S & W 629 problems

[fedlaw]

This morning at the range my 629PP locked up; I could not cock it. I opened and closed the cylinder and all seemed fine. After I cleaned the gun, the same thing happened and then kept happening. My work around clearing drill also stopped working. Here is what I found: The center pin inside the extractor rod was sticking; not by much, I'd eyeball it at 0.05+", but enough to prevent the gun from being able to be cocked.
Here's what I did: I took apart the rod and pin, cleaned it, put in some BreakFree, and manually worked it until the 'hitch' was gone. All seems well now.
Has anyone else had this problem? If so, how did you cure it?
BTW, there are two other 'problems' with this gun, even though it has been through the S & W custom shop and is very accurate: 1) The strain screw seems to back off after 100-200 rds; and 2) the cylinder stop notches have developed a peened edge. I would appreciate input on these as well.
Thanks,
Steve

 

[Majic]

Unburned powder and residue tends to get under the extractor star when ejecting empties. Just a couple of grains can tie a revolver up sometimes. Just keep a toothbrush handy and give it a few swipes every now and then and the problem is usually solved.
On the strain screw apply a dab of "blue" loctite and reseat the screw. The blue formula can be broken loose while the red formula is permanemt and you will catch the devil trying to get the screw back out.
The peened bolt cuts could be from fast double action shooting, or a weak bolt spring. Another possible could be your revolver is slightly out of time.

 

[No Trespassing]

My 629 is 13years old.

I started having that exact same problem last year.

I have about 10,000 rnds and I am very meticulous regarding cleaning. Everytime I would shoot, it would start binding after a few cyclinders. I would clean and brush under the extracter and that seemed to help for another few cylinders then it would start binding again. This went on for about a year (12 sessions or so).

I finally emailed S&W and asked them to tell me how much it would cost to have them look at it and give me an estimate on repairs/fixes, whatever.

They emailed back the same day with a Fedex# and where to ship.

I had my gun back in 5 working days with a detailed list of the work performed. They replaced the cylinder stop, adjusted the timing and replaced a few other small parts that escape me now. Amazingly they also took the side plate off and gave the entire gun a detailed cleaning. The gun feels like it's brand new. The trigger even feels a little crisper.

They did all of this free of charge.

Needless to say S7W really impressed me on this one.

BTW - Mine also has peened stop notches. Fast DA shooting and age will do that!

 

[fedlaw]

Thanks guys.
Last night, I found that the center pin end (toward the barrel) was slightly peened. This bit of 'overhang' kept the pin from fully extending. I burnished the edge a bit to remove most of the lip and everything is back to normal.
Thanks for the tip about Locktite.
The stop notch peening is most likely (I hope) due to the rapid fire drills I sometimes do. As for the timing, it might be slightly out of time even though it looks okay. The gun spent Christmas vacation at the Smith Custom shop for some R & R and a tune up. Although it took over a month, they made an accurate gun into a real Wild West Show performer. It is so accurate now that that my shooting partner refuses to try it. He is afraid it will spoil him.
Steve