S&W Cylinder replacement

[chriske]

What does it take to replace a defective cylinder on a S&W mod 14-3 ?

Is it a matter of removing the extractor star, spring & rod, centerpin & spring etc. from the old cylinder and re-assemble these in the new cylinder ?
Is professional fitting required or is this a "drop-in" job ?

Or do I need to replace the entire unit (old cylinder together with all its "innards") ?

 

[rcmodel]

It may or may not be a "drop-in" job. Most likely not.

Things like the headspace, end-shake, and barrel / cylinder gap may very likely need adjsutment.
Or you could get lucky.

You should be able to use all the old extractor parts in a replacement cylinder as long as it is the exact same model cylinder.
Very minor fitting of the extractor star chamber cuts might be necessary.

rcmodel

 

[Old Fuff]

When the original extractor was assembled in the cylinder, the star was reamed at the same time the chambers were. Smith & Wesson never intended that extractors would interchange between cylinders or guns.

If your revolver needs a new cylinder return it to S&W. In the long run it will save you from having problems.

 

[krs]

For the better part, original configuration parts are no longer available new. Smith & Wesson redesigned them in several important ways and the upshot now is that it is no simple matter to obtain a new cylinder for an older gun.

For example, looking in Brownell's "factory parts" sections under specific listed models by engineering change (dash number) will turn up a part, a cylinder say, that will have "early version" or "late version" and the early version will have been dropped by S&W. If you purchase the later version using the reasoning that since it IS listed as a part for the exact model by dash number or lack of dash number, you will receive a cylinder with no provision for the extractor alignment pins, a 'D' shape extractor hole instead of the older keywayed type, and that cylinder will not be installable into your pistol using the old crane yoke.

So, to change the cylinder you will also need a new version centerpin, centerpin spring, yoke/crane, extractor (that will arrive with the cylinder and machine mated as an assembly so don't buy a seperate extractor), gas bushing, extractor rod, and extractor rod spring. Whew, I THINK that's all.

But even with all correct new parts in hand they'll need fitting to work correctly in your gun.


Like the man said - let the factory do it for you.



Or, since you're in Belgium, buy local - support your local businesman