Cylinder Alignment Worries.

[bg226]

I've been worried that my 1970s Smith Mod. 15 revolver might have lost alignment, because I accidently dropped it a couple times. I also stored it under 10 pounds of clothing once.

How delicate is the cylinder alignment?

I hope i'm just paranoid, and these fine guns are not that fragile.

 

[adaman04]

If the cylnider positively locks after rotating, I don't think you have any problems. Dropping a revolver is no biggie in most cases. No sweat, my man.

 

[dfariswheel]

Alignment has little to do with locking.
Alignment is how well the chambers align with the bore AFTER the cylinder is locked.

Storing under clothing is no problem. Dropping may be.

If the gun is accurate, and isn't spitting bullet metal out the sides of the cylinder, it's probably OK.

 

[duckjihad]

Not to grab the thread, but I have a S&W 586 that has a small amount of play in the cylinder when cocked. Is some okay, or should no play exist when the weapon is cocked?

 

[Sport45]

A little play is normal. Even in lockup (trigger back, hammer down) a S&W wil have a little play side to side. What you don'ty want with a Smith is endshake. That's front to back movement of the cylinder in the frame.

 

[dfariswheel]

The only double action revolvers that lock up tight when the trigger is held back are the older Colt's like the Python.

ALL other modern DA revolvers like the later Colt Mark III/King Cobra, the S&W, Ruger, Dan Wesson, and Taurus guns are specifically designed to allow the cylinder to be slightly loose at the moment of ignition.

This is to allow the chamber to align itself with the bore.

 

[Standing Wolf]

I also stored it under 10 pounds of clothing once.

You could store a gun under ten tons of clothing without a problem: cloth is flexible enough to conform to a gun's shape.

 

[EddieCoyle]

You could store a gun under ten tons of clothing...

That's one of my ex-wife's shirts.

 

[Pistol Toter]

UNLOAD THE GUN THEN CHECK TO SEE THAT IT IS UNLOADED!
UNLOAD THE GUN THEN CHECK TO SEE THAT IT IS UNLOADED!
UNLOAD THE GUN THEN CHECK TO SEE THAT IT IS UNLOADED!:banghead:
Cock the gun and in the dark take a small mag light and look down the barrel, move the light around in an arc and if it is not lined up you can see the face of the cylinder. Now if the cylinder is only slightly out and it can easily move and line it up you are probably OK. There is a tool called a range rod available from Brownells that can be used to check the gun for allignment.
REMEMBER TO UNLOAD THE DANG GUN:banghead: