Posted: 7/15/2007 5:50:24 PM EDT
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I have an older S&W Model 10-5 with an intermittent problem. Once in a while, say 5% of the time, after firing a round (or dry firing), the gun will lock up. IE, trigger won't move, hammer can't be pulled back. I can open the cylinder, and close it, and it will work fine. No obvious timing issues seen. It does appear to be related to a particular chamber (I am trying to confirm that). I don't see anything obviously wrong with the ejector star. I don't grok the revolvers operation enough to understand what would be the critical point that binding up. Any suggestions on where to look? |
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To make sure I'm clear: You pull the trigger, the hammer falls, the trigger returns forward, and the gun then locks up? If so, a strong suspect is a ejector ratchet with a deformed or burred lug. It sounds like what's happening is, the hand, which is the lever that pushes the cylinder around to the next chamber is "catching" on one of the lugs on the back of the ejector. The S&W works by the hand top starting to push the cylinder by contacting one of the lugs on the ejector. After the cylinder is pushed a certain distance, the SIDE of the hand continues to push the lug to push the cylinder the rest of the way. On S&W's the critical dimension of the hand is the WIDTH of the hand, not the length. The only part the top of the hand plays it to start the cylinder turning, and if an ejector lug is bad, the hand may be jamming against it. If you find a bad lug, GO SLOW AND EASY in fixing it. Change the shape at all and the gun may fail to lock up properly, or may not work at all. You CANNOT simply buy a new or used ejector as a replacement and get it to work right. Ejectors are factory fitted parts and are very much NOT "drop in" parts. If you can't spot the problem, or are hesitant about trying to repair it, send the gun in to S&W for a proper repair. In all cases, ALWAYS be 100% CERTAIN what the real problem is before altering anything. |
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Great response on the problem, but also try CLEANING everything. If you know how to detail strip, get in there and get everything clean, take off the sideplate and blow everything out with some compressed air if you have it, and then try again. I used to work at an indoor gun range, and lead reloads will quickly gum up ANY revolver, hopefully it's an easy fix, otherwise, if you aren't savvy yourself and don't have a good smith in the area, I'd send it off the S&W |
Thats exactly the sequence. And that cause is my initial suspicion. Can't see anything wrong with it though. Being blued, its hard to see anything deformed. I wanted to be sure I wasn't completely off and chasing the wrong cause. I have completely cleaned it previously, still had the problem. Going to do it again. |
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One possibility is that the trigger is not going all the way forward. Either the trigger return spring is a little weak, or (this happens commonly when shooting as fast as possible), you "short-stroke" the trigger. To test, next time it happens, manually push the trigger forward, and see if the gun cycles then. If so, you've isolated the problem. If that is the problem, then it is a timing issue, and a good revolver-smith should make sure all the "clockwork" is synchronized as it should be, and everything is happening in the right sequence. |