Got A Little Excited About Ejecting The Empties

[mcb]

Hmmm... Might have got a little exuberant with one of my reloads in the final stage of the match I shot to day. Some where on that last stage I missed the ball of my hand and got myself in the soft center of my palm with the extractor rod. Might have slapped it a bit hard in my excitement; didn't notice until I was gathering up the moon clips after the stage.

This was my third match with my S&W610 and let me tell you how much nicer reloads go with Berry's round nose 180 grain compared to the truncated cone 180 grains bullets I started with. I am still waiting on the match results but I think on the third stage I might have even bettered my Limited-10 time with the Revolver. I will have to wait to see the final score to see if the Hit Factor was better, but it felt good.

I can't wait for warmer weather when I can get out on stages with a lot more movement. Hope your shooting is going well.

Rambling

mcb

[iainmcphersn]

Ouch...

I know how you feel. Years ago I shot my snubby 357 at an IPSC match or two. The ejector rod on the gun was shortened as well as the barrel so I really had to pop it to get the empties out.

[haras]

Might have slapped it a bit hard in my excitement ...........

OUCH! Been there!

...how much nicer reloads go with ....

And a good chamfer job. I improved mine today (610). I'm going up against those 625s with the big holes this weekend.

[Carmoney]

Rob V. says to install a ball crane lock, then grind off the front of the ejector rod to eliminate the "apple corer" effect.

Makes sense to me.

[Waltermitty]

One of my friends goes for the Michael Jackson look and puts a fingerless glove on the left hand for just this reason.

[mcb]

Rob V. says to install a ball crane lock, then grind off the front of the ejector rod to eliminate the "apple corer" effect.

Makes sense to me.

Could you give me more details on this modification? Is this something I could do or would a gun smith be required? Pictures are always nice.

Thanks guys!

mcb

[R112mercer]

I just took my cylinder assembly out and ground the end of the ejector rod in a bench grinder. Cleaned it up with a wire wheel and I was done. It only takes a little bit to get rid of the sharp edge. If you look at the end of the rod it's angled to help the rod slide over the lock when the cylinder is closed, this is what will tear your hand up. As to installing the ball crane lock, I'll leave that to the pros (Randy?).

[pskys2]

Note to self, another reason to switch hands on the reloads, pain aversion.

I had a smith do a double crane lock on my 625 and he removed the Bolt Lock. I never could get a decent group with it until I put the Bolt Lock back in. At least with Major Loads I would get 3 decent shots and the rest would string out to the left. Some as far as 6+"! And, as I found out after totally screwing myself up for 4 months thinking it was me, it wasn't!

I put the Bolt Lock back in and the groups settled down. With 230 MG and 4.0 Clays it drops 'em into 1 1/2" at 25 yards. Now I know if a shot strays it's "Me".

Not every 625 may have this problem. But, mine was a new PC625 with less than 2m rounds through it. It now has 10+M. Removing and Reinstalling the Bolt Lock isn't hard. But make sure you don't have any problems "BEFORE" you grind off the Ejector Rod tip.

[Carmoney]

Yeah, I've installed a number of ball locks over the years, including several double-ball installations (write your own joke here), and I'm not real convinced it does a whole lot to actually lock the cylinder in place. Now, the bigger detent on some of the factory PC guns, I think that design works pretty well, although it makes opening the gun a little less smooth.

[Round_Gun_Shooter]

Girly hands

[mcb]

Girly hands

Definitely. Spend to much time in front of my computer!

As for the ball detente, does this replace the lock that engages the muzzle end of the cylinder axle?

mcb

[pskys2]

You can install a single and still use the Bolt Lock, which engages the Extractor Rod (Cylinder Axle?). I have a double crane lock and still use the Bolt Lock.

Some will disable the Bolt Lock and use just a double crane lock. Which is just 2 crane locks one in front of the other.

The Crane Lock is just a Ball staked into the Crane and a Detente notch cut into the frame. Similar in principle to the old "Triple Locks".

You're sure it wasn't a stuck case that caused stiff extraction and the "ouchie"?

[R112mercer]

I have a single ball lock on my M10 PPC gun since the front lock isn't there any more (replacement barrel). The gun shoots about 1 1/2" to 2" at 50 yards, so there doesn't seem to be any effect on accuracy in this particular case. And this particular M10 is a four screw NYPD trade-in gun with Lord only knows how many million rounds through it (granted they're 148 gr. HBWC loads). I bought it off a guy who was retiring from shooting, so the gun had been used for years as a competition gun. I had my gunsmith install a ball lock, new Shilen barrel, Aristocrat barrel weight, and a new trigger job (with hammer bob & trigger stop).