CSA 357
Member
well i have had some that had to be worked on , but never broke as you said, 
Anyone's revolver break?
- Thread starter Bob79
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Confederate
Member
Hammer Broke in S/A Revolver
Was shooting some .44 mags and on about the third round, the stainless hammer of my Virginian Dragoon shattered like ice. Someone saw me picking up the top portion of the hammer and I said, "Hate the way this revolver throws brass all over the place." Being in driving distance from Interarms in Alexandria, Va., I took it there and waited while they put in a new hammer.
I also had a stainless Rossi and the cylinder release began rusting. I wrote a note and they sent me a new one. The one on the gun was a regular steel release, not stainless. I confirmed it by putting some cold blue on it and watching it darken.
Never had a Ruger fail on me yet.
Was shooting some .44 mags and on about the third round, the stainless hammer of my Virginian Dragoon shattered like ice. Someone saw me picking up the top portion of the hammer and I said, "Hate the way this revolver throws brass all over the place." Being in driving distance from Interarms in Alexandria, Va., I took it there and waited while they put in a new hammer.
I also had a stainless Rossi and the cylinder release began rusting. I wrote a note and they sent me a new one. The one on the gun was a regular steel release, not stainless. I confirmed it by putting some cold blue on it and watching it darken.
Never had a Ruger fail on me yet.
Mooseman
Member
Snapped a firing pin on a Rossi, after it was replaced it hasn't happened again after several years of use. Also had a a second hand Heritage SA 22 with a broken load gate. Easy and cheap to fix.
10-Ring
Member
Not mine...but a guy shooting next to me at the range had his Ruger break. Don't know exactly what broke, but I do know it prevented him from shooting & he wasn't a happy camper :banghead:
:banghead:Sheldon
Member
I broke the hammer and trigger pins in my wife's S&W 586 with a steady diet of 357 Mag ammo. Even though it was not one of the current "lifetime" warranted guns, they fixed it for free. That same pistol had also been shot enough previously to loosen up enough to start getting a lot of spitting out of the cylinder gap. They fixed that issue as well under warranty.
RON in PA
Member
Have a S&W model 67 that broke its hammer nose (firing pin) while dry firing.
GungHo
Member
I've had a S&W go out of time before, but that's about it.
Peter M. Eick
Member
My Diamondback has been in for service 3 times in 45,549 rounds. No complaints. Its a great gun and the repairs were all minor.
wanderinwalker
Member
Not a breakage per se, but my 629 likes to unscrew its ejector rod sometimes at the range, binding me up good until that little lightbulb in my head goes on! It has happened a couple of times. Helps when I remember to add a light dot of blue Loctite after scraping the crane.
Also, again not exactly a breakage, but I had a SuperBlackhawk that would walk the cylinder pin out shooting full-power loads. This pistol came to me well used, and I'm not so sure that the previous owner hadn't used the max loads as only a "recommendation" in his reloading!
Scary is all I have to say about some of the boxes of reloads that came with it. (Many of them got taken apart, actually, though some were, ahem, disposed of in a less orthodox manner. )
And I think there was some gunk under the extractor star on the 629 once at the range. Not sure though.
It has happened a couple of times. Helps when I remember to add a light dot of blue Loctite after scraping the crane.Also, again not exactly a breakage, but I had a SuperBlackhawk that would walk the cylinder pin out shooting full-power loads. This pistol came to me well used, and I'm not so sure that the previous owner hadn't used the max loads as only a "recommendation" in his reloading!
Scary is all I have to say about some of the boxes of reloads that came with it. (Many of them got taken apart, actually, though some were, ahem, disposed of in a less orthodox manner. )And I think there was some gunk under the extractor star on the 629 once at the range. Not sure though.
This has turned out to be a thread with a lot of responses, and thats good. Almost 50% thus far with no issues, and about only 40% needed minor repair. That leaves us with about 10% thought that have needed major repair or replacement, I thought that number would be lower. Well, keep the votes coming!
Jamie C.
Member
Broke the transfer bar on a Ruger Single-Six a few years ago... It only took about 250,000 rounds to do it.
I called Ruger, argued with 'em about sending the gun in to 'em, and finally got 'em to mail me the part. Had the gun running again within an hour of receiving the part in the mail.
I haven't voted in the poll yet because I'm not sure if the incident is a minor or major repair. For me, it was minor... For somebody else, that couldn't fit a new transfer bar themselves, it would probably have been major. And the gun was completely out of action for the better part of a week....
J.C.
I called Ruger, argued with 'em about sending the gun in to 'em, and finally got 'em to mail me the part. Had the gun running again within an hour of receiving the part in the mail.
I haven't voted in the poll yet because I'm not sure if the incident is a minor or major repair. For me, it was minor... For somebody else, that couldn't fit a new transfer bar themselves, it would probably have been major. And the gun was completely out of action for the better part of a week....
J.C.
gandog56
Member
Hmmmm, I have a Taurus 66 for over 19 years and the only thing I've ever had go wrong on it was the crane screw worked itself loose. But I mostly shoot 38 special wadcutters out of it for practice and probably one box of .357's per 10 boxes of 38's to keep me honest.
gandog56
Member
Also I have a Ruger Super Blackhawk that the screw holding the ejector pin keeps coming loose, even with locktite. I just remember to keep a screwdriver in my range bag and retighten it every so often.
S&W mod 14, high round count, broken firing pin. Most revolver issues I had were from margnal quality guns with poor qc from begining such as Charter Arms or Taurus and/or were bough used with home gun tinkering or abuse. Taurus 689 would not hit primers hard enough on some ammo types. Taurus 04 22lr had too many light hits on rims too.
Dropped a S&W model 10 and rod that goes thru rear of ejector star to secure gun to rear of frame snapped. Bent ejector rods from used, abused revolvers.
Dropped a S&W model 10 and rod that goes thru rear of ejector star to secure gun to rear of frame snapped. Bent ejector rods from used, abused revolvers.
Very hi mileage Smith Mdl 13, purchased used, was very accurate but there was that slight issue of a .017 cylinder gap.
$45.00 to turn the barrel back one thread & set the gap to .005 and removed the end shake.
Total cost for gun and work was $135.00
$45.00 to turn the barrel back one thread & set the gap to .005 and removed the end shake.
Total cost for gun and work was $135.00
Over a period slightly exceeding 50 years I’ve gone through literally hundreds of revolvers – some belonging to me and others to someone else. The guns themselves were anything from brand new to well used, and were made anywhere from the middle 19th century to this current day.
Breakage was limited mostly to flat springs, especially in guns made during the late 1800’s to the 1920’s. I also bought a lot of guns that were broken because as a result the price was considerably depressed. Repairs were usually simple and not expensive.
By far the greatest problems were caused by previous owner neglect, abuse, or home gunsmithing. In particular those caused by someone who with little or no experience or knowledge decided to do an action job, to “lighten up the trigger pull.” After being messed with the gun often ended up in a dealer’s used counter or on a table at some gunshow.
Quality revolvers (Smith & Wesson, Colt and Ruger to name three) seldom break, although I am concerned as we move into an era where the driving motive is to cut manufacturing cost, and therefore possibly quality.
But while I have never been limited to a single gun I’ve never felt the need to have an exact duplicate as a backup. On the rare occasions when something in a carry gun broke I simply switched to something else while the busted one was being repaired. The “something else” could be totally unrelated to the out-of-service revolver, but still served the necessary purpose.
If the revolvers you have are good ones, and not tinkered with, and are properly cared for I wouldn’t worry about duplicating everything unless you worked for an employer that insisted that you had to carry a (whatever) with no exceptions.
Breakage was limited mostly to flat springs, especially in guns made during the late 1800’s to the 1920’s. I also bought a lot of guns that were broken because as a result the price was considerably depressed. Repairs were usually simple and not expensive.
By far the greatest problems were caused by previous owner neglect, abuse, or home gunsmithing. In particular those caused by someone who with little or no experience or knowledge decided to do an action job, to “lighten up the trigger pull.” After being messed with the gun often ended up in a dealer’s used counter or on a table at some gunshow.
Quality revolvers (Smith & Wesson, Colt and Ruger to name three) seldom break, although I am concerned as we move into an era where the driving motive is to cut manufacturing cost, and therefore possibly quality.
But while I have never been limited to a single gun I’ve never felt the need to have an exact duplicate as a backup. On the rare occasions when something in a carry gun broke I simply switched to something else while the busted one was being repaired. The “something else” could be totally unrelated to the out-of-service revolver, but still served the necessary purpose.
If the revolvers you have are good ones, and not tinkered with, and are properly cared for I wouldn’t worry about duplicating everything unless you worked for an employer that insisted that you had to carry a (whatever) with no exceptions.
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