Driftwood Johnson
Member
Howdy
If only it were that simple. Generally speaking, when a Top Break got loose it was not because the latch was worn. Usually, either the frame was stretched, or the frame was worn. Replacing the latch would accomplish nothing.
Here is a photo of the latch area on my S&W DA44. When I bought it, the lockup was a bit loose. With the latch in place, I could rock the barrel down slightly, causing a gap of a few thousandths to appear where the arrow points. This is the spot where the top strap snugs down onto the main frame.
This gun was made in 1881. The steel is not modern steel, it does not have the strength of modern steels. What is very typical with these old guns is that somebody decides to shoot some Smokeless cartridges in them. If the cartridges are too powerful for the old steel, the frame will get battered and will stretch. That is what was wrong with this one, The frame had stretched, just a tiny amount, but it was enough that when the latch was closed, it did not make contact with the frame posts until the barrel was tilted down a degree or so.
I know a very talented gunsmith, who is very familiar with the old Top Breaks. I felt pretty sure that he could tighten up the lockup for me, so I went ahead and bought the gun. I thought he was going to weld a spot of metal onto the frame posts and file it down to make the proper fit. What he did instead was he drilled two holes in the frame posts, drove in a pair of conical dowel pins, then cut them and filed them so they presented a slightly raised surface for the latch to mate to.
Here is a photo of what he did. The rear surfaces of the dowel pins are raised just a few thousandths above the adjacent surfaces of the posts. It is just enough so that the latch now snaps down securely over the posts and there is no longer any play at the latch.
Now I'm sure some of you fellows are going to say that with modern steel this would not have happened. And perhaps you are correct. But my point is, correcting a loose latch such as this is not a question of replacing a part. Metal has to be added to the joint, and then the metal has to be filed down just right to get the fit right. Not a case of slapping in a replacement part, this is a job for a highly skilled gunsmith.
It is a weak point of the design, the frame can stretch. That is why all the major revolver companies stopped making Top Breaks and switched over to solid frame revolvers with swing out cylinders. A solid frame is going to always be stronger than a jointed Top Break.
