DW 44 magnum cylinder movement

[FireMarshal91]

Hi To All In DW Land,

I have a question regarding pistol cylinder movement on my 44mag. I noticed the cylinder lockup is on the front of the cylinder with a metal ball slding into a holder on the back of the cylinder (near hammer).  When the cylinder is locked into place, I can still wiggle the cylinder from side to side just a little.  It this normal for this pistol's design??  What is the acceptable cylinder movement on these pistols??

Thanks for any help.  Hope I do not need to send my pistol to DW to be fixed.

Jason :?

[ihmsakiwi]

:grin: FM91,
My DW357SM also has a little play, about 1-2 millimetres when cocked. Doesn't harm accuracy as far as I can see. Following is a reply I got from Mike Rowles ( Mr DW on most boards)
My $.02.  How tight the cylinder/crane assembly is outside of the frame means very little.  It is how tight it locks up and the timing that gives a gun it's accuracy.  Do you drive your car with the door open?  Yes, he does have a tight one there, sound quite a bit tighter than anything I own, but I would venture that my factory guns will keep pace.  Last year my 360 and I ended up beating all but one gun in all of IHMSA.  There has long been aconvention that blued guns are tougher than SS guns, carbon alloy steel being tougher that SS.  I don't think that is the case today.  Look at Freedom Arms, they don't do blue guns.  If you cylinder doesn't move once it is locked in place, then your mate has no advantage over you.  That is axial, not radial.  Radial movement comes from the bolt and the hand and DWs tend to have a little rock on the bolt.  Make sure you test it with the trigger pulled as the hand plays a part in locking the cylinder in place radially also.

Kind regards,
Peter.

[FireMarshal91]

Thanks for your input.  I've looked at my pistol again and it seems that I do not have a problem.

All help is greatly appreciated.

Jason :-)