End shake in S&W

[unspellable]

I have a S&W 624.  I put a 0.004 plus a 0.002 shim in the cylinder to get rid of the end play.  This left a cylinder gap of 0.010 or 0.011.  (Depending on which side of the gap you masure.)  In order to reduce the gap I took the 0.002 shim out of the cylinder and put it under the extractor.  So far I have not fired this combo, I'm just contemplating it.  Any opinions on this?

[DonT]

Been a while since I have done any smithing but if I understand you correctly you are saying that you put the 2 thous. shim under the ejector star on the cylinder, correct?

If this is the case you might want to consider the caliber and loads you are shooting.  When the star is in the full rest position and a round in the chamber it the round is fully supported but either the cylinder chamber or the star (which is only supporting the heavier web portion of the case.  By installing a shim under the star you create a 2 thou. gap of unsupported cartridge into which the brass "could" expand and make it difficult to remove it due to the bulge under the star.

It soulds like you are trying to improve accuracy on the gun.  Best way, & I am sure you know this, is to have a smith set the barrel back after romoving the endshake.  At this time they can also "true" the back of the barrel to make it square with the cylinder (although a thou out is not real bad) and lengthen the forcing cone some if you, if you are going to shoot cast bullets, to help reduce leading.  Finally if it doesn't already have one have them put a ball & dent on the front crane to lock that in place when the gun is in battery..

Hope this helps... DonT

[Mikey]

unspellable:  I don't think shimming the extractor star is going to help you.  I think it will make things worse as it will not allow the cases to fully seat and that shoudl cause you problems.

I would call S&W and send it back to them for repair.  You should not have end shake and your barrel gap shouldn't be any more than 3-4 thousands.  S&W can fix it right.  HTH.  Mikey.

[unspellable]

I'd go broke shipping revolvers back to S&W for repair.  And it doesn't increase my faith in S&W's work to consider that all these problems came out of the box.  And I have to keep a few coins back for shipping the rejects back to Ruger, et al.

I don't think increasing the headspace .002 in itself should cause a big problem or that there is much danger of a problem from the case head expanding into the .002 gap between star and cylinder.  Even if it did it would not interfer with extraction.  I worry more about the .002 gap between cylinder and the star arm ends.

[gunnut69]

I too have had really bad experiences with S&W of late and consider their service one of the poorest in the market place.  Shimming to remove endplay is a matter of course for removing endshake from a S&W but the barrel must be set back if the barrel/cylinder gap becomes too great.  That is your case.  If this was the revolvers condition from the box, I'd advise a call the S&W's (so called) service department.  Be certain to make them specify that this is a warrantee repair before returning the piece..They charge a bunch more than the best gunsmith if you pay to have them make the repair.  The shim under the star increases the revolver's headspace and there are several evils that can come of that.  Good luck..

[safetysheriff]

The cylinder needs to be repaired with a bushing, which can be put into the frontside of the cylinder and the barrel then set back as needed.

I think you're looking for trouble the way you're doing it; and I wonder how you're having so much trouble with firearms, particularly the Rugers that are so overbuilt.    

If by any chance you are handloading, or shooting handloads from someone else, you may be stretching the frames.

SS'