my friend flicked his wrist to close my sp101

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I have two friends, both of them have extensive firearms experience yet somehow they never heard that the annoying "hollywood" flick of the wrist (to close the cylinder) can cause damage.
They asked me why it's bad but I don't know enough to articulate a good reason, I remember a thread saying it's bad though ...I just can't remember why.

Can you please help me explain to them why this is bad? please do not flame or be sarcastic at all as I feel it may be a common mistake.

Also how do I find out how much (if any) damage has been done?
 
Good Question ,

I wonder if there is much factual data on this issue myself. The conventional wisdom as I understand it is that it puts undue stress on the crane and can cause it to de-form .(bent crane) I doubt wether this would happen on a one time basis myself , but could see where it is not a good thing to do consistantly.

I hope someone else can come up with more fact than fiction on this issue.
 
Its not going to happen with only one instance, but over time you can bend the crane to a point where the revolver will not lock up. If you look at how the crane and cylinder fit into the gun you can see that there isnt very much room for deformation before things get all haywire. The big problem here is that the situation isnt really fixable. I think that the actual gunsmith method of repair involves beating on the gun with a hammer, but it will never be the same again.
 
It probably isn't bad to close it hollywood style but to swing it open would do damage over time.
 
Flipping the gun to close the cylinder forces the cylinder against the crane at the start of the flip and forces the crane against its stop on the frame. I would think that over time this could bend the crane. I don't think the slamming of the cylinder into the frame causes much of a problem. Just my opinion, of course, I could be wrong.

Bill
 
http://www.tpub.com/content/gunsandammo/TM-9-1005-206-14P-1/css/TM-9-1005-206-14P-1_112.htm

The diagram is of an older pinned S&W cylinder, but the principle is the same. The yoke's topmost protrusion can be bent by dropping the cylinder open or slamming it shut. Heavier cylinders (like N-frame .357s) are less tolerant than lighter cylinders (5-shot J-frames), and J-frame are more tolerant in general because of shorter yokes. Anything that increase/decreases potential angular momentum will increase/decrease the possibilty of causing problems.

Edited to add: It would probably make more sense to point out that as the cylinder falls open or is slammed shut, it comes to an abrupt stop. Simplified to Year One Physics: The cylinder's natural state is to keep opening (or closing-- Newton's First Law). A Normal (counteracting) force is applied by the frame in both cases, but that normal force is acting on the yoke in the case where the cylinder falls open. Basically, the yoke stops before the cylinder does. The cylinder encloses the topmost protrusion of the yoke, so the substantially greater mass of the cylinder is exerting force in one direction. The substantially lesser mass of the yoke's protrusion is exerting a normal (counteracting) force in the other.

"Bogarting" the cylinder is the most common cause of damaged yokes. If it does happen, the probability of irreparable damage being done after one careless error is close to zero.

The damage is fixable, but it's generally cheaper to replace the yoke than finding someone who actually knows how to work on S&W revolvers and paying parts and labor.
 
The main idea is there exists no reason why a two handed homo-sapien must do this.
It might not damage the gun the first time, but just like carrying the revolver in the back of a pick-up truck loaded with broken bricks, over time it will make it's mark.

Your friend, out of respect for you, should handle your property the way you ask. Without question. If he does not, he does not respect you, and is not your friend.
 
Did you reclaim your SP-101, then "Flick!" him about the head and shoulders with it ? ? ? :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: I know, as much as your want to, you can't bash your friend with it...but I know the feeling

Seriously, "flicking" one open/closed will eventualy damage the crane (or yoke, as it may be called by different makers). One of the earlier posts mentioned the basic rules of physics about the cylinder mass being at the end of the yoke.

I recently saw someone doing the "Single-Action-Flick". Some [ahem] person with a new .357 Blackhawk loaded up the cylinder, spins cylinder really fast, then slams the loading gate shut. You could see the torque applied as the bolt stop, etc caught. NOT pretty.
 
Kaylee:

So a new crane and cylinder rod wouldn't fix the problem, if properly fitted to the gun?
Click to expand...

Usually what bends is the yoke/crane barrel (which is the part of the yoke or crane that the cylinder revolves on). Except in the worst of cases it can be straighened, and it's something that I do all of the time. Besides the obvious, a sprung yoke can cause bullets entering the barrel to shave lead, and also cause the cylinder to go out of time and not "carry up," (revolve all of the way from one chamber to the next). Contrary to what some have said, I have seen a few cases where one "flip of the cylinder" was enough to have a noticeable effect. You can check your own revolvers by unloading them first, and then wiggling the cylinder from side to side while looking from the front to see if there is any movement between the yoke and frame.

Yes, a new yoke and maybe some of the cylinder's internal parts will effect a repair. But this is a factory job, and because the yoke is fitted to the individual gun, refinishing may be in order. The repair bill might cause a stroke.

The best way to avoid this problem is to explain the correct way to close a cylinder before you hand the gun to another person, unless previous experience with that individual make this unnecessary.
 
I once saw a guy try to flick close his Taurus .38 at the range. He ended up throwing all the rounds out of the cylinder.

Rookies are such fun to watch. :)
 
I recently bought a S&W Mod 34 kit gun. My first day at the range I showed it to a range rat I know there, who promptly "flicked" the cylinder shut.

The gun jammed, had to pound the cylinder to open it, and it wouldn't open a second time. I was sure the flicking did it.

I called Smith and they said send it in. Instead I went on the Smith forum and read an article about the extractor loosening and causing this failure.

Sure enough, after I calmed down, I tightened the extractor rod (reverse thread), and the gun worked like when I bought it.

In this case I think flicking the gun might have added to an already existing loosening of the extractor rod, but it put a good, deep score mark on the recoil shield of the gun.
 
So a new crane and cylinder rod wouldn't fix the problem, if properly fitted to the gun?
Click to expand...

If the damage is restricted to those two parts then I'm sure that would be an easy fix. However I believe that a lot ofthe damage is caused to the area of the frame where the crane is attached, which isnt replaceable.
 
I had a buddy who didn't shoot much, but liked to come along with those of us who did shoot alot. In one day he managed to drop my hi-power (I never shoulda sold that gun), and then later flicks my DW closed. I stopped letting him shoot my guns after that.

As a side note, that same guy inherited a Remington sportsman 48 16 guage a few years after that, and dropped it in mud, never cleared the barrel, and put a big old walnut in the barrel. Some guys never get proficient at gun handling. (and before you say it, we all tried to teach him, but he didn't want to learn)
 
I had a T.V. that would go to complete blue screen on rare occasion but being the electronics wizard I am I found that whacking it on the side with my hand would bring back the color/picture. Eventually the frequency of the problem increased and harder whacks were required. One night after a few beers, the T.V. goes to blue screen and no amount of whacking would bring back the picture. So I hit it with a ball bat. That solved the problem, a trip to the new T.V. store was needed the next day.

The moral of the story: Treat your guns with care or you'll wind up at the T.V. store.
 
I heard of this on thr

before I bought my lil ruger so I never did it my self, I have two friends out in the blackrock desert who have more guns then me and are both really good shots and real experienced shooters, I was surprised that they didn't know.
I guess it's due to modern shooters use semi-auto more and when you buy a new revolver the instructions don't mention this.

I have had cylinder bind recently but I think it's more of a cleaning problem.
 
Exactly! It's just very bad form to do that to someone elses revolver, whether it bends anything or not.

I would liken it to riding in someone's new car, getting out and then slamming the door hard. You just don't do it.
 
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