New 1917 S&W revolver problems

[Bananna bore]

Bought a new 1917 and loved it. Shot great, thought I would try speed loading it using full moons. On the third try- the cylinder and crane pushed right out of the gun with a moon of 230's onto the gravel. I removed the yoke retaining screw and found that the screw/pin now had a spring between the screw and pin. Real confidence builder for a self-defense pistol. Anybody else have this problem? I have been shooting all frame size of Smith's since 1977 and never had this happen before.

 

[451 Detonics]

mmmm...a good reason to always check to make sure all the screws are tight? And yes...I did this once after detail cleaning my 625 and I missed tightening the crane screw somehow...embarrassing in competition.

 

[halfmoonclip]

I'm a huge fan of the .45ACP revolver, but I never had that experience. Yeah, gotta have the crane screw tight. Did the cylinder get marked up?
Moon

 

[Bananna bore]

Screw-check!

Tool box always goes to the range and all screws tightened (grace screwdrivers)
before shooting rifle or handgun. I use to own an axle building business in the 90's and am still phobic about screw/bolt torque and when needed whatever grade of locktite. I wish it had only been a case of failure to tighten. Got lucky in impact with the gravel-- landed on the extractor end of the cylinder.

 

[halfmoonclip]

BB, I don't see how it came adrift if the screw was tight. Glad it didn't get marked up, but have you figured out what happened?
A buddy has one of the 1917 replicas; boy what a beautiful gun.
Moon

 

[cpirtle]

Bummer, but glad it suffered the fall well.

They moved to the spring/screw/pin setup because it supposedly offers smoother operation of opening the cylinder for better or worse. I can't imagine that it's a cost savings effort as it probably costs more than just a screw with a pin end.

If you take the spring out then put the screw & pin back in it should still keep the cyl assembly in the gun. If it does then the problem is likely in the spring or depth of the hole in the screw.

I had a similar problem with my M&P 360, just ordered a new screw assembly which took care of the problem.

If you have another K, L or N frame you can try one from that to see if the problem is the screw.

Here's one on Midway or you can probably call Smith and ask them to send you one.

 

[Bananna bore]

Screwed

Thanks for the info on the stupid "improvement" they did on the screw/pin. I will call S&W or Midway and get the old school tuff stuff replacement.

 

[cpirtle]

If you want to get away from the new style screw you may need to go to Numrich or eBay to see if you can get one from an older gun.

Not sure if there were other changes to keep you from using it though so it's a crap shoot.

A model 10 screw should fit but may need tweaked..

 

[MrBorland]

Is the plunger bent or the spring under it not working? I've seen issues with this screw bending before, resulting in a dropped or locked-open cylinder. Mostly in hard-used guns with lots of reloads on them, though. As mentioned, you can order a replacement yoke screw. If you're going to use the gun hard, I'd order a few. I keep an extra in my range bag.

Here's a thread you might find interesting, particularly post #2:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=119415

 

[rcmodel]

The spring loaded pin in the screw is cheaper then hand fitting the screw to the yoke the old-school way they used to do it.

If you do get a new old style screw, it too will need to be fitted for proper length and tip width to match your yoke button cut.

rc

 

[Bananna bore]

Pin plus

Thanks to all for the replies and info. I used the hillbilly repair method and made a longer pin from some old drill stock. So far so good. I ran through a little over 300 rounds of mixed 230 lead and 255 lead with no more cylinder "bowling".

 

[cpirtle]

The spring loaded pin in the screw is cheaper then hand fitting the screw to the yoke the old-school way

Good point, hadn't thought about it in that way.

I used the hillbilly repair method and made a longer pin from some old drill stock

Haha, I did this for a friend who didn't want to spend $$ on his POS Taurus, it was so poorly milled it ate the pin, drew the spring in and wrapped the yoke. He reports it's working well even after quite a bit of shooting.