S&W Model 28 sent back for repair

[Steve Cover]

Don't change the finish on your Model 28. The value will take a serious nose dive.

If you want a high polished blue 357 Magnum N frame, get a Model 27.

An M27 and an M28 would make a nice pair in the gun safe.

Is this a working gun or a collector's item?
If you plan to sell it someday to a collector, keeping the original finish may be worth while.

For a working gun, I like a bead blast dark blue instead of a bright finish.



Vote your conscious in this matter.

Steve

 

[sw282]

l think the snubbie be a 15-2 ??

 

[Zaydok Allen]

I'm the same way. With a semi, my finger goes right along the side of the frame. With a revolver, I have to remind myself to get my finger out of there.

I have that issue as well. Just something about the grip shape on a revolver.

I catch myself most when I'm teaching a new shooter, as I did about a month ago. I was getting really mad at myself.

With auto loaders, my finger naturally sits on the grip frame. I wonder if it's a subconscious "keep your finger away from the barrel cylinder gap" thing.

 

[Steve Cover]

l think the snubbie be a 15-2 ??

07/03/16
I just rechecked it.
It is a M-15-3 not a -2

Back in 1973 when I was hired by the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, I bought the M-19-3.
My dad wanted me to get him a handgun too but only a 38 Special.
I bought a 4" M-15 and loaned it to him with the agreement that when he didn't needed it anymore, he would return it to me.
In 2013 at age 94, my father decided to give me back the gun.

Since I already had a 4" S&W, the M-15 was a duplicate in my battery.

I've always wanted a 2" "Dick Tracy" (Square butt snubby) 38 so decided to have it rebarreled.

When I contacted S&W about a 2" barrel they advised that they had upgraded the M-15 to a -5 model, several years ago and they didn't have a barrel that would fit my-3.
(-3 has a narrow rib on top of the barrel, the -5 has a wide rib.)

After beating the bush for over a year for a -3 barrel without luck, I started asking gunsmiths for help.
I found a good one in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State that said he could fit a -5 barrel to my -3 M-15.

I bought a 2" barrel and ejector rod (now the opposite thread direction from the -3) from S&W and had him modify my 38.

He ball milled the wide rib down to the -3's narrow profile, polished the forcing cone, installed an orange front sight insert, a white outline rear blade, and did a full action job including trigger stop and a bead blast dark blue finish to match my M-19.

Total cost of the gunsmithing was almost the cost of a new gun.

But, I got my Dick Tracy Snubby that is as smooth as glass both single and double action.
Accuracy is better than expected with a short barrel too.







Now it has no collector value.
Its just another working gun that gets shot a lot.

I love it.

With a little work the M-28 in question should really stand out too.

Steve

 

[Steve Cover]

[Reference Post #10]

Let me disagree.

For rapid shooting, I can keep track of the orange front sight a lot better than black.

For precision shooting (With any color front sight) I put a thin white mark in the center on the sight blade.

The target is centered on the small white index not the entire orange or black blade.


M-19 4" & M-15 2"

The model 19 on the left displays my white index.

Try it, you may like it.

Steve

ADDENDA

Here are a couple of better picture of my front sight index marker.




M-19 Barrel with Centering White Index Mark.



Ruger Super Single Six with just the white mark.

Back when I could still read my watch without glasses, this mark made my Ruger a 50 yard pop can buster.

Hope this helps.

Steve

 

[CajunBass]

With auto loaders, my finger naturally sits on the grip frame. I wonder if it's a subconscious "keep your finger away from the barrel cylinder gap" thing.

Maybe, but for me I know it's just a throw-back to the "good old days" when nobody gave a hoot about such things. Sort of like "Before they invented the environment." We did a lot of things back then that we wouldn't think about today. I started shooting handguns with revolvers and the only "training" I got was "Here, don't shoot yourself or anybody else....unless you have to."

I started shooting semi's with a Colt GM during my IPSC phase. Those cats hammered the "Keep your booger hook off the bang switch" into me pretty quickly. It transferred over to revolvers, but bad habits never die completely I guess, so I catch myself from time to time.

 

[Drail]

My advice as an instructor is to lay your trigger finger on the frame the same way you do with a semi auto. Rest your finger on the forward sideplate screw. Bright orange sights may seem like a good idea but you will find that on an outdoor range when the sun is off to your left or right side "glowing" sights will cause most people to pull their shots in the direction of the sun. I keep a can of sight black in my range bag solely for the purpose of blacking out brightly colored sights. Too much of a good thing in bright light.

 

[Steve Cover]

<<<SNIP>>> Bright orange sights may seem like a good idea but you will find that on an outdoor range when the sun is off to your left or right side "glowing" sights will cause most people to pull their shots in the direction of the sun. I keep a can of sight black in my range bag solely for the purpose of blacking out brightly colored sights. Too much of a good thing in bright light.

Good point.
If you are just going to shoot target competition, all black sights are the way to go.
Also, for basic instruction, it is easier to teach correct sight picture with all black sights.

I Instruct at an indoor range, so sun direction is not a factor.
Most of the problems I correct for groups pulling off center are grip squeezing or thumbing during trigger pull.

If the gun is used for defense instead of bullseye shooting, for me, a bright front sight can be picked up quicker in a snap sight picture than an all black one.
It all depends on what works best for you in and the scenario you expect to use your gun after basic training.


Steve
NRA Certified Instructor

 

[Hanshi]

The S&W M28 is a classic and a very desirable revolver. I've owned quite a few of them in both 4" and 6". I use to frequently send guns to S&W for this and that; and as a result I now have a supply of M28, M27 and M19 barrels of different lengths; this was back in the 1970s. Also did the same with autos to Colt, Kings, Barsto, etc. Got plenty of those barrels, too. Even ended up with a 1950 .45acp target barrel and cylinder.

 

[1KPerDay]

Well I got it back today. Worked beautifully for 8 cylinders full or so and then started hesitating again, and wouldn't rotate all the way when pulling the hammer back. It appears the barrel/cyl gap is still too tight. I'll measure it tonight with feeler gauges.

Disappointing. Hopefully they'll fix it properly at their own cost this time. But I'm not sure I want to send it back for another 4 months.

 

[MrBorland]

But I'm not sure I want to send it back for another 4 months.

If it is an endshake issue, it might be worth a few bucks to try some endshake shims before sending it out again...

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/39...earings-s-and-w-k-l-n-frame-002-package-of-10

 

[1KPerDay]

If it is an endshake issue, it might be worth a few bucks to try some endshake shims before sending it out again...

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/39...earings-s-and-w-k-l-n-frame-002-package-of-10

Thanks, I did try power custom shims before sending it in. Set the gap properly but something was wrong as the cylinder would bind up for about half of the chambers with the shim in place. I hoped the factory would be able to do it properly. Apparently not.

Frustrating, because when it's working it's one of the most fun revolvers I've ever shot.

Maybe I'll try a thin shim again in combination with S&W's work and maybe that will finally sort it. Cross your fingers...

 

[BSA1]

I don't want to offend you but how well did you clean your gun before shooting it?

8 cylinders is 48 rounds which depending on the ammunition used such as lead bullets can get a gun pretty dirty. If you have not done so take the grips off, go outside, cock the hammer (empty of course) and blast the insides of the action liberally with Gun Scrubber or brake cleaner. Reoil with a light oil such as Rem-Oil and try shooting it again. Personally I would keep it and shoot a few hundred rounds through it to see if the Gremlin disappears.

p.s. This is one of the reasons I like a b/c gap of .008" on my self-defense and competition revolvers.

 

[1KPerDay]

Not offended at all. I cleaned the gun and paid particular attention to the front of the cylinder face, under the ejector star, and rear of forcing cone. Cleaned those areas again after it started binding up. I fired exclusively FMJ and plated (and 4 hard cast BB rounds) until it started binding again. Cleaned and fired some more cylinders of plated and then some .38 special MBC lead. Didn't seem to be any correlation of binding to use of lead.

Seemed to get worse as the pistol heated up. I wonder if there is some tolerance that gets worse with heat expansion.

Here's a video of it in action for any interested.

https://youtu.be/_rLEsRZOiEk

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I would call S&W and tell them how upset and disappointed you are with what happened when you shot your M28, especially after waiting 4 months for its return. Don't sound confrontational, make it sound like it's the last thing you would expect from their repair service. They just might get the gun back to you in 7 days this time. To tell the truth I'm a little surprised myself to hear this happened.

 

[Jim K]

Can you measure the barrel-cylinder gap? I like to set it at .007"; any more lets too much gas escape, any less risks binding as the cylinder warms up.

Also, check the cylinder length at several points. If there is a variation (and I suspect there might be), call S&W and tell them what you found and ask them to correct the problem on their dime. They do allow some variation in cylinder length but it should not be enough to affect functionality.

Jim

 

[1KPerDay]

Gap is .007" with cylinder pushed back and .003-.004" with it forward. Cylinder length appears to be consistent within a thousandth or two. At least with my cheap calipers.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I know very little about the numbers but I'm not sure there should be that much movement of the cylinder front to back, especially since it was just repaired. Is that normal?

 

[1KPerDay]

Couple thousandths is normal. I shot it again and by the third shot it was binding. Checked gap after 2 cylinders and couldn't get a .002" gauge in with cylinder pushed forward. Something is wonky.

 

[Shaq]

S&W did a terrible job. They may have discovered how much money they can save by hiring "Know Nothings."

I just checked an old S&W 629 I have. The .005 feeler gauge goes in & when I push the cylinder forward, it still slides in & out - just slightly more snugly. S&W should have checked the fore & aft play in the cylinder. They probably fired a few rounds, said "It's OK" & shipped it back to you.

 

[1KPerDay]

Well they charged me $150 to do it. I guess I'll have to call them and send it back. Weird thing is it worked for a few cylinders. I wonder if the shim or whatever they used "took a set".

 

[Shaq]

Well they charged me $150 to do it. I guess I'll have to call them and send it back. Weird thing is it worked for a few cylinders. I wonder if the shim or whatever they used "took a set".

$150.00 for nothing? I've gone through the same thing with a defective Sigarms pistol that misfired. Sig shipped the pistol back to me with an invoice that said, "Test fired & cleaned" & charged me $50.00 It still misfired & their "Cleaning" consisted to smearing grease on the pistol. A nasty letter works wonders. I gave them a choice: Refund the $50.00 or I'll dispute the charge on my credit card. (I hope you paid with a credit card).

 

[1KPerDay]

Yeah, credit card. Called them and explained the problem. First thing he says is try different ammo because there's no way they can verify the quality of the blah blah. But he was eventually apologetic and is sending me another return label.

So.... I guess we'll see. I haven't been able to shoot this gun for 15 years so I guess a few more months doesn't really make a difference. Still not pleased, however.

 

[Jim K]

There are a few things you can try that won't affect the gun in any way.

Use crayon or lipstick to number the chambers and see if the cylinder always binds at the same point.

1. First, push the cylinder forward and turn it by hand? Does it bind?

2. Then put the gun in a warm place (hot sun will do) just enough to heat up the cylinder. Repeat 1.

3. When the gun binds, are there marks (scraping) on the front of the cylinder?

4. Are there contact marks (scoring or polish marks) on the cylinder? Where?

5. Look through the cylinder "window" as you turn the cylinder by hand. Is there sign of contact?
Maybe more thoughts, but those for now.

Jim

 

[Shaq]

Yeah, credit card. Called them and explained the problem. First thing he says is try different ammo because there's no way they can verify the quality of the blah blah. But he was eventually apologetic and is sending me another return label.

So.... I guess we'll see. I haven't been able to shoot this gun for 15 years so I guess a few more months doesn't really make a difference. Still not pleased, however.

When you get the gun back, see how much fore & aft play there is in the cylinder. Test the gap with a feeler gauge both with & without pushing the cylinder forward. then test fire it extensively. If the problem is still there, dispute the charge immediately; there may be a time limit on a charge dispute. Won't cost you anything.

I wouldn't send the gun to S&W a third time.