Busted Smith & Wesson 19-3

[dajonga 397]

This is copied over from another thread in hopes of more eyeballs & some advice.

 

My 1972 S&W 19-3 is sick. Yesterday, it stopped working. I fired 45 rounds of Magtech .357 Magnum through the gun without fail.

 

On the last load of 6 rounds, 5 rounds fired and then the gun locked up and would not fire in single or double action. The cylinder would also not open. I was able to open the gun with a smack of my palm to empty the cylinder. I reloaded the last round, and again the gun locked up.  I let it rest for awhile and shot a few hundred flawless rounds out of my Buckmark. When I went back to the 19, she reluctantly fired, but locked up again and I could not open it.

 

In the other thread, Pizza Bob made this suggestion......

 

It sounds like your ejector rod has unscrewed itself and is binding the cylinder. It is reverse threaded - turn it counter-clockwise to tighten (which will also shorten it and unbind the gun). Simply tightening fully may be enough, but if it starts to back-off again, I would inscrew it completely and use a couple drops of purple loc-tite on the threads - be careful, use sparingly and only on the threads - you don't want it migrating into the sleeve the cylinder rides on. 

 

This morning......

 

I got the cylinder to open & removed the crane and cyl. Ejector rod was fine. I disassembled the cylinder and scrubbed it clean. Put it all back together and the cyl. is binding on 1 or 2 chambers, as if the cyl. is warped or something else is bent. I see nothing out of the ordinary. It is still very difficult to open up. I think I will try a local smith and save myself the shipping cost and hassle. This is a beater, so a trip to S&W is not needed.

 

Any local shops you would recommend or avoid?

[Parker 213]

Is your ejector rod bent slightly from banging it open?

[alec.mc 180]

^^ another vote for possible bent ejector rod.

[Old School 611]

Bent Crane?

 

If you can, run the ejector rod on a piece of glass to see if it's straight.

 

We used to use a range rod( bore dia. rod ) to see if the timing was right and it will also show up a bent crane.

 

Bob is really the go to guy on this.

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

Proceed as outlined above - ejector rod first and then the crane. Don't know a smith close to you. If you have to ship, have an FFL do it through the USPS - cheaper than next day air required by FedEx or UPS.

[savageshooter 10]

Drew over at Shore Shot is a gunsmith, and an expert with S&W revolvers. I believe Kevin is as well. My girlfriend had an issue with her Model 19 locking up. Turned out to be simple for an experienced gunsmith to fix and Drew repaired it for free.