futool

Finally got a 929 and everything was fine with respect to the fit & finish. Accuracy is good too. My only complaint is the so called Performance Center trigger. It's a joke and doesn't garner the extra cost. But in the 929's case you don't have a choice. A JM spring kit, Apex hammer and a ton of polishing solved that issue. A minor issue is the front sight. I personally don't like the all all black sight picture. But Toolguy is fixing that too.

Ooooo, those short little 9's are gonna drop in a lot smoother... BTW, I'll buy that new 627 from you.

While that might be true, the sad truth is that Smith & Wesson has no idea how to tune their own guns. A couple years ago, when one of the S&W team members needed a gun set up for Bianchi, Julie grabbed a new gun out of inventory and sent it to me for the action work. So that ought to tell you something. It absolutely does... The Artisan that worked on my 625 knows Julie Golob. That kinda sorta makes me two degrees separated from her. And she's way better than Kevin Bacon.

Got the parts in and installed them yesterday. Looks like it already had bearings inserted. 4x .004's and 1x .002. I took out the old ones and added 6 of the new .004's. Now the gap is .005 to .008. I've very happy to report that the binding issue has been resolved. 17 bucks in parts and quick visit to Enos... Just awesome... The only downside is that now I have no excuse for being such a poor shot. Thanks to everyone once again for taking the time to help me out. Nick

Want to come out to NJ? I'll pay your entry fees at USPSA next Sunday. Thanks for the invite to NJ, but I spent last week in the Florida Keys so I'll have to spend a while around here to keep the day job a little longer. The forcing cone to cylinder gap is kinda one of those things that you get whatever you get when everything else is right due to tolerance stacking. There's a tolerance on the cylinder length, star machining, barrel set, etc. In my experience, anything between about .003" to .010" is tolerable, but with the numbers from your measurements you should be able to get a respectable .006" - .008" +/-. If you had to pull the cylinder back to get a .0015" gage in, that's the classic example of a gun that will spin and dry fire great when clean and lubed, but will tighten up and refuse to run with a little heat and sticky powder residue in the gap. A professional gunsmith would probably true and stretch the crane, square the crane end leaving just enough play for one or two shims. Then set final dimensions with the shims. Others of us would buy a package of .002"and .004" shims and based on your measurements, stack two .004" shims where the crane meets the cylinder and see how she runs. If a .002" can be added and you can still "feel" some end play, it don't get much better than that; particularly if you begin thinking about reduced trigger pulls with lighter springs and... nah, stay away from the dark side. Here's some shims if you haven't found them yet. http://www.brownells...58.aspx?ttver=2 Haha, I was pulled to the dark side by that S.O.B Alec. I ordered the Power Customs .002 & .004's last night. Hopefully that'll do the trick. I'll post some pics and the results once they come in. Thank you ALL for the help and insightful revolver lesson.

where do you see this for sale? You're cracking me the F up. Futey is gonna freak.

Ok, so i gapped the cylinder. My thinest gauge is .0015 and i had to slightly pull the cylinder back to get it to slide between the barrel and cylinder. And at it's farthest point it's tight at .010. That's A .0085 length of travel. So what's the preferred forcing cone to cylinder gap?

Nope. Starts off ok then gets progressively worse the more you fire.

I was going to post the same thing. I had similar problems with my JM 625 and after a quick trip to a local gunsmith it is all better. Cool, and a simple spacer fixed it? Was it a new S&W?

Tried 230 Gr lead and plated. Happens with both.

Want to come out to NJ? I'll pay your entry fees at USPSA next Sunday.

Also interesting, but i'd imagine that once the pin moved out slightly and hit the side plate it would also mess with the action while unloaded. I would keep it on the list of things to check. One thing infuriating about S&W design and manufacturing precision is that the hammer assembly and trigger assembly float back and forth on thier pins inside the frame. While live firing you not only get recoil pushing the gun back and up, the gun torques as it imparts spin to the bullet. These movements can shift parts into, and out of, interference in ways that are hard to replicate dry firing. If you get serious, you'll want shims to set and space endshake and barrel gap, shims to center the hammer assembly in the frame and reduce drag, and shims to center the trigger assembly. And that's just the beginning... Oy vey. I just got into revolvers and learned how to strip this baby a few months ago. Boy do I have a lot to learn. And I greatly appreciate all your help.

Checking Brownells And Midway tonight. I got ya bro.

Hi Walt, thanks for the tip. Would excessive end shake cause a lockup and wouldn't it also be present while using the snap caps? End shake? I'll google it now. I gapped it during the inspection at my FFL and it was about 3 mils and consistent through the rotation. You can google it if you like, but a search of this forum will return better results. Check the gap again while you push the cylinder forward towards the barrel. Anything less than about .001" will bind during firing as parts heat up and get dirty. End shake is the difference in barrel gap from when the cylinder is pushed fully forward and fully rearward. You want that to be a very small number. Interesting... I'm pretty sure the barrel to cylinder gap was 3 mils but it never dawned on me to push the cylinder back and check the gap again. I'll do that tonight and see what it is. Thanks... When I originally ran into this problem it only happened at matches, so I considered that the timer buzzer was the cause. If my gun was clean and cool it wouldn't bind, but get some hot soot in the barrel gap and things would get sticky. The hand not only rotates the cylinder, it pushes it slightly forward, hence, the harder you pull the harder it pushes. I like my endshake very small. A less precise way to check it (with an unloaded gun of course) is to hold the gun up to the light and look at the barrel gap. Push the cylinder rearward and forward. If you see the light through the barrel gap disappear, there you go. A shim or two will fix it probably, but be scientific and use feeler gages and math to impress your friends. The kicker on my original run in with this problem was with a 625-8 that S&W had just charged me a pretty penny to replace the cylinder for notch peening, but that's another rant for another day. It makes sense. I can't wait to get home and check it out. Thank you sir!

Also interesting, but i'd imagine that once the pin moved out slightly and hit the side plate it would also mess with the action while unloaded.

And that's the way it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmYzAVgDBkY&list=HL1358453442&feature=mh_lolz

End shake? I'll google it now. I gapped it during the inspection at my FFL and it was about 3 mils and consistent through the rotation. You can google it if you like, but a search of this forum will return better results. Check the gap again while you push the cylinder forward towards the barrel. Anything less than about .001" will bind during firing as parts heat up and get dirty. End shake is the difference in barrel gap from when the cylinder is pushed fully forward and fully rearward. You want that to be a very small number. Interesting... I'm pretty sure the barrel to cylinder gap was 3 mils but it never dawned on me to push the cylinder back and check the gap again. I'll do that tonight and see what it is. Thanks...

Hi Walt, thanks for the tip. Would excessive end shake cause a lockup and wouldn't it also be present while using the snap caps?

End shake? I'll google it now. I gapped it during the inspection at my FFL and it was about 3 mils and consistent through the rotation.

Yeah, when you tried it, it was locking up completely. But at the PPC match a few nights before, i was able to force it on a few rounds. But quickly realized that it's just not worth causing more potential damage.

Cleaned her up all puurdy like... Inside and out. Still happens.

Hello All, I'm having a problem with my 625-4 and hoped the brilliant Enos collective could help me shine some light on the potential issue. The action will sometimes become very stiff (well over 15lbs) during live fire, and only live fire. It's otherwise perfect unloaded or while using snap caps. The normal DA trigger pull is about 5 lbs and was "Carmonized" by the guns previous owner. It has a bobbed hammer, reduced pull spring kit and polished internals. It doesn't happen on every shot and the only way to fix it, is to open the cylinder and advance it to the next chamber. Here's what I've checked so far with no luck in diagnosing the problem. The extractor rod... Nice and tight, not backing out at all. The ammo... Tried several soft reloads, Some with new star line brass. No visible primer creep or flow. Moon clips... Used several different types/thicknesses including the Hearthco's. Didn't make a difference Timing... The cylinder stop is off just a hair on 3 or the 6 positions and can only be noticed if the trigger is pulled very slowly. During a normal pull the cylinder will lock just before hammer drops. The hand and cylinder ratchet don't appear to have excessive wear. Dirt, and wear on internals... The entire frame has been taken apart, cleaned and shows no visual issues. So, does anyone out there have a suggestion? At this point, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Nick