Please confirm current S&W standard for carry up

[SG-688]

A friend of a friend asked me to look at a recent S&W .41 Magnum.
The carry up is the worst I've seen on a revolver that wasn't a Colt!!

When cocked slowly, the cylinder does not rotate far enough for the cylinder stop to lock in place. That's on all six chambers.

Cocked quickly, inertia does its job to bring the cylinder fully around.

I don't have any .41 cases to check if it's better with them in place but there is some wiggle to the ejector star.

My first recommendation was to call S&W, but ....as with current cylinder gap specs being larger than before...is this acceptable now?

 

[ken158]

No set specs on carry up other than the cylinder is supposed to be cycled with ammo or at least cases in the cylinder with enough (force) momentum to replicate firing the gun.

 

[fleabus101]

Open the cylinder and support it on its bottom side with the ejector flat on the upper cyl side in its recess..Take a small brass(preferably) or steel flat punch that covers the ejector stars that the hand engages,
and lightly tap each one to expand/peen them outward. Then recheck the hand engagement to see
if it helps the hammer fall just before it drops in the single action mode..
This is an old Smithing procedure mentioned by smarter members than me in past threads. It may be in the Saved threads area dealing w carry-up if you ck them out.
Edit..You can put some EMPTY cases in the cyl to support the cyl walls. Be sure for safety sake cases are EMPTY..

 

[WR Moore]

Barrel/cylinder gap specs have little/nothing to do with carry up.

If you've got the gauge, check the yoke alignment with the frame. Just cause it came out of the factory, doesn't mean everything is as it should be. Parts get dropped or otherwise banged around during the manufacturing.

The hand might also be on the thin side of the standard. It's possible a standard hand on the thick side of the tolerances might fix the problem. If not, that's why they make oversize hands.

 

[Nightowl]

With all 6 chambers being slow to carry up, I would prefer to install a wider hand. It is an easy way to fix all. My experience is that a hand about .002 wider than the one in the gun usually is needed to fix the problem you describe. Could be more, it is a trial and error type install.

I dislike peening the ratchets.

 

[pantannojack]

Open the cylinder and support it on its bottom side with the ejector flat on the upper cyl side in its recess..

WHAT???

 

[fleabus101]

Use the search option and go to Advanced Search.
Type in Carry Up Repair/Fix in the gunsmitthing section.
When the threads pop up, Scroll down to ..
Rachet Peening to Correct Carry up question by User Bulletslap.
Scroll the the posts and read the info from Hondo44
concerning peening the rachets.
You can use the info or disregard my thought on finding all info on the subject..
Let me add this..Many of you who don't read my prior posts may not know I've had a coupla recent strokes.
So my clarity in my thoughts put on paper don't always make the sense I want them to.
I have good days and some bad ones on good thinking. My aim is to always be helpful when I can try to. Best thing is to use the search tool info that may help you from prior members helpful info in our recorded members thoughts and posts.
Best , Randy..

 

[Protocall_Design]

Best Wishes, Randy.

 

[paladin42]

I had a model 27-2 that wouldn't lock the cylinders when slowly cocked. I called S&W and they told me to always put a spent case in at least one cylinder when checking lock up. I did and it solved the problem.

 

[SG-688]

Update: 6 empty cases and it still fails.

Thank you paladin42 for being the closest to addressing the actual question.

 

[pantannojack]

Apologies to fleabus if offence was taken. that was not my intention. I had not known that there was an up or a down side. After studying complete instructions a few times, it becomes more clear. I appreciate your contribution to the forum.

 

[Protocall_Design]

It sounds like a wider hand or possibly an oversize (width) hand is in order.

 

[stansdds]

If the cylinder is not locking into alignment with the forcing cone by the time the hammer has reached full cock in double action mode, then there is an issue. It could be the extractor was replaced at some time and the hand and ratchets are not mating correctly. It could be the hand was replaced and is too narrow to engage the ratchets. It could be the revolver was beaten to death with very heavy handloads.

 

[WR Moore]

While we're doing the B&M thing on current quality, I'm reminded of the day a youngster brought in Grandad's M&P. Tan box with blue lettering in pristine shape, a near mint gun with a deep blue you could fall into.

I rhapsodized a while on how they don't build 'em like they used to and then asked what the problem was. "Spits lead". Puzzled, I swung the cylinder out and discovered the barrel didn't have a forcing cone. Easily fixed and everything else was tight, but.............

 

[Les Greevy]

Early carry up

My concern is kind of the opposite, early carry up, in which shooting double action, the cylinder locks in firing position and then it takes additional and significant trigger pull to drop the hammer. It seems that on my older S&W's the hammer fell immediately after the cylinder locked, while on newer ones the cylinder locks and further trigger pull is required to fire. I understand that condition allows one to stage double action firing, but I prefer an uninterrupted straight through trigger pull.
Do you think this change is intentional, a lack of quality control or a figment of my imagination?
Is there a way to correct it?
Thanks for your thoughts.
Les

 

[Protocall_Design]

The newer ones commonly err on the side of the hand being too wide. This can be fixed by installing a narrower hand or filing the nose of the original hand thinner with a diamond file.

You file just the nose part on the left side only,to move it slightly further away from the ratchets. There is a lot of file and fit in this (and most) hand fitting work, where you do a little, check your progress, do a little more, check again, etc. Before filing each time, I put the file flat on the bench to get it level in all directions, then raise it up, keeping the level orientation, and do the filing. When you get to width, you can file or stone a small edge break (chamfer) on the top edge. This will reduce wear on the ratchets and give a smoother transition from the top to the side of the hand.

If you take out the hammer and mainspring with sideplate off, you can look in the back of the hand window and watch the interaction of the hand and ratchets as you cycle the action.