S&W mod. 29 sticking cylinder

[bigjake]

Hi all, I have a Smith&wesson mod 29 that i've had for 25 years. I've shot many many rounds out of it, mostly factory loads and hot hand loads. I've always loaded the hot loads very carefully.
Anyway, it seems no matter what the load or bullet weight, the cylinder sticks. I found that the primers are catching and shaving when you force the cylinder open. at first, i thought it was the hot loads blowing out the primers, but it happens with even nice light loads and factory loads.
I've tried loads with 296, h110 and even unique. 200 and 240 gr. bullets. I wonder if Clint ever had this problem. :-(

I cant figure it out for the life of me. :killingpc

please help

thanks

[Hickory]

Check under the ejector star, there maybe a build up of powder residue.

[376Steyr]

I'd also check to see if the ejector rob has started to unscrew from the extractor star. The threads on the rod are reversed, so turning the rod clockwise (with the chamber mouths facing you) would cause the rod to unscrew. Try doing this gently, with finger pressure only, as it's easy to break these relatively delicate parts. Put some empty cases in the cylinder to give the extractor star some support. If everything seems to be rock solid, look up "cylinder endshake" as you probably have bigger problems.

[akajun]

I'd also check to see if the ejector rob has started to unscrew from the extractor star. The threads on the rod are reversed, so turning the rod clockwise (with the chamber mouths facing you) would cause the rod to unscrew. Try doing this gently, with finger pressure only, as it's easy to break these relatively delicate parts. Put some empty cases in the cylinder to give the extractor star some support. If everything seems to be rock solid, look up "cylinder endshake" as you probably have bigger problems.

This, your ejector rod has backed out. However be carefull, early smiths are threaded with a right hand thread, later smiths are left hand thread. Do not grab it with pliers. Use a small vise with soft pine blocks or a special tool sold by brownells made of alluminum.

[Mk42gunner]

Also check your breechface. I have seen one Smith that the firing pin had peened the hole from behind until it woud catch on the primers.

Robert

[Thin Man]

If you eliminate the questions of a loose ejector rod or debris under the ejector star, try the following: open the cylinder and look at the recoil shield from the side. Look very closely at the area where the fire pin passes through the recoil shield. The small circle around the fire pin is a BUSHING that is applied to the frame, then staked in place. The bushing is supposed to be completely flush with the surface of the recoil shield. It is not uncommon for repeated firing to force the bushing deeper into the frame than it is intended to be, having been driven deep by primers battering it. This may be visible, or perhaps you can run your finger softly over the bushing feeling for the edge of the recoil shield when the bushing is deep (normally you should NOT be able to feel this edge). The fire pin bushing can be replaced at the S&W factory. Some shops may still have bushing replacement tooling, but by this time that is rather rare. Good luck.

Thin Man

[shotman]

well you didnt say if it was recess cylinder but thin man is most likely right the end shake would show up after 20,000 or so rounds if you have used hard primers on max loads the bushing around the firing pin hole will move

[hunter64]

If you eliminate the questions of a loose ejector rod or debris under the ejector star, try the following: open the cylinder and look at the recoil shield from the side. Look very closely at the area where the fire pin passes through the recoil shield. The small circle around the fire pin is a BUSHING that is applied to the frame, then staked in place. The bushing is supposed to be completely flush with the surface of the recoil shield. It is not uncommon for repeated firing to force the bushing deeper into the frame than it is intended to be, having been driven deep by primers battering it. This may be visible, or perhaps you can run your finger softly over the bushing feeling for the edge of the recoil shield when the bushing is deep (normally you should NOT be able to feel this edge). The fire pin bushing can be replaced at the S&W factory. Some shops may still have bushing replacement tooling, but by this time that is rather rare. Good luck.

Thin Man

Yes this is most likely your problem. As stated above, look and see if the nose bushing has pushed into the frame, should be flush but probably it has recessed a couple of thou. Look at your fired case and you will see the primer has backed out of the case the same amount of distance.

You can get oversize nose bushings. I replaces one myself but it took forever to line up as I didn't have the proper alignment tools and never done one before.

After totally disassembling the revolver I mounted it in my soft jaw vise with the barrel pointing down. You need a long rod/bolt that is narrow enough to fit from the hammer side of the frame thru into the back part of the bushing. I took a brass rod and ground down both sides until it would fit in the channel and I made a small flat end on it. With a hammer I simply punched out the bushing.

Now the reinserting the new oversize bushing is a whole new problem. You not only have to line up the bushing perfectly in the hole, you also have to line up the small recess that the firing pin travels thru to get to the primer. I slightly chamfered the end of the bushing so I could push it in the hole with finger pressure just about 1 thou or so, just so it would hold.
I would position it so I thought it was in the right position and then reinstall the hammer and check to see if it was. Took me a few times to line it up correctly.
Once I had it lined up I used a long brass rod and feed it thru the barrel then with a press I slowly pressed in the new bushing.

I installed the hammer again and sure enough it was perfect. Now with the new bushing in place I had to slowly remove a couple thou from the front of the bushing that was sticking out on the face to make it a perfect fit.

If I ever had to do it over, to make it go quicker when I was removing the bushing I would just tap the brass rod with the hammer a little bit at a time. Continue until the bushing was just coming out the front of the shield and looking thru the barrel I would use whiteout and mark the exact location of the relief in the bushing so when I reinstalled the new bushing I could at least line it up to being exactly where it needed to go.

Over Size Hammer Nose Bushings at Brownell's are 6 bucks each, I bought 4 of them just in case, and used 2 . :smile:

[cajun shooter]

S&W made the tools to do this job and if you or another is factory trained they are available. I had a set and changed out many of them on 686 models as they came out with bad ones from the factory. In the 80's S&W paid us $25 a gun for the repair. Made some fast money.

[rintinglen]

+1 to what cajun says. I did a 686 myself back then

[bigjake]

You guys are geniouses!! its the bushing. how does the thing get pushed in? its not much, just enough to catch my fingernail, maybe 2or 3 thousands. isnt the hole only bored just so deep? or does the bushing get mashed/beaten or compressed?
can most gunsmiths fix this?

thanks a bunch !!