RIA M206--Sometimes cylinder isn't locking

[John in WI]

I've been trying to diagnose my RIA snubby .38 sometimes having failures to fire. I thought it was my reloads (ie, some priming issue), but I just borrowed a friend's Smith, and fired 50 without a hiccup. Over the weekend, I fired 25 commercial rounds through the RIA, and 3 of them failed.

So, I bought some snap caps, and tried diagnosing the problem further. I installed them, and pulled the trigger in DA at least 30 times. Then, I operated the revolver in SA a number of times.

You can see, almost all of the primer strikes are directly in the middle of the primer. But for the ones where the arrow is, you can see that they are at the extreme edge of the primer.

I went through the dry firing again, this time, at the end of every trigger pull, I kept the trigger depressed and tried to rotate the cylinder. Occassionally, the cylinder will spin free to the next chamber!

You can feel it in the trigger even. When you pull the trigger, and the cylinder advances, you can feel a mushiness.

I've contacted RIA about the issue and sent the photo. I'm just wondering if anyone has thoughts about what could cause that? The revolver only has about 200 rounds through it, all standard pressure. It's been cleaned and lubricated.

I wanted to keep it as a SD/HD firearm--but I obviously cannot do that if it's missing so often. Also, it scares me that it IS hitting the primer, just not when it's aligned properly. The last thing I need is for it to go off, and miss the forcing cone. Send a bullet directly into the side of the barrel or frame. That sounds like a recipe for a catastrophic failure.

[Hick]

Obviously manufacturer or gunsmith is the right thing, but if you don't get success, open it up and check the mechanism for the part that locks the cylinder (Colt called it the cylinder bolt-- no ideal what RIA calls it). As you move the hammer the cylinder bolt is lowered to allow the cylinder to rotate, then just before the hammer is fully cocked the cylinder bolt pops back up to lock the cylinder. It could be as simple as a gunk or lube problem letting the cylinder bolt hang up in the frame.

[John in WI]

Thank you. I just found a good, well filmed disassembly video on youtube. I will see what Rock Island says, but I need to take it apart when I have a chance to do it carefully.
The problem is weird because 99% of the time it works fine. Just every so often, it's not locking up. And that seems extremely dangerous to me. The cylinder rotates an extra 5-10 degrees, enough to put the chamber way out of alignment with the forcing cone. If I would have known that, I would not have been testing the weapon with live ammunition. I have not noticed any evidence of shaving lead or any kind of impacts on the barrel or frame. I just can't fire it until I get this thing resolved.

I've heard with these RIA revolvers, if you get a good one they are very good. Mine seems good so far--it's well made, but this lockup problem needs to get fixed.
Thanks again for the info. Maybe a good sonic cleaning and re-lubrication would solve it. It shouldn't have any damage.

[John in WI]

I just got off the phone with Armscor. They agreed to take it back under warranty and fix it. I just have to get to my local FFL and do the proper paperwork.
I hope they can fix it. I saw 2 YouTube vids where it came back still not working properly. I thought of selling this one--but it has problems, and I don't feel right about trying to pass my problem off on someone else. In good conscience, I can't sell it without telling the buyer it has problems. If I tell them it has problems, then it's going to not be worth anything.

Anyway, a lot of people are happy with these things. Hopefully they can tweak it and get it running right.

[Gtek]

If it is rotating past alignment area there is a term used called "Throw By". The bolt is not being released properly to contact cylinder and engage ramp/notches. The hand rotating cylinder should only allow the rotation to correct alignment position but inertia will cause rotation past. This can be caused by a couple things but you saying it works 99% of time sounds like just maybe tight somewhere. I just purchased a new Taurus 605 and I hand cycled it 500 times before first fire to feel and settle things in. Took me a few sessions but cock and then ride hammer home. It's blackened stainless so wear areas were easy to see, I ended up stripping and polishing and shimming hammer and trigger and all is well at 200 rounds so far. Maybe pull grips and flush clean and then light oil in internals and work a bunch single action in the chair and things may settle in just fine?

[Abert Rim]

John, has this been resolved to your satisfaction?