Rattle in Revolver - Normal?

[Waveform]

Forgive me if this has been asked here before but is it normal for a S&W revolver to have a little rattle if you hold it in your hand and rotate your wrist from side to side? I come from the world of Ruger revolvers where the transfer bar rattle is a commonly experienced thing and perfectly normal. So I never really noticed or paid any attention to any rattle in my S&W revolvers. But the topic came up in conversation recently and that got me to checking and my 637-2, 686-6 and 629-6 and all have a little rattle. These all have the internal lock and transfer bar so I pulled out my 67-1 and it has a little rattle too, but not as much as the newer guns. Interestingly the 637-2 was the most noticeable followed by the 629-6. The 686-6 had the least noticeable rattle.


Is this normal? Or should they be absolutely quiet if shaken a bit? I'm not violently shaking the guns but rather Barney Fife holding a gun on a bank robber type shaking.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Waveform:

Without being there to see and hear what you're talking about, I'm pretty sure what you're hearing is the hammer block moving up and down in its recess. If you had a modern hammerless S&W revolver you could check (they're not used on modern hammerless revolvers).

Regards,

Dave

PS - Sorry, I should add that if it is indeed the hammer block, there's nothing to worry about as it is functioning as it should.

 

[Whitwabit]

My new 686+ PC rattles too .. sounds like something is moving in the butt of the pistol .. least that is where the sound seems to be coming from ..

 

[bigggbbruce]

Hammer block.. if it doesn't rattle it's a problem..

 

[ken158]

This pops up with a lot of new revolver owners... hammer block floats in it’s location and will rattle a little. Why do you guys shake guns?!

 

[Whitwabit]

My wife noticed it when she picked it up to dry fire .. She noticed it when putting in the snap caps before dry firing ..

 

[Engineer1911]

I have a 1911 45 ACP that rattles like a baby's toy, but on any given day can be a real tack driver IF I do my part correctly.

 

[Waveform]

OK - thanks for the replies. Most of my revolver experience is with Rugers and they rattle like an old Model T so I'm accustomed to hearing a little rattle and assumed all revolvers did so. The subject came up in conversation and my thinking was challenged on the matter which planted a little seed of doubt..... Interesting to learn it's the "hammer block" that rattles in a S&W. In Rugers it's usually the "transfer bar". Are we talking about the same thing here just a different name?

 

[Mr.Harry]

OK - thanks for the replies. Most of my revolver experience is with Rugers and they rattle like an old Model T so I'm accustomed to hearing a little rattle and assumed all revolvers did so. The subject came up in conversation and my thinking was challenged on the matter which planted a little seed of doubt..... Interesting to learn it's the "hammer block" that rattles in a S&W. In Rugers it's usually the "transfer bar". Are we talking about the same thing here just a different name?

Are you prepared to receive a 5000 word dissertation from the Pro’s here? (Of which I am not one). I believe the ‘short answer’ to your question would be Nossir. But the rattle is almost definitely the hammer block, and this is completely normal. I also think the mechanics of Rugers and S&W’s are like apples and oranges, but again, don’t listen to me because a Guru will be along shortly...

Edited to say- I am not being smart alleck. I was born mechanically uninclined, but learn every time The Gurus speak. So I hope they do.

 

[oink]

I'm no expert, especially concerning Ruger revolvers but my short answer is not they're not the same and don't serve the same purpose but they do live in similar locations and both do relate to the transfer of energy from the hammer to the primer.

 

[DT75]

.... Are we talking about the same thing here just a different name?

No. Looks the same when viewed from the "outside", but with opposite function, although both are drop safeties.

The Ruger transfer bar is pushed up between the hammer and firing pin by pulling the trigger. This will transfer the strike of the hammer to the firing pin.

The S&W hammer block is pulled down by pulling the trigger, allowing the hammer to strike the firing pin, or with hammer mounted firing pin, to directly strike the primer.
If the trigger is not pulled, the hammer block will block the hammer from making contact with the firing pin, or primer.

Hickok45 did a video on the subject recently :

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqypovuFS2A[/ame]

 

[Jtown]

Have we a convert from Ruger world to S & W? If so welcome.

Walt

 

[Waveform]

No. Looks the same when viewed from the "outside", but with opposite function, although both are drop safeties.

The Ruger transfer bar is pushed up between the hammer and firing pin by pulling the trigger. This will transfer the strike of the hammer to the firing pin.

The S&W hammer block is pulled down by pulling the trigger, allowing the hammer to strike the firing pin, or with hammer mounted firing pin, to directly strike the primer.
If the trigger is not pulled, the hammer block will block the hammer from making contact with the firing pin, or primer.

Hickok45 did a video on the subject recently :

YouTube

Got it! Great explanation and video - thanks!

 

[H Richard]

If the rattle really bothers you, by removing the side plate and putting a drop or two of oil (or a pinch of grease) in the groove where the hammer block rides the rattle will not be noticeable. If you are not familiar with the side plate removal, do not attempt this until you get instruction how.

 

[NYlakesider]

Rattles in revolver can also be a "safety feature"

Back about 30 years there was a death of a distant family member. He had two registered handguns here in the peoples republic of NY.

I was asked me to check them out and perhaps buy then or help wife LEGALLY get rid of them.

So I drove about 25 miles to look at the guns. (IF I had bought them, to CYA a friend that was a LT in our local force made arrangements with me to drop then off at our cop shop)

Widow went into a back room and they were in a shoe box she laid on the table. She on her own told me they were unloaded.

I carefully reach into the box and safely removed the revolver.

Taking the gun out of the holstler I gave it a couple easy back and forth shakes, I knew by the sound there were rounds in the gun. Told her that and she NO cannot be he would never have a loaded gun in house. I opened the cylinder and removed 6 rounds.

OK, I know all guns are loaded and would have been safe, but wonder if someone else looked at the guns and believed when told "Their Empty." bad things might have happened!

 

[gwpercle]

Also be aware , if you remove the side plate....it's the only part that will fall out. If you don't know how it goes back in...the gun will not fire.
First time I took off a sideplate and it fell out...It took me a while to get it right. No Utube in them distant days .
So watch out that rascal...it rattles and falls out to boot !
Gary

 

[KalamazooKid]

I actually took my 327 NG to the LGS to have this checked out a few years back and they explained it to me. [emoji51]

 

[OLDSTER]

I shook the begeezes out of several of my revolvers and couldn't get a rattle.

 

[muddocktor]

Also be aware , if you remove the side plate....it's the only part that will fall out. If you don't know how it goes back in...the gun will not fire.
First time I took off a sideplate and it fell out...It took me a while to get it right. No Utube in them distant days .
So watch out that rascal...it rattles and falls out to boot !
Gary

One clarification on Gary's post here:

If you take the sideplate off and remove the hammer block and install the sideplate, the revolver will fire. If the hammer block falls out and you manage to put it in wrong and get the sideplate back on with the hammer block installed wrong, the gun may not fire. But it will fire for sure without the hammer block; you are just removing a safety device that S&W added to their revolvers shortly before or after WWII after an unintentional discharge happened to a military person (maybe a Navy guy) had an AD in the 30's I believe.

I actually ran across a revolver that a friend owned that had the hammer block removed by a "Bubba gunsmith". It was a S&W model 17 I think and I had taken the sideplate off to clean the internals and saw the hammer block was missing. I ordered the hammer block from Numrich and when it came in, installed it on his revolver. Bubba had also cut a few coils off the rebound slide spring too and the pistol was having slow and hesitant movement of the trigger back to battery and was the original reason I took the sideplate off because I thought it was gunked or rusted up internally. I replace the rebound slide spring too on his gun.

 

[oink]

Bubba oink cut a coil off the rebound slide spring on my model 60 some 30+ years ago. It did improve the trigger. It worked fine for many years but as the spring weakened with age the trigger return got sluggish as described. I ordered a new spring but meanwhile and as I had the gun apart, I cut a very small piece out of an appropriately sized SS pop rivet and added it to the spring. Works great. I'll put the replacement spring in next time I pull the side plate off, if I can still find it, but it works just fine as is. Bubba wins again.