Stiff cylinder rotation

[wallenba]

I noticed that the cylinder in my S & W 625JM will not spin and coast to a stop like my 686 and 24 do. The ejector rod is not bent and the gun is clean. I put some mineral spirits on the rod and worked it but no change. I believe it is in the spacer between the cylinder and the crane. Honestly, I can't recall if it was like that new or not. Is this typical or is it likely something worked it's way in there?:-?

[Black Prince]

The ejector rod may be screwed in too tight and binding the cylinder from turning easily. Try backing it out a quarter turn at a time and see if that will let the cylinder turn freely. Do that CAREFULLY and don't booger up the checkered end of the ejector rod. If that doesn't work, take the ejector rod completely out and remove the cylinder and examine all the revelant surfaces for foreign matter or any obvious nicks or dings. Clean and lube it and reinstall using only enough ejector rod tightness to keep it from coming loose and working itself out. If there is no foreign matter in the gun and it is clean and properly lubed and the ejector rod is properly tightened, your cylinder should rotate freely as it does in your other Smith's.

[Piedmont]

If you don't take the cylinder off when you clean then that is probably your problem. Take out the front sideplate screw on the right side of your gun. Open the cylinder and now the whole yoke and cylinder assembly will slide free of the gun. Slide the cylinder off the rear of its central pin. Now clean all that grunge out of the center of the cylinder and off the "barrel" that it revolves around. Leave it pretty dry for reassembly.

[wallenba]

[QUOTE=Black Prince;1153678]The ejector rod may be screwed in too tight and binding the cylinder from turning easily. Try backing it out a quarter turn at a time and see if that will let the cylinder turn freely. Do that CAREFULLY and don't booger up the checkered end of the ejector rod.

I don't have a tool that can loosen the rod without leaving a mark. I'm pretty fanatical about not dinging my guns, especially the Smiths. It's not noticeable while using the gun, and even might help with loading the moon clipped rounds by limiting the movement. But it is a symptom of possible trouble. I'll drop by the local shop and see if they can work it out without leaving it.

[MtGun44]

A tip. Don't remove the ejector rod lightly, they DO NOT realign exactly right automatically
and need to be set and straightened in many guns. I used to remove this each cleaning
until I found that they were not going back straight, even though it looks like they HAVE TO.

They do not. My S&W smith expert has the alignment tools to reset them straight and says
to not unscrew them ever unless absolutely necessary. Slide it off and clean and lube. If
you pull the crane screw, the cyl comes off the crane with the extractor in place.

Buy or make the tool if you want to tighten the ext rod without boogering it. I made mine.

Bill

[Black Prince]

Wallenba

MtGun 44 is absolutely correct and it's good to have him here to keep old farts like me in line. I come from a time when firearms of all types were more in good supply than they are now. In those days a model 36 Smith was simply known as a Chief Special. They cost $65.50 brand new and you could buy them all day long for 35 to 45 bucks. There was also at that time plenty of WWI and WWII 1911's, and 1917's in every pawn shop, hardware store, and even in some grocery stores you could buy and trade guns in the back of the store. I was born and raised in the backwoods of Mississippi and every boy I knew had at least one large bore handgun and we shot sticks (and snakes and fish and ducks) in the creeks with them. We did not take them to school to show off because there was nothing to show off about. EVERYBODY had guns then, even the girls knew about them, so it wasn't out of the ordinary to have one. When my sister went off to college, she took a Chief Special with her. Today she is a pharmacist and she carrys a 40 caliber Glock with her EVERYWHERE.

Because there were so many guns available, I have been tinkering with and sometimes botching them up for the past 50 years. I have done this stuff so long I forgot about the learning curve. If you have nice revolvers like it sounds like you have, DON'T use them to learn on. If you don't feel comfortable doing work on them, then you are right and probably money ahead to let a local gunsmith do it. That will also save you from spending a lot of time looking for springs that jump out and always seem to go into the most impossible places and if you ever try to cut a coil off the trigger rebound spring to lighten the trigger pull on a Smith, you are going to have to look for that dang rebound spring and maybe do that several times, but don't ask me how I know.

Now that I am old and can't see very well anymore, I don't do that sort of thing as much. And the revolvers I have, I've had 40 or more years and they are all slick as they can be and don't need anything but normal care. A word or warning here: I slicked up the trigger on my old Model 29. Years later I had shot it so much, the hand (cylinder ratchet) was so worn it needed to be replaced because the cylinder was out of time. When you replace the hand, it's a good thing to also replace the bolt (cylinder stop and spring.) So rather than mess with that, I boxed it up and sent it back to Smith because I also wanted a factory re-blue job since I had worn it shiney all over. They replaced the dang trigger because they said it was so light it was "unsafe!!" They charged me for the new trigger and would not send my old trigger back. So I had to do another trigger job on it after I got it back. The firearms companies are all running scared now, so if you send anything to them, it's probably going to come back with a "lawyer" trigger.

All the best.

[scrapcan]

If you have to remove the ejector rod, one of the best ejector rod housing tools is a drill chuck. Be careful not to over tighten and to turn the housing in the correct direction.

that loose drill chuck can come in handy for other stuff also.

[wallenba]

Thanks guys.

[wallenba]

Update, I found a set of hollow ground screwdrivers and felt confident I would not bugger up the screw (which came out surprisingly easy by the way). Removed the cylinder and found a fine thread wrapped up in there. No clue how it got there, all is fine now.

[dualsport]

Good thread and useful. I have the same issue with a S&W Model 19. A 90 yr. old M&P spins like a top, go figure. I like to spin it after loading and slam the cylinder shut. (Just kidding) On my M19 the cylinder release button is catchy sometimes, I'm thinking there may be a connection. I'll have a look see.

[x101airborne]

I like to spin it after loading and slam the cylinder shut. (Just kidding)

I could HEAR the nitroglycerine pills popping all over the US!!! :holysheep