How do I increase cylinder gap?

[Eleven Mike]

Or how would a gunsmith do this for me?

This is a used Model 10, and I fired it for the first time today. On one particular chamber, I'm calling it chamber 1, the hammer and trigger will only go about half-way back. If I let the hammer drop, I can then roll chamber 1 into position and take the next shot on chamber 2. All other chambers were functioning normally, at first, but now the chamber previous to number 1, number 6, is developing the same problem. When I pull back on the cylinder (when unloaded) the cylinder revolves.

It seems the cylinder is binding due to a minimal cylinder/barrel gap. Having no guages, I thought the gap looked tight in the store, but doubted it would be a problem. Never noticed any problem when checking the timing on each chamber with a flashlight, as per the checkout sticky thread.

Also, closing and opening the cylinder is sometimes rather stiff, and so is the cylinder latch.

Thanks to all who have helped me with my many questions about this gun.

 

[Pistol Toter]

Process called stretching the crane. Not terribly difficult, I have done it one time on a cheap RG. Did it just for fun to see if I could and I did OK. NO WAY would I try it on a good gun though. I would love to watch a smith do it a time or two and then let him watch me. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. The porecess takes a few specialized tools and some know how. Not a kitchen table job. I will say this when I was playing around with the RG there was lots and lots ofing......... what? yes I said ing

Regards Pistol Toter

 

[Eleven Mike]

Yes, I did clean the gun before firing it. There was some baked-on stuff that wouldn't come off (yet), but should that have been a problem? The problems only started after cleaning, and I did remove most of the crud in the gap.

I should also add that the extractor rod had been loose when I purchased it. I was told that I might break the pins under the extractor by tightening it with an empty cylinder. This advice came too late, but the pins did not break. One of them appears to be slightly bent, but I don't know if that would cause a problem.

Checking the extractor rod again, with a full cylinder this time, it appears I didn't use enough loc-tite. When I tighten the rod down, the problem gets worse. Could I be tightening it so much that it doesn't have enough play?

 

[Pistol Toter]

MIke I am not a gun smith!!! but does the extractor look like it matches up with the cylinder; if you have bent the pins it may have indexed slightly and causing some binding with the hand. The hand cams off the extractor just as lock pin drops into the cylinder. If bent I don't know if they can be straitend. Maybe better off to replace them. Never try to remove or tighten the extractor without supporting the extractor. This can be done with a special tool or 3 empty cases spaced around the cylinder. While some of this work is not terribly difficult yo must know what you are doing and some nifty special tools are required. At this point I believe that you need to search out a real good, qualified S&W armour or call S&W and talk with them. A fairly decent set of feeler gauges can be bought at and automotive parts house. I would have to check but I believe that gap should be in the neighborhood of
.004 to .007 which is pretty wide. I have a Ruger SP101 that is down in the .002 to .003 range, not easy to see light through that. You have to get it turned just right.