S&W revolver locking up when firing?

[widowman10]

hey everyone, first post here.

own several guns (some nice revolvers ) and recently the wife got into it as well (bonus!). took her CCW class and she settled on the little S&W .38 special, model 442 to carry (as a side note, i carry an older S&W .357, model 66). the trigger on my gun is as smooth as a babies butt. her 442 trigger pull is atrocious (which is to be expected since it's new, no biggie really). she's tiny and can't even pull the trigger, so i have been working it quite a bit trying to loosen it up, and it's been working. ok, enough background, here goes:

lately, while working it (dry firing), every once in awhile it seems as though the cylinder is failing to spin all the way around when firing double action. when i pull the trigger, the cylinder will spin- but not quite far enough to engage the hammer fall. the trigger will then seem to lock up until i spin the cylinder that extra .5mm and then the hammer will fall.

is this just bad form on my part (i'm not really paying attention to that stuff since i'm clicking while watching TV or something)? or could it be something else?

appreciate any thoughts! (tried to search and didn't find any helpful info. also- i examined it in the store and it is a solid little revolver)

 

[rich642z]

Does your 442 have the ILS lock above the cylinder release? If it does,send your 442 back to Smith and wesson to get fixed. If you do not have one,then let the trigger go forward all the way after you shoot it. It might be a bur hanging inside the trigger housing somewhere.

 

[widowman10]

hmmm, it does have the ILS lock right above the cylinder release, didn't think about that.

every once in awhile i'll fail to let the trigger go all the way forward, and i know that will do it, but that feels different than this.

thanks!

 

[rich642z]

Since it is brand new,just keep on dry firing it when you can and hopefully,your trigger will get smoother like Rugers do. And then take it to the range and shoot the peewad out of it.

 

[widowman10]

will do rich. hoping to get it as smooth as mine

 

[rcmodel]

I doubt the lock has anything to do with it.
They are not the spawn of the devel the internet makes them out to be.
If the lock did fail, it would lock the gun up completely, not just cause indexing problems that could have been caused by short-stroking, or a dry gun.

Probably just needs some oil.

Put a drop of Rem-Oil or something on each side of the trigger, locking bolt, hand, and ejector star.

Then work the action to allow the oil to get down inside.

May be all it needs.

If in actual fact the gun was out of time and the hand is failing to complety turn the cylinder all the way to lock each shot?
It would not be doing it just occasionally while watching TV!

rc

 

[widowman10]

good thoughts RC, thanks! think i oiled it a couple weeks back, but i'll try again!

 

[rcmodel]

Better yet.
Might be a metal chip floating around in there.

Get a spray can of Rem-Oil at Wallyworld and hose it out real good.
Then shake dry and blow it out with an air hose.

rc

 

[Remllez]

RC has it covered in all likelihood.
I would offer one more oiling point,put a drop in the hand window and cycle the gun a few times...it sounds like the hand is hanging up in the window. Personally if it's as bad as you say I would send it back and insist they do a trigger/action job on their dime.

 

[mmitch]

First, ensure your ejector rod is fully tightened, also look for any grunge under the ejector star.
If you have been shooting one of the less clean powders, you may also get some relief by meticulously cleaning the front of the cylinder/forcing cone.

Also, open the cylinder and spin it with your hand, rapidly, checking for run-out (concentricity).

You may be able to fix this easily, but If you have cylinder run-out, call Smith and get them to send you a shipping label for a factory fix.

Mike

 

[Remo223]

You aren't holding it upside down are you?

I could be wrong, but I think the new smiths have a funny little slider thing safety that will lock up the trigger if the gun is upside down or if the cylinder isn't all the way shut. I'm not entirely sure what its' for. all I know is my older smiths don't have this thing and I had some problems with my new smith until I removed it. I also removed the lawyer lock while I was in there.

 

[madcratebuilder]

her 442 trigger pull is atrocious (which is to be expected since it's new, no biggie really)

If it's a new revolver it needs to go back to S&W for repair. It may be something very minor or it could be a ill fit part(s). If your going to depend on this for possibly your life, I would want a factory repair, not a internet repair.