A couple months ago, my neighbor gifted me a Charter Arms undercover .38 special. It's a beautiful handgun (in my eyes) that stayed within the confines of a sock drawer of a constantly climate controlled house. In fact I don't think I've seen the windows open in that house once in 15 years.

Over that time, I've been giving it the TLC it deserves. Linseed oil on the wood grips, hoppes oil on the bluing and giving it a good work out to remove the light film of rust on the moving parts. However, the ejector rod's action remains very rough and seems to want to hang slightly. I'd like to disassemble the cylinder completely and see what's causing the grittiness, but I can't figure out how. No amount of oil and repeated working seems to be helping it. Makes me wonder if there's some lint or something bound up in the spring.

Any assistance would be gladly appreciated.

I don't know if the .38 is the same as the .44 sp. but that is the only one in my book on assembly/disassembly.

1. The crane retaining screw is located at the lower front of the frame.
Remove the crane screw, taking care not to lose the nylon lock washer.

2. Operate the cylinder Latch,swing the cylinder out, and remove the cylinder and crane assembly towards the left.

3. Use smooth jawed pliers to grip the ejector rod near the crane and unscrew the ejector knob (it dosen't say if it is a right or left hand thread S&W are left hand)
remove the knob,spring and sleeve towards the front.
Remove the crane toward the front.

4.Depress the rear tip of the ejector rod and turn the rod until it's internal pin aligns with the cross-hole in the ejector/ratchet piece.
Use a drift punch to push out the small cross pin. CAUTION: The spring is under compression and the removal of the pin will release both the ejector rod at the front and the ejector bushing at the rear.
Ease them out, and take care not to lose the tiny bushing pin.

5. Remove the ejector bushing and spring from the ejector/ratchet piece.

6. Remove the ejector rod and spring from the front of the cylinder.
If the spring is removed from the rod take care not to lose the the compression washer.

7. Remove the ejector/ratchet piece from the rear of the cylinder.

Reassembly Tip:
When reassembling the cylinder/ejector system,use a small diameter drift punchto hold the components in place while inserting the retaining pin.

When replacing the cylinder latch retaining screw, use a small screwdriver to depress the plunger and spring while inserting the screw.
Be sure the small cover plate is installed with its long tab towards the rear.
When replacing the ejector knob, be sure it is tight enough to prevent loss,but do not over tighten it.
The knob is made of alloy and extreme pressure will strip the threads.

Thanks for the info. I'll give that a try later today.