Ever Have an unreliable center-fire Revolver?

[Shooter973]

Have you ever had an unreliable center fire Revolver? I own quite a few revolvers, by several makers, and have never run across an unreliable one yet!!!! Every time I've wanted it to go bang it has. Barring a bad round of Ammo, of course... ( only one or two in my life) I'd like to hear about an unreliable revolver if you've ever had one. Center-fire only please!!!

 

[dfariswheel]

The only unreliable revolvers I ever saw were either the extreme low-end "Saturday Night Specials" and revolvers that were simply defective and needed repairs.

Even most of the really cheap revolvers would work reliably while in good condition.

 

[sm]

RG 38.
Sometimes it actually spit the lead out the barrel like it was supposed to, instead of how it most often did.

dfariswheel is correct of course, just proving his point is all.

 

[.38 Special]

I've had several unreliable revolvers through my hands. All of them had been made that way by amateur gunsmithing.

It's been my experience that an unreliable revolver that was that way when it left the factory is rarer than hen's teeth. I've never personally seen either.

 

[BobMcG]

Not here. Only owning and having owned S&Ws and DWs they've all been top notch.

 

[jamz]

I bought a used M19 that somebody gunsmithed into only firing 4 out of 5 times.

Pulling the trigger feels amazing however, and it's great for testing for flinch.

Gotta send it back to S&W to get it reliable again.

 

[JMag]

No, as I buy only (except the lone Taurus 85 years ago) Smiths and Colts with an eye out for a nice Ruger...or two!

 

[moewadle]

Just for the record I had a new Ruger

New Vaquero .45 that I bought in July with problems. This case may not fit your criteria because I am sure it was bad from the factory. The gun is presently at the Ruger company in New Hampshire to be fixed. The problem was that there apparently was not enough space between the rear of the cylinder and the recoil shield area so I would put cartridges in and then the cylinder would jam up because the case heads were binding on the recoil shield. This had nothing to do with amateur gunsmithing and the gun was brand new in box when I bought it in July.

 

[Crosshair]

I have an Astra 357 where the cylinder will rotate too far in DA mode and the firing pin will hit the case instead of the primer. This doesn't happen on the other 4 chambers or in SA mode. It was my first handgun, so I keep it.

 

[RNB65]

A buddy of mine bought a medium frame Taurus .357Mag some years ago that would not reliably rotate the cylinder. The grooves in the extractor were so poorly machined they failed to engage the bar that rotates the cylinder once the gun got a little diry. Taurus repaired it under warranty and it worked fine after that.

 

[Croyance]

A friend of a friend had an unreliable Taurus .44 Magnum. Cylinder would jam up.

 

[edw794]

i've owned and shot a bunch of revolvers since the early 70's. was even carrying a revolver when i entered police work in 1973, and still carried one when i retired in 1999. i've never had an unreliable revolver. then, i've never owned anything but smiths, colts, and one ruger. i've had things break on a revolver on rare occasions, but once repaired, reliability was not an issue.

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Bought an old Victory version of the M&P, from around 1946 or so IIRC.

Fired great in SA, but in DA would fail to fire two rounds out of six. Not the same two chambers, but two random chambers.

When I checked the strain-screw, not only was it all the way in, but several pieces of shim had been inserted to put even more pressure on the (presumably) ailing mainspring.

Which reminds me, I need to send that order in to Numrich...

-MV

 

[grendelbane]

I have owned several unreliable revolvers. Sometimes it was a self inflicted condition. Stock springs for me anymore.

Some times it could definitely be attributed to poor gunsmithing, both amateur and professional. However, I have had a couple that were unreliable from the factory.

I am talking about S&W, Ruger, Colt, and Charter Arms.

My friends say I am a magnet that attracts problem wheel-guns, and that normal people just do not have one hundredth of the problems with revolvers that I do.

I believe that most people simply refuse to remember any problems that they had with their wheel guns. My experience is that both wheel guns and autos are about equally reliable. Autos are easier to work on.

 

[MrBigStuff]

Had (key word)

a very unreliable Charter Arms .357 magnum. On occasion, the cylinder would lock and the hammer would freeze in motion when attempting to fire in double-action. I was actually a good looking gun, nice blue finish and the original rose-wood grips with a deep oil finsh. But whats the point of owning a broken tool?

 

[Onmilo]

Three Charter rms revolvers that were all plagued with problems.

One, a .357 Tracker, had the barrel shroud break loose.
A .38 undercover would seize up as described in the above post.
My .44 Bulldog would not print a group smaller than six inches at fifty feet and cartridge cases would stick in the chamber so tightly I had to use a rubber mallet to knock the rod so the cartridges would free from the cylinder.
Sometimes I had to use a rod and whack the cartridge case itself, one at a time to get the cases out of the cylinder.

I now have no doubt why the infamous "Son of Sam" did not ever shoot more than two people at any one time and he never fired more than five shots at any one shooting location,,,,,He could not get the gun reloaded with any speed.

 

[C-grunt]

EAA Windicator that had a cylinder that would freeze up on ocassion. Problem is that I bought it for my wife and the problems it had has really turned her off to revolvers.:banghead:

 

[rhubarb]

My old man had an old old chrome SW in .38 that wouldn't lock up in DA. If you cocked it and rotated the cylinder 'til it locked, it shot fine.

 

[p35]

Colt OP with timing problems so that the firing pin sometimes hit next to the primer. The old Colts had something of a reputation for delicate lockwork. The OP is a great revolver; I just happened to get one that was worn out.

 

[Bart Noir]

I've had 2 late production Colt Police Positive Specials that would seize. I got them slightly used. One would shave bullet jackets so bad that it would lock the cylinder and I could not get through 6 shots. I sold that gun.

The other, which I still have, seems to snag the rims on the recoil-shield area of the cylinder latch. I am slowing removing metal and polishing that area to see if I can make it reliable.

One brand new problem gun was a S&W 940, which uses full-moon clips to hold 9mm rounds. It worked fine with standard pressure round but with +P it jammed after the 3rd shot, every time. I sold that gun.

Now I have another 940 which I got used and find that it will shoot the +P rounds just fine, but extracting them requires a little mallet to thump on the ejection rod.

I have found that Colt PPS or Detective Special models won't work too well in DA if the rear sideplate screw has loosened and backed out even a little bit. But that is a maintenance issue.

Bart Noir

 

[HSMITH]

I have had several unreliable revolvers. With the S&W guns I put stock springs in them, replaced the strain screw if it had been filed and the problems were gone. I have had a security six that would bind up and sieze when hot, cut the barrel/cylinder gap to about .006" and it still bound up when hot. Sent it off to live with someone else. Had a Trooper that had chronic light strikes, sent it off too as I never really liked it. Own and shoot enough and you will have problems with just about everything, guaranteed.

 

[Seven High]

A long time ago, I bought a Rossi .38spl stainless with a 3 inch barrel. It was used when I bought it. What a POS. The timing was off. Rossi would not repair it. A local gunsmith could not repair it. I no longer own it.

 

[fedlaw]

I've had several unreliable revolvers through my hands. All of them had been made that way by amateur gunsmithing.

Ditto, except mine was made that way by a professional smith. He did a gorgeous (to the touch) trigger and accuracy job on my 625. It had the lightest and smoothest double-action trigger pull I've ever felt. Only problem was with ignition-which was haphazard. Oh yeh-I forgot about him operating unsuccessfully (and unasked) on the hand.

 

[Jkwas]

My Taurus 605 developed a weak hammer spring after about 500 rnds. Replaced it with a new one, and it's been 100%. I don't consider a worn spring a factory defect, or an indication of a bad gun. It's my main ccw.

 

[Mr. Tettnanger]

Yes. My Taurus 605. It jammed up on round #65. The cylinder would not rotate. Sent it back and they repaired it. I asked various times before, during and after as to what was wrong, what was fixed...nothing. No answer! I never felt right after that and traded it off. I traded at a trusted gunsmiths shop and was very honest with him. He was not concerened and actually gave me a very fair trade in value towards my S&W 642(which I love!)

Mr. Tettnanger