Bought a well used Model 586 earlier in the year that had seen extensive firing and some Bubba 'smithing. The price was right so I took it home.
Corrected the internals and then sent it off to S&W for a re-blue. They did a fantastic job.
Took it to the range and it shot good, but I would get misfires once in a while and attributed it to Mag-Tec primers.
Yesterday I again took it to the range for another shooting session and was getting misfires again, but this time with CCI 550 primers.
Came home and did some measuring on the gun. Headspace, from rear of cylinder to recoil shield was .075"
. It is supposed to be .060".
B/C gap was .012"
.
Okay, now for some work. I removed the extractor, chucked it up in a 1/4" 5C collet, stuck it in the lathe, and removed .015" from the rear of the extractor/ratchets. Re-installed the extractor and with the cylinder pushed back towards the rear I got my headspace of .060". I then had to correct the generous end shake, which I did with the stainless washers.
Now of course, I had a very generous B/C gap to contend with, so I removed the barrel, chucked it up in the lathe, cut the shoulder back, cut the rear of the barrel back, re-installed it, got it clocked correctly, and ended up with a B/C gap of .004"
.
Checked the forcing cone, figuring I would have to re-cut it, but it was within tolerances, so it must have been oversize to begin with.
I was going to go to the range today for some more shooting, but it's raining and damp, so it will have to wait until sometime next week. I don't think I will have any more misfires, and I'm sure the gun will shoot better now that the specs have been corrected.
One thing I noticed is the extractor is stainless, and not blue, which I'm thinking it should have been on a 586. I wonder if the extractor was changed at the factory when I sent it in for the re-blue. Nothing was mentioned about it on the bill. If they did change it, why would they not make sure the headspace was correct? Anyways, the gun is now correct for tolerances and I enjoyed doing the fixing. I love tinkering with my lathe and tools.
Corrected the internals and then sent it off to S&W for a re-blue. They did a fantastic job.
Took it to the range and it shot good, but I would get misfires once in a while and attributed it to Mag-Tec primers.
Yesterday I again took it to the range for another shooting session and was getting misfires again, but this time with CCI 550 primers.
Came home and did some measuring on the gun. Headspace, from rear of cylinder to recoil shield was .075"
. It is supposed to be .060".B/C gap was .012"
.Okay, now for some work. I removed the extractor, chucked it up in a 1/4" 5C collet, stuck it in the lathe, and removed .015" from the rear of the extractor/ratchets. Re-installed the extractor and with the cylinder pushed back towards the rear I got my headspace of .060". I then had to correct the generous end shake, which I did with the stainless washers.
Now of course, I had a very generous B/C gap to contend with, so I removed the barrel, chucked it up in the lathe, cut the shoulder back, cut the rear of the barrel back, re-installed it, got it clocked correctly, and ended up with a B/C gap of .004"
.Checked the forcing cone, figuring I would have to re-cut it, but it was within tolerances, so it must have been oversize to begin with.
I was going to go to the range today for some more shooting, but it's raining and damp, so it will have to wait until sometime next week. I don't think I will have any more misfires, and I'm sure the gun will shoot better now that the specs have been corrected.
One thing I noticed is the extractor is stainless, and not blue, which I'm thinking it should have been on a 586. I wonder if the extractor was changed at the factory when I sent it in for the re-blue. Nothing was mentioned about it on the bill. If they did change it, why would they not make sure the headspace was correct? Anyways, the gun is now correct for tolerances and I enjoyed doing the fixing. I love tinkering with my lathe and tools.
