Smith 624-cylinder contacting forcing cone-update

[David LaPell]

I noticed on my Smith 624, and I noticed that the front of the cylinder very very lightly contacts the forcing cone. Not enough to scratch anything either on the cylinder or the forcing cone, but it is still there. As you slowly close the cylinder you can see it being moved forward along the cylinder pin forward as it closes. The cylinder to forcing cone gap is very very tight. There appears to be no binding when the action is worked (actually action is very smooth). I shot the gun today with Speer Gold Dots and it is super accurate with factory ammo. Is this something I should worry about, and if so, what do I do to correct it? The gun itself was very clean, nothing under the extractor star, nothing on the front of the cylinder, and the recoil shield and that area was also very clean.

 

[David LaPell]

I noticed on my Smith 624, and I noticed that the front of the cylinder very very lightly contacts the forcing cone. Not enough to scratch anything either on the cylinder or the forcing cone, but it is still there. As you slowly close the cylinder you can see it being moved forward along the cylinder pin forward as it closes. The cylinder to forcing cone gap is very very tight. There appears to be no binding when the action is worked (actually action is very smooth). I shot the gun today with Speer Gold Dots and it is super accurate with factory ammo. Is this something I should worry about, and if so, what do I do to correct it? The gun itself was very clean, nothing under the extractor star, nothing on the front of the cylinder, and the recoil shield and that area was also very clean.

 

[tomcatt51]

Sounds like you probably have excessive cylinder endshake which allows the cylinder to move forward, closing down the barrel cylinder gap.

 

[Joni_Lynn]

To correct this wear you would install shims in the cylinder to effectively move the cylinder back to its correct position.
Here's a link to them on the Brownell's ste.
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.as...=CYLINDER%20BEARINGS

 

[David LaPell]

One thing on this that I forgot to mention, when the gun is held level, the cylinder will not hit the forcing cone, only when the gun is held with the barrel pointed down. So it looks like I may be ordering some bushings tomorrow.
(Hopefully that's it)

 

[Bullseye Smith]

Does the cylinder move back and foward easy with your hand? Then you have what Joni and the others said.

 

[pownal55]

endshake shims work but you must use one that is the correct size(thickness). s&w repair does not use them, instead they stretch the yoke which is quite easy. the jerry kuhnhausen shop manual gives easy instructions to do this job. i have done several, with no problem.

 

[David LaPell]

The cylinder does move back and forth, but very little, almost nothing. I ordered a variety of different bearings from the smallest up to a couple of larger ones, but I will most likely end up stretching the yoke as well.

 

[tomcatt51]

The shims are really better because they're hardened, provide a good bearing surface, and help keep the end of the yoke from wearing a groove in the cylinder.

 

[pownal55]

if you use the bearings make sure you lube them with oil before reassembly.

 

[The Maxo]

Go with the shims and forget about stretching the yoke. Check the condition of the yoke tail and cylinder well bottom to see if they need to be dressed up before installing shims. (This also has to be done if stretching the yoke.)

 

[David LaPell]

Latest update on this is even more confusing. I added the bearing to the cylinder, but noticed that the cylinder was still bumping ever so slightly. I took the gun completely apart and then took a look again at the yoke button. Someone somewhere had peened the bottom of the yoke button, but they peened it so that the yoke and crane moves forward when the cylinder is open. Basically it looks like there is a groove right where the yoke screw rides now. So, unless I can find a way to fix this, I will need a new yoke / crane. The weird part is it is only peened in one little spot so that it affects the yoke when the cylinder is open. When the gun is closed, the cylinder is rock solid with zero movement back and forth. When I close the gun and hold the yoke back to the rear, the cylinder closes with no contact on the forcing cone. But when the cylinder is open the yoke will move back and forth ever so slightly. I also noticed that if the gun is held level, no rubbing or contact. I have never seen anything like it, and have no idea why anyone would attempt it. I have put an ad in the wanted section looking for a stainless yoke/ crane. I talked to S & W today. $35 for the crane, but they won't sell it to me without them fitting it, and I would need to have the whole gun refinished, all told about $225.

 

[Joni_Lynn]

Sorry to hear that.
Another case of the kitchen gunsmith. I truly wish people wouldn't work on things they don't know how to work on. (most especially nice guns)

 

[David LaPell]

Unfortunately my computer died, and along with it, any chance of me getting pics online for a while (on my computer at work at the moment). Right now I may have a line on a stainless crane, and I am going to have Bowen do a blackpowder chamfer on the cylinder which shoud take care of where it bumped against the forcing cone. While alot of people might have passed this gun along, I really like it (.44 Specials aren't growing on trees in my neck of the woods). Not to mention, this gun is very very accurate, it shoots factory ammo as well as some of my other revolvers shoot worked up handloads.

 

[keith44spl]

Glad to hear your getting the revolver repaired.

44 Specials are all right in my book.

Dave

 

[David LaPell]

I've gotten ahold of Bowen Arms, they're going to chamfer the cylinder very much like a Mountain Gun (that will take care of the edges on the flutes where the cylinder bumped the forcing cone), from there it will probably be on to Smith & Wesson if I can't get a crane secondhand.

 

[David LaPell]

Found a stainless crane tonight that will fit this gun, so it looks like everything might work out. Check will be in the mail tomorrow. Then once I have that and it trues up to the gun, the cylinder will be off to Bowen's for a chamfer.

 

[Texas Roots]

David, Bowen will really do a nice job on that cylinder. I'm sure they could fix up either the old yoke or the new one to work just like new if you wanted them to do that too. Might even get it done faster than S&W.

I had a Model 19-2 I bought brand new that came from the factory that was peened in the area just like you are talking about.