Revolver spare parts - good to have on hand?

[jamesmhebert]

My last shooting session with my S&W 627 surprised me when the strain screw worked its way loose and I began to experience light firing pin strikes with the subsequent failure to fire of perhaps 1 in 8 rounds.

Researching the solution (which was thankfully solved by folks in this forum) made me realize that having a few tools in my bag is a good idea. I could have corrected the issue then and there.

This brings up a new train of thought: are any of the parts in revolvers more prone to failure over time and use (or loss when stripping), and should I budget for a few backup/spare parts to have on hand, like certain springs, screws, or other? My purpose in asking is to be more prepared for common repair/replacement. I'm not looking to perform advanced gunsmith work or tune its performance.

I could be overthinking this, so I thought I'd ask about the experience of folks on the forum first.

Thank you.

 

[Nightowl]

Its always good to have extra sideplate screws. If the front one works out, the yoke is not contained. Its possible to switch with another sideplate screw, but it will need to be fitted. I keep a extra rebound springs, because I cut them back two coils, rather than buy aftermarket.

 

[stantheman86]

Parts like hands and ratchets can be tricky to fit but can be done and are relatively inexpensive.

The issue it, different models have totally different parts. For example a hand for a modern S&W will not fit a pre-1947 model. Ratchets have changed many times too.

Assuming you have a modern or newer model S&W, I would say good spare parts to have on hand are:

Hands
Ratchets
Mainsprings
Rebound Springs
Power Custom Endshake Bearings
Power Custom Yoke Bearings

You may never need them, but if you run 10's of thousands of rounds through the gun you might. Endshake and Yoke beaarings are a lifesaver if you buy a lot of used S&W's as "shooters", since you can quickly and easily fix cylinder endshake and yoke play. They are cheap and you can get them at MidWay USA, it's worth it to have a few bags stashed away in case you run into a screamin' deal on a used S&W but it has some endshake.

 

[john traveler]

In my somewhat extensive experience with S&W revolvers, there are very few candidates for "spare parts".

What does come to mind: the rear sight retaining screw on adjustable rear sights, sideplate screws, hammer nose striker ("firing pin") and retaining hollow rivet, and related adjustable rear sight parts.

Extractor locating pins, and surprisingly, locking bolt retaining pins are infrequently found missing.

I keep spare mainsprings, rebound slide springs, hand springs, and cylinder stop springs in stock. These are almost always used to replace missing or broken springs from improper disassembly.

That's it. You can thank S&W for a 110+ year old design for that kind of reliability!

 

[deanodog]

Some hammer noses are getting scarce and hard to find. I got an extra K frame nose, strain screw and mainspring. I think coil springs will be plentiful but not cast parts that are model specific.