Stiff cylinder latches on S & W's

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    Song Dog

    Active Member
    Jan 2, 2013
    368
    Eastern Shore -Delmarva
    I have 2 older S & W's, a K-22 and K-38 5 screws, both models the cylinder latch are so stiff to open the cylinders and when I can get the cylinder open the latch has to be pushed back to lock position. I have sprayed oil behind the latch's and problem persists. I had the K-22 worked on last year but latch problem came back again.

    So what's the problem and best way to fix them ?
     
    clandestine

    clandestine

    AR-15 Savant
    Oct 13, 2008
    37,032
    Elkton, MD
    The center pins may be worn or the center pin sleeve has unscrewed. The center pin sleeve can sometimes be a tad too long and refacing and chamferimg them in a lathe can fix the issue.

    It does not sound like you have much lockwork experience with these guns so I suggest a good gunsmith or send them to s&w. Beware though the older smiths are hard to get things like center pins to and no one makes aftermarket parts for them yet to my knowledge.
     
    Point 357

    Point 357

    Active Member
    Jan 20, 2014
    133
    Lexington Park, Md
    I recently received an older model 19 from a Gunbroker deal that had this same problem. I initially suspected the thumbpiece latch, but when I removed the sideplate and inspected, everything was in perfect working order. I then moved on to the cylinder ejection rod and spring assembly. Again, all checks were good. All that was left was the locking bolt and spring. Turns out that they were extremely gummed up . Without any disassembly I cleaned them with a generous dose of BrakeClean. Action is now excellent and there was no harm to the nickel finish.
    It worked for me.
     
    Boom Boom

    Boom Boom

    Hold my beer. Watch this.
    Jul 16, 2010
    16,834
    Carroll
    Probably one of two things. As said above, the locking bolt and spring tend to seize if not lubed. I just addressed it with Kroil on a S&W model 66 and problem solved. The other common cause is a loose ejector rod that has backed out and is binding on the locking bolt.
     
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