jad0110
Member
Boatman, there are five things that come in my mind:
1)defective ammunitions (powder or primers);
2)too short firing pin;
3)excessive cylinder endshake (back-forward play);
4)weak mainspring;
5)internal frictions that slow down the hammer during its fall.
Hope this helps.
Best regards, 5-SHOTS
Could be anyone of those.
First, try a different box or brand of ammo. If that doesn't clear it up, the #1 is ruled out.
#3 is easy to check for yourself, just refer to Jim March's sticky at the top of the revolver forum.
If it isn't 1 or 3, I'd say the most likely culprit (especially if your gun was new/unfired) would be #2, followed by #5. I've heard of both happening in S&Ws (#2 most frequently). To test for #2, first make sure the gun is unloaded. 2nd, make sure the gun is unloaded. 3rd, make sure the gun is unloaded .
Next, drop a skinny plastic ink pen down the barrel and point the gun straight up in the air. Pull the trigger and observe how far the ink pin jumps up. If it completely clears the muzzle with ease, you are probably okay on #2. I've not done this test on a revolver in some time. Last time I did it was with my 686 4" and the pen almost hit the ceiling of the gun shop about 12 feet off the floor! If the pen can't clear the muzzle, you likely have a problem with the firing pin or mainspring. Call up S&W and get a return shipping label.
But #5 seems to be more frequent in newer guns that haven't broken in yet, and that just don't seem to be finished quite as nicely inside (rough spots) than guns from other eras. A friend of mine recently had this problem with a Taurus 605.
In the case of #5, you could get some snap caps (or use spent cases) and dry fire it a thousand times and see if that helps.
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