[TABING]

I've got a nice S&W Mdl 18, that is very hard to eject the fired cartridges. Might the chambers be bored a little too large letting the cartridges expand too mch?

[grendelbane]

I also have a model 18. Great way to exercize DA shooting.

My chambers are too tight. I have to continually clean them. Some brands of ammunition are much worse than others. Some brands are hard to extract.

Some brands have a high rate of misfire, because the tight case cushions the blow of the firing pin.

Whenever some one insists revolvers are totally reliable, I always think of my model 18.

Yes, it is finicky, and high maintenance, but she is worth it.

[TABING]

I've tried all kinds of ammo, including very light target stuff, no help. I have no misfire problems, the shells slide in normally. Cleanining doesn't seem to affect it.I love this revolver and woundn't part with it, guess I'll just have to endure.

[JoeHatley]

Sounds like you may have a bit too much headspace, which is allowing the fired case to back out of the cylinder and expand enough to tie up against the extractor. Measure your headspace with a feeler guage. Should be .006 from the back of an unfired case to the recoil shield.

If the headspace is a little big, and you have the barrel to cylinder gap to spare, an easy fix is to move the cylinder back a bit using Ron Power End Shake Bearings. www.powercustom.com

If the bearning don't work, they can always be removed, no harm no foul. If they work, the repair can be make perminent by having your local smith stretch the yoke barrel.

I used the bearings (washers) to correct a headspace problem on this model 17.

http://www.iowatelecom.net/~hatley/17_4_l.jpg

Not only solved the hard extraction, but has lasted several years and many thosands of rounds with no visable wear.

Good Luck...

Joe

[Dienekes]

I have a M18, which I dearly love. I did eventually have to shim the cylinder for headspace wear, but never had a bit of trouble with hard extraction to this day. I would be inclined to suspect rough chambers. I once had a brand new M63 for a short time that had very rough chambers and extraction was very difficult.

Since I have never had to address this problem (I dumped the M63 quickly) I am not up on the fix for it. Some checking around should shed light on it, or call S&W or a real pistolsmith.

That M18 is well worth the effort.

[RON in PA]

My experience with Smith 22 revolvers is that from gun to gun there is much variation in extraction ease with ammo brand a major factor as well as how dirty the gun is.

[Standing Wolf]

I'd guess Joe Hatley's advice is probably the most appropriate.

There's a great deal of variation in revolver chamber dimensions, as well as a certain amount of variation in ammunition dimensions. I'd try an assortment of brands of ammunition first, then thoroughly clean the gun, then check dimensions, then...

Actually, I'd do some swearing in there at some point.

Polishing the chambers may help, although you have to be careful not to enlarge them too much. Check the extractor star for wear. Dirt and/or old oil and/or WD-40 may be factors.

Truth to tell, there is no quick and easy answer, nor is there a most likely answer.

[ted murphy]

Send the gun back to S&W and have them check it out. It isn't all that expensive and they can repair it for you. Their motto is not to have the gunowner 'suffer in silence' with a bad gun, even if they didn't buy it new.

Ted

[groessebaer]

My Model 18 had the problem. The local Smith expert took a look and said rough chambers. Polished the chambers and problem is gone with standard speed ammo. Stingers still are a bit sticky but not like the past. This was after removing excess endshake and resetting b/c gap and headspace.