Revolver malfunctions?

[Lee Roder]

broken studs will cripple a revolver - one trigger stud and one hammer stud here

 

[Taroman]

It happened to me this week

Model 60 (no dash). I purchased this one new in 1974, and its been flawless ever since. Only revolver I have ever carried. Regarded it as totally reliable

At the range Monday, firing 158gr reloads (Trail Boss, 600 fps). Had fired maybe 30 rounds when, after two shots, it locked up tighter than a tick. Quick check, B/C gap good, no pulled bullets. All cases that I could get to wiggled free from the recoil shield. Could not open the cylinder. Wait a minute - the cylinder release is all the way forward. Pulled it back and I was able to cock and fire, so at least was able to fire the last 3.

Obviously, something in the cylinder release mechanism has broken. So much for revolver reliability, glad I wasn't in a gunfight!

Pulled the sideplate and the problem was obvious. The bolt had broken. And this was no MIM part!



BTW, the only auto breakage I ever experienced was a 1911A1 when I was in the Army back in the day. And, it was during qualification. Luckily, I was almost through the course and still managed to qualify as expert.
thanks,



Image taken "before" the incident.

 

[benEzra]

At 1:56-end , the robber waves a gun, looks like a revolver, at the clerk. The gun goes off, and explodes, killing the robber, and wounding the clerk.

It didn't explode; that was an accidental bump fire. The revolver was held loosely enough that when the robber shot the clerk (possibly an ND, hard to tell), the revolver rotated back in his hand until it was pointed at himself, and he accidentally pulled the trigger a second time as it rotated.

Here's a example of that happening a little more clearly on video, thankfully with no injuries this time. It requires a hard recoiling revolver, inexperience, and a light trigger, and it's extremely rare for anyone to get hurt, but it can happen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCzOLEoko6o&feature=related

BTW, anyone who hands a hard-kicking firearm to a novice for them to shoot and be overwhelmed by, because they think it is "funny", is contemptible. This clown almost killed his girlfriend due to HIS stupidity.

 

[MCMXI]

And I've had fouling make it very tight and difficult to turn the cylinder and eject empties.

This is the only problem I've encountered over the last 20 years with revolvers, with the exception of a 629 that I beat to death and had rebuilt. I only shoot reloads, so fouling could be due to poor powder choice, incomplete burning of the powder in the barrel etc. Some powders are more "sooty" than others. A few weeks back while shooting two new GP100s, both got a bit tight after 15 or 20 rounds of my reloads (H110 powder). At one point I couldn't advance the cylinder of the 3" either in double action or single action. Fouling under the ejector star and in the chambers appeared to be the problem. A clean revolver with good ammunition is just about as reliable as any machine can be.

 

[Trebor]

During a class I taught last year two different, relatively new, J frame S&W's revolvers stopped functioning. One had the fired cases expand so much that we couldn't get the cylinder open. This happened a few times and the last time it was so hard to pound the cylinder open that I pulled the gu from the line for the rest of the day.

The second gun would "lock up" where you couldn't pull the trigger without first rotating the cylinder by hand. I had to pull that gun also.

Nothing mechanical is perfect.