Unable to open cylinder on S&W .38Spl

[Jake Stevens]

I used my Dremel tool with assortment of wire brushes to clean most of mine, surprisingly it cleaned up well other than all the pitting in the surface of the outside frame. Some great ideas on this thread that helped me tremendously as I had never tried anything like this before. Lots of great experience available on this site!!

 

[Narragansett]

I used my Dremel tool with assortment of wire brushes to clean most of mine, surprisingly it cleaned up well other than all the pitting in the surface of the outside frame. Some great ideas on this thread that helped me tremendously as I had never tried anything like this before. Lots of great experience available on this site!!

Not only can you get help on fixing things, most everybody here is an expert at spending other people's money. Be careful about asking " What should I buy next? "

 

[Jake Stevens]

How true!! Just ordered a Grace tool kit due to my experience with my Craftsman screwdrivers not exactly fitting the screws on this project gun. Now I have to buy a metal detector to go find another rusted up gun to work on......

 

[Narragansett]

How true!! Just ordered a Grace tool kit due to my experience with my Craftsman screwdrivers not exactly fitting the screws on this project gun. Now I have to buy a metal detector to go find another rusted up gun to work on......

Grace screwdrivers are great. I use the pistolsmith set. I could not believe it, I bought the Brownell's bazillion bit set, and when I need to take apart a Model 12 S&W, I had to buy Grace screwdrivers

 

[deyomatic]

I snapped the tip off of one of my Grace screwdrivers on my M28-2. I emailed them to see if they sold just the one I needed and they sent me a new one for free.

 

[Waveski]

Jake - What an interesting condition your 15 is now in. On the bright side , look at how unmolested the side plate screws are - not at all Bubba-ed. Where the grips soaked along with the rest of the gun?

 

[Jake Stevens]

No, removed the grips prior to soaking. The right side grip was extremely damaged near the rear bottom looking like it may have slid along a rough surface for some time. I sanded it down and refinished both but ended up replacing them with Hogue rubber grip. I feels much better in my hand and is much easier to fire. Yes, it looks rough but it really fires great, as good or better than my Taurus 85.

 

[Rudi]

Very cool, shows how well Smith builds things. Glass bead blast and some type of new finish. Good idea to get the Hogue grip.

 

[Jake Stevens]

Has turned out to be a wonderful find and project. Mostly thanks to everyone who contributed in helping me get this gun operational. Have taken it out to our gun club and fired over a box of ammo through it and it fires great, and is so much nicer to fire than my Taurus 85. The weight and Hogue grip probably contribute to that a lot. Local gun shop owner wants it....No deal, this one is staying home!

 

[Arquebus357]

I love rusty Model 15's This puppy was down on it's luck. Looks like this now.

 

[Jake Stevens]

Where did you find those grips? Gun looks great!

 

[Targets Guy]

I love happy endings. Good on you for saving a Model 15. They are sweet revolvers.

 

[Roguepoint]

I'd hit it with a hammer, yep I sure would. Not hard but I'd be firm. After several days of being submerged in penetrating oil I'd put a flat tipped punch against the back of the cyl thumb latch and tap it with a ball peen hammer. You hit only hard enough to provide a shock to jar the frozen parts free. You won't want to hit with enough force to drive it forward just enough to shock it free. I wouldn't doubt that most people are going to advise strongly against this, but I couldn't send a rusted & frozen, poor condition gun off for what might be a costly repair without giving it a good whack.

I would second that notion, But I would rap it firmly with a plastic head hammer straight on the thumb latch a couple times, then soak a bit more. Then see if it will moveSometimes just need to knock the rust loose. just my humble opinion.
If I had read through, would have seen that it is all good now