Got my first, a Model 17-6 in late 1988. S&W revolvers have been a part of my life since that time. I have other brands but 90% of my wheelguns are outta Springfield, Mass.
Occasionally there are problems... these are machines, it happens. We diagnose 'em and we fix 'em! Well on Saturday, I saw a failure that I have never seen before and also one that I've never read about!
My brother's first revolver and he's had it for about 14 months. 1970 vintage Highway Patrolman. We had a family shooting day at his house and he'd already shot half a box through it that afternoon. He loaded it, but it wouldn't cock and trigger wouldn't move. He handed it to me. I attempted to open it but could not.
I assumed the ejector rod had begun to unscrew. But that was NOT it! As the revolver was loaded (but not cocked, thankfully...) it was approached with caution. I quickly realized that we could not operate the action because the cylinder release was in the FORWARD position and yet the cylinder would not open.
I was able to manually to draw the thumbpiece back so that I could cautiously cock the revolver while pointing it down range. I cycled the action and all felt proper but yet the cylinder would NOT come open.
Manually drawing the cylinder release back, I elected to fire all six shots single-action, because the range was the safest place to unload this malfunctioning revolver.
Later, I was able to use a very slim pick to push the front lock on the ejector rod and finally, this freed the cylinder and allowed it to open. And I found what I suspected -- the center pin was gone. After taking it back home I was able to disassemble the cylinder with proper tools and I found that the last 1/4" tip of the center pin had snapped off and was in the wind, gone forever.
I was glad that tip was not inside the lockwork. I was also glad to find that unlike an ejector rod, this pin is not a fitted part so when I found one in my parts stash, the whole project was a clean and orderly fix.
I'm sure this has happened with a S&W revolver before but this is definitely not a common failure.
Occasionally there are problems... these are machines, it happens. We diagnose 'em and we fix 'em! Well on Saturday, I saw a failure that I have never seen before and also one that I've never read about!
My brother's first revolver and he's had it for about 14 months. 1970 vintage Highway Patrolman. We had a family shooting day at his house and he'd already shot half a box through it that afternoon. He loaded it, but it wouldn't cock and trigger wouldn't move. He handed it to me. I attempted to open it but could not.
I assumed the ejector rod had begun to unscrew. But that was NOT it! As the revolver was loaded (but not cocked, thankfully...) it was approached with caution. I quickly realized that we could not operate the action because the cylinder release was in the FORWARD position and yet the cylinder would not open.
I was able to manually to draw the thumbpiece back so that I could cautiously cock the revolver while pointing it down range. I cycled the action and all felt proper but yet the cylinder would NOT come open.
Manually drawing the cylinder release back, I elected to fire all six shots single-action, because the range was the safest place to unload this malfunctioning revolver.
Later, I was able to use a very slim pick to push the front lock on the ejector rod and finally, this freed the cylinder and allowed it to open. And I found what I suspected -- the center pin was gone. After taking it back home I was able to disassemble the cylinder with proper tools and I found that the last 1/4" tip of the center pin had snapped off and was in the wind, gone forever.
I was glad that tip was not inside the lockwork. I was also glad to find that unlike an ejector rod, this pin is not a fitted part so when I found one in my parts stash, the whole project was a clean and orderly fix.
I'm sure this has happened with a S&W revolver before but this is definitely not a common failure.
