New M&P - Some questions, and some problems

[acerocknroll]

Hi guys,

I just picked up this old S&W .38 M&P? Pre-Model 10? I'm not really sure what the proper nomenclature for it is.

Serial # on the cylinder face is 4822xx. Any info on exactly which model it is would be great.

Also, it seems to have a bit of a problem unfortunately.

The gun tested great at the store but after shooting about a dozen rounds through it, it began to have an issue where it would be slightly more difficult to pull the trigger/hammer back which would show up intermittently to the point where sometimes the trigger could just not be pulled. Now that I have it home, it still becomes more difficult to pull the trigger every few tries but not to the extent it was at the range. The cylinder rod seems to be tight, and it doesn't seem to be on the same chamber each time but I could be wrong. Any advice on what to try would be really appreciated, thanks!

 

[JP@AK]

Hello
This is a .38 Military & Police Model of 1905 Fourth Change revolver. It was shipped in the early 1920s.
The target stocks are not original and appear to be relatively early post-war stocks.
I don't have a solution to offer on the intermittent difficulty in trigger pull. Perhaps someone else here will be able to offer some comments on that problem.
If you can get the problem solved, this looks like it should be a nice shooter and a good gun to have in the safe.
Regards,
Jack

 

[Muley Gil]

First, clean it well, especially under the ejector star.

 

[Vulcan Bob]

Nice find! I'll second the give it a good cleaning, checking under the extractor star is a good idea. Look carefully under there as one little bore brush whisker can hide under there and give you trouble. Also check to see if the ejector rod is slightly bent, spin the cylinder and watch for a slight wobble. Aso check to see if the front of the cylinder is rubbing against the back of the barrel. As already stated those are not the original grips, but dont be quick to discard or trade them off. Those unrelieved targets were brought out about 1950 for the K frames and were soon changed to have a releaf cut in the left panel to allow empty case's to clear the grip. A nice set of the unreleaved target's are worth around $175 to $200. I hope you get it worked out, perhaps a vist to a good gunsmith may be in order. Good luck!

 

[DCWilson]

It would probably help to do a complete teardown cleaning of the action; you might have some grime or metal crud that affects the trigger and hammer interplay at their contact point. If you don't want to take the sideplate off, just drizzle some oil down behind the trigger in an inverted gun, and down the front of the hammer body when the gun is cocked and upright. Just work the trigger and hammer a lot, and it will probably improve.

In the worst case, you may have a geometric conflict between the foot of the hammer and the top arm (if that's the proper name) of the trigger. I have had two '20s-era M&Ps that had that kind of action jam, and after a serious cleaning that did nothing for the problem I finally had to stone a point of conflict between the two pieces. After that they would slide past each other the way they were intended as the hammer comes back.

 

[acerocknroll]

Thanks for all the info and advice! I gave the front of the cylinder and the back of a chamber a really good scrubbing and it seems to be a bit better. I think despite my initial cleaning there was still some 90 year-old grime built up there that was impeding movement

I'll try to clean the action out to the best of my ability but it's already a solid improvement. Thanks everyone!

 

[DWalt]

I had one with the same problem, I tore it completely down and soaked everything in solvent - i did a really thorough cleaning, no bent shaft or any other internal part problem I could see. Put it back together, and it made no difference. I put it aside for awhile, and weeks later tried it again, and magically the problem was gone. I have no explanation.

 

[glowe]

By all means do what the experts have advised, but also check for any sign of cartridges dragging on the recoil shield. I had a 38 Special and it was hard to fully seat a cartridge in one chamber. That created enough drag to tie up the cylinder when trying to pull the trigger. Make sure the cylinder turns freely when loaded. Good luck.

 

[acerocknroll]

Thanks again for the helpful advice! Today I did a very thorough cleaning, and also followed DCWilson's advice to lubricate the trigger group. I also noticed the cylinder rod was a little fussy about rotating cleanly so I cleaned and lubricated that as well. Now it seems to run great, no further issues at least with testing with spent shells. I'll give it a run-through at the range as soon as possible, hopefully that solved it!

 

[H Richard]

One thing not mentioned that I saw, is check the ejector rod for tightness. If the ejector rod of this vintage comes a little unscrewed, (right hand thread) it can bind up the action. That's why it was later changed to a left hand thread.