Randy Lee

Greetings, You might check to see if the moonclipped rounds are springboarding your cases. On .357/.38 spl guns, the case heads should rest solidly against the cylinder face when the cylinder is pointed down towards the ground. If a moonclip is bent, or even one of the fins, it can cause misfires by dampening the impact of the firing pin. Other possible causes- overly chamfered charge holes, uneven cut of the cylinder face during the moonclip modification. I didn't do the moonclip conversion, did I?

Bob, If the hammer is bouncing off the firing pin, check to see if the hammer foot is contacting the rebound slide seat as the hammer falls. I doubt this is the problem, but it's always good to check- I found that overtravel stops which are too long can cause this to occur. If the curve on the mainspring is too much, the back side may contact the back of the frame before the hammer hits the firing pin. There shouldn't be any contact between the frame and mainspring. I have also seen some grips like Pachmayrs interfere with mainspring function. ~Randy

Hi Nemo, First to address the chipping- this was seen on the front faces of the cylinders on the .357 magnum 340 and 386's when they first came out. This was due to the sharp square faces on each of the cylinder throats. Since then, Smith has cut a generous chamfer on the front face of each chamber. Hi pressure loads contributed to this problem. With the hybrid 625 w/325 cylinders, I haven't seen any chipping. Same goes for the 627s with the 327 cylinder swap. Wear on the cylinder where it contacts the cylinder stop is minimal in comparison with the steel version given the same amount of shooting/abuse(At least on my 627 which has the greatest number of rounds thru it.) I haven't put enough rounds thru the 625 to determine the wear on the c-stop slots. The frankengun is nearly complete, then I'll start pushing it at the matches. I recently did a 25-2 for a forum member in CO. With the new cylinder and a little elbow grease, his gun turned out rather nice. Check to see if your older 625 has an elongated center pin hole in the frame. It may need to go back to the factory for replacement if it is excessive. Someone on this forum has had to do this to his primary gun. If the frame looks good, I'd send in the trusty sidekick in for some new shoes. The new cylinder assembly has to be fitted so the side benefit is that the gun is automatically retimed to new condition. There are several shooters on this forum who already have Ti cylinders in their 625s who also had me rework their triggers. C'mon guys, spill the beans!

Thanks for all the kind words guys! You're making me blush. Trust me, I'm no master- I can't even get out of "B" class in ICORE! I'm feverishly trying to get guns out the door before the IRC in a few weeks, so best estimate for turn around is 6-8 weeks. ~Randy

The effect of the altered mainspring on ignition really depends upon how and where the recurve is located, as well as to what degree the bend. Also, factory springs act differently from lot to lot and even spring to spring. When I bend a spring, it is to affect the transition of the the DA sear to the trigger cam surface and to the final DA ledge on the trigger. The goal is a linear force transition. Too much bend at the top can have an adverse effect on the feel of the pull, as well as ignition. I have seen samples of bent mainsprings which actually decelerated the hammer prior to the hammer contacting the firing pin. Care must also be taken to ensure the prongs of the mainspring are perpendicular to the stirrup and not canted. This will cause the hammer to list to one side and cause drag which will affect ignition. A proper bend should only smooth out the first part of the trigger stroke and not affect ignition.

Glad I could help! Always remember my motto- It's not how good you shoot, it's how good you look shooting.

I have to agree with Dan and Mike on this. The neat thing about ICORE is that at least at the IRC, there is usually a good mix of Steel Challenge, Accuracy and Run N' Gun stages. I think this is where things begin to balance out as far as barrels go. A shortened barrel may swing faster, but the reduced sight radius may hurt you on the X count stages. A Ti cylindered 627 with a M-27 6.5" barrel will give you a better sight radius and transition, but you have to deal with more muzzle flip. An 8 3/8" barrel can really help on the Far and Near but on stages with confined space due to walls and such may be challenging. A heavy barrel will dampen flip, but can affect your draw times and overswing on steel stages. I believe it all washes out in the end. As others have stated, it's really the operator that makes the difference. That being said, if a particular barrel weight/length/configuration makes the shooter feel more confident and increases their enjoyment of our sport, it's a good thing. I've noticed for a while that there has been a frenzied search for 6.5" stock 627PC barrels. Since Smith doesn't offer them, there seems to be a rift between the have's and have nots. Allowing whatever barrel make/length/profile the shooter desires simply allows us more freedom to shoot what we like. It doesn't by itself make us better shooters.

Not too shabby either Kevin! Metal termites, huh? It's going to be a wild ride at the IRC this year.

Congrats to John Burkholder for puttin' the hurt on us open guys!

That's the same way I mark revos when they come into the shop. :-)

Help me understand this concept....."cocking" a revolver?? It's sorta like training wheels... for bottom feeders...

In an effort to prevent price increase, we will no longer be using goats... raccoons are plentiful and free.

The cost is $139.99 for the bare hammer. It requires the use of the old style sear, sear spring, stirrup and pins( same as on the PC guns) in order to run it in a production model N-frame.

Jerry wants 2 more... says he's spoiled...

Thanks underlug. I think I'm going to try this new approach to the IRC prep- little sleep, practice only with other people's guns during test fire. I think it helped me to not psyche myself out.

I agree. Great match and good people and good food! Big thanks to all the people involved. The stages as usual, allowed me to rise to my own level of incompetence. I have my work cut out for me before the IRC rolls around...

The FP doesn't hit the frame when shooting because the primer stops it well before that. I know because I am cheap and use fired brass as "snap caps" for dry firing. Compare the depth of the primer hole with a round just fired and one you have dry fired a couple of hundred times. The latter will have the hole beaten in considerably farther into the primer face as the FP continues to try to get to full forward extension.... something it can not do when firing a live round because the primer stops it. I think that filing the FP head to a point increases both the probability of ignition and the probability of piercing the primer. I believe the newer version "short" firing pins have a coned tip. As long as there is some radius to the tip, pierced primers should not occur.

Congrats Mike! The Dremel rules!

I'm waiting on a new cylinder for Vic's gun...hmmm ...Bubber's new gun is almost finished... His cylinder looks pretty good...

You should see all the pen marks from the BiC's hitting the ceiling above my bench! Special calibration BiC pen will be sold with replaceable end caps at a cost of $150.00 thru Hearthco.

Let me clarify- my original statement is in regards to some samples and questions I received from other shooters who are using a variety of factory ammo in their stock or near stock 625's and 325s. The Wolff mainspring has the channel in the center which allows the strain screw to be seated to max depth and have a reduced hammer fall weight. The shooters experienced ftf's. In some instances the ignition problems were solved by replacing the firing pin with the longer factory version(and sometimes using the C&S). The problem was in other instances solved by replacing the Wolff mainspring with a factory spring. I also mentioned that the occasional ftf's I encountered occurred in the 4-4.5 lb range. More often when the trigger pulls were in the lighter end of that spectrum. The ignition issues went away after the modified steel firing pins were used. Jerry, I apologize if I led you to believe that what I said was an absolute. Randy

OK, you lost me here. How could shortening the FP reduce the chance of litigation? Sorry Mike, I was loopy with sleep deprivation. What I meant to say is that to ensure the revos would pass the CA drop test as a "safe" handgun approved for sale in CA. Sorry, my bad.

Hi guys, Smith in their litigant fearing wisdom shortened the firing pins by .010". The pins are Titanium as well- something to do with cost and the CA drop test. The new firing pins work okay at factory weight trigger pulls using non- Wolff mainsprings. On the 625's I've noticed that the new pins can prove unreliable in the 4.0-4.5 lb range, especially if the brass cases are on the short side. Using the C&S pins tended to eliminate the ignition problem I experienced with the 625s. I end up modifying the pins, which usually takes me 20+ minutes. It doesn't sound like much time, but extrapolating that out to 300 some-odd guns gets old fast. The other problem is that the extended firing pin can push the firing pin bushing forward if you are running a heavy hammer fall weight. The drawings for the new firing pin are ready to go off to the machine shop and will be there next week. I personally believe that the firing pin needs to have a bit more weight to them than the Ti versions offer. I remember having ignition problems with Ti firing pins in the 1911s which went away once the steel versions were inserted.

I sure am glad you guys(and Gals who may be lurking ) like my hammer! I may be able to quit my night job as a pizza delivery boy! You can get the trigger pulls pretty close to what the frame mounted f/p guns- usually only 4-6 oz. heavier. I think the ones I sent out recently were running 4 lbs. 12 oz. or so. It's do-able. ~Randy

Word of caution on the oversized cylinder stops- they will accelerate the peening of the cylinder stop slots for high speed DA shooting.