Replaced my cylinder on my 10 shot 617

[DS-10-SPEED]

My first attempt at replacing my problematic 617-6 cylinder was a complete success and the ratchet job I did looks much better than the job S&W did several years ago when they replaced my 617-2 cylinder. I'm no gunsmith but I'm able to improvise pretty well.

A brand new cylinder comes with uncut ratchets and needs to be fitted to the hand.

I first made a jig to hold the cylinder and file in the right place. I drilled a hole to the same length of the cylinder and installed two adjustable 1 degree tapered alignment pins to hold the cylinder in line. There is an HDPE adjustable rail to slide the file block back and forth to cut the ratchets. The file is pressed into an HDPE block slot cut on a bandsaw. I placed a piece of 0.0015" SS sheet stock under the file to protect the cylinder and ratchet. Empty rounds were placed in the cylinder to keep it tight when cutting. Each ratchet was carefully cut and tested until the hand would just pass and not bind. It took a couple hours to cut all 10 and it worked out great. I shot it several times and the accuracy is great.

 

If I use this jig again I will make a clamp to hold down the cylinder tight and increase the length of the block that holds the file so the file doesn't flex so much. The ratchets on a ten shot are so close together that I can only move the file about 1/8" before it hits the adjacent one.

 

[Toolguy]

Great work on everything! First rate craftsmanship.

[yigal]

 

[lefty o]

looks great!

[AzShooter]

Dave you do fantastic work.  Good luck with your new cylinder.

 

BTW your DS-10s are the best speed loader I've ever used.  I like the new model a lot and they are much faster to load with.

[DS-10-SPEED]

7 hours ago, AzShooter said:

Dave you do fantastic work.  Good luck with your new cylinder.

 

BTW your DS-10s are the best speed loader I've ever used.  I like the new model a lot and they are much faster to load with.

 

Thanks AZ, it worked so well I'm tempted to convert my rarely used 617-0 six shot to a ten shot, just need a new hand and another cylinder.

 

Edited May 29, 2022 by DS-10-SPEED
typo