S&W question

[dubber123]

I have heard of peening the hand on Colt revolvers to lengthen them slightly to improve timing. Will this work on a S&W? I have a Mod 1905 3rd change that could use an extra .001" or 2. What say ye? Thanks.

[richbug]

On a S&W you need to have a thicker hand, rather than a longer hand. The thicker hand keeps it from pushing so far out on the cylinder, thus increasing the rotation.

[dubber123]

So , as viewed from the side, the hand needs to be wider?, or thicker as in side to side in the frame window? The latter would be hard to do without a new hand.

I removed the star and lightly peened the notches, and it is 100% unless you put some serious drag on the cylinder and cock it very slowly. I have done this many times before, and it works, I was just wondering if something a little more professional sounding could be done. Thanks.

[richbug]

So , as viewed from the side, the hand needs to be wider?, or thicker as in side to side in the frame window? The latter would be hard to do without a new hand.



Thicker in the frame window is a permanent fix. I don't know if oversized hands are available for this old revolver. S&W's "oversized" hands are usually .010" thicker than a stock one.

The problem with working out a the end is that it will quickly wear back out of time(quickly is relative I guess, I have several S&W's that I have put over 50,000 rounds through in the last 10 years).

It is probably all a mute point anyway, if the revolver times properly with normal usage, I probably wouldn't mess with it. How often are you going to cock it slowly when there is drag on the cylinder? Does it lock properly when fired DA?

[dubber123]

Rich, oh yes, DA is no problem, I just like them to be WELL within time. After the peening, I doubt there would ever be an issue, but the peening has always seemed a bit "cobby" to me, and I wondered if there was a better fix. The hand would likely only need another .002" maybe, and thats hard to add on.

Like you said, it will never get used like that anyways, so I may not bother. I apprerciate you setting me straight on where the material needs to be added. On the side, not the top of the hand.

Thanks again.

[theperfessor]

Don't know if this would be cost effective, but have you thought about having the worn portion hard-chrome plated? A good plater can mask off the areas that do not need to be built up and just leave the desired portion bare. Might need a little stoning, but I don't think it would hurt anything to try.

[dubber123]

Don't know if this would be cost effective, but have you thought about having the worn portion hard-chrome plated? A good plater can mask off the areas that do not need to be built up and just leave the desired portion bare. Might need a little stoning, but I don't think it would hurt anything to try.

Thats a good idea, I hadn't thought of it. I know some platings have a very hard surface, and it would have to. This is about the only way to add that thin of a layer to anything. Finding a good plater in my neck of the woods might prove interesting. [smilie=1: Thanks.

[flintsghost]

S&W hands for K and N frames measure .090 to .100. Anything .094 and below is considered standard and anything above that is oversized for repair work. They sell them but I don't think you'll find them for your application at the factory. You might look at shows and take a pair of calipers and see what you can find. Knowing what thickness you already have is a must. .001 won't help much, because it's not just the hand which has worn but also the ratchets. It usually takes a minimum of .002 to bring timing into it's proper place when replacing a hand, and sometimes more. Hard chrome wouldn't be a bad idea if hard chrome didn't wear any regular steel if rubs on, like the hand window and the ratchets, but it will. Standard nickle would be a better idea and the entire hand could be nickled and then you could file the hand window wider to allow it to work smoothly with a hand window file. Nickle would build up a bit as it goes on over a copper wash. There are lots of places that do nickle who could probably help you. However, I'd try the gunshow approach first or even try some of the old parts places like Numrich. They won't measure the width for you but with Numrich, if it doesn't work for you, you can return it. Good

[dubber123]

Thanks for the #'s, very handy. This one is very close, only a couple out, and you have to drag your thumb on the cylinder pretty hard to get it to miss the cylinder notch. In normal use, nobody would ever notice it. I'm just a bit mental about little stuff like that. Thanks for the tip.