S&W 547 Extractor head not seating completely

[Atari1977]

So I actually managed to find a shooter grade S&W 547. Shooting it's been great but an issue I've noticed though is that the extractor head isn't seating completely into the cylinder every time, which means the extractor segments aren't fully retracting to allow rounds to be easily dropped in. Pulling on the extractor rod a bit gets it all the way in and the segments fully retract.

My first thought is the extractor spring has gone a bit weak, since unlike on other revolvers it's having to pull against the extractor segments. I checked the S&W manuals and the 547 uses the same spring as in the 686, so I went ahead an ordered a new one. But thought I would ask here if anyone else has run into a similar problem with one of these.

 

[armorer951]

My guess is that the cylinder/extractor assembly is fouled with shooting debris, or does not have sufficient lubricant.


Carter

 

[Atari1977]

My guess is that the cylinder/extractor assembly is fouled with shooting debris, or does not have sufficient lubricant.


Carter

That's definitely possible too, it needed a good cleaning when I got it so wouldn't be surprised of the inside of the cylinder has got some buildup.

 

[stansdds]

Sounds like that revolver might have been fired and not properly cleaned/lubricated. First thing to do is a thorough cleaning and proper lubrication.

 

[Dvus]

YUP! What they said.

 

[Nightowl]

I have a couple of guns that like to collect unburned powder under the extractor and I have to brush them out at least once during the shooting session. Others guns of the same caliber can shoot the same ammo with no issues. Go figure!

 

[Atari1977]

Update to this, took the cylinder apart and cleaned it out as well as replaced the ejector spring with a new one. It works better but it's still not quite seating all the way, but it will with a slight push. Slight enough I can do it pretty easily cradling the cylinder while reloading.

Might be related to the ejector segments, but don't really wanna mess with those too much since there aren't any replacements out there.