 power ammo. I worked the gun by dry firing it home and only got it to do it once or twice. I never was able to diagnose the issue. The strange thing is that it eventually cleared itself and never happened again. I very seldom sell a gun, but a good friend wanted it and so he has it now.
Toolguy
Member
Make sure all the sideplate screws are tight. That is one of many things that can make a revo lock up that no one thinks about.
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