I have a Dan Wesson .357 revolver, circa mid 70’s or so, come in because it was spitting lead. I corrected this by setting the barrel gap to .006.
The issue is I get a light firing pin strike in one cylinder position only. I checked the barrel to cylinder spacing and it is the same as the other five positions, .006. It appears to lock up fine and to be timed ok. I checked to see if maybe the extractor was allowing the rim to sit lower or further away from the firing pin, it does not appear to be so. The cylinder does not wobble when spun and since the barrel gap is the same I am thinking it is not bent or different in the six positions. This gun’s cylinder lock is on the crane/yoke so checking for alignment is a little tough, See separate post on that topic. It does appear to be within reason as the light strike in relation to the other shells is the same area of the primer so I am thinking there is no real difference.
I did put a different mfg of ammo in the cylinder and the problem remained. I used the rounds that I could not get to go off in another revolver and they worked fine, so I don’t think it is the ammo. Looking for thoughts and or feed back.
What if I increased the firing pin protrusion slightly, will have to compare it to a couple other Colt and S&W to see where it is in relationship. I don’t recall seeing a min or max, but I have no doubt there is one. 😕 😕 I thought about moving the cylinder back closer to the firing pin by stretching the gas ring, but think increasing the firing pin travel say .005 would be easier on this revolver. The other thing I noticed is this revolver uses a coil spring. When a 270 grain alum rod is shot out in slow double action mode, it only travels about 6 inches, indicating the spring might be a little weak to me. Maybe I should start with simply giving the spring a little adjustment to increase the hammer force to the firing pin to make sure I am getting the full energy from the system.
Thoughts, anyone?
The round that misfires always have shallower primer dimple, as it didn’t have a chance to recoil back on the firing pin as the others. I would suggest loading 6 primed shells (no powder and projectiles). It may show all have shallow dimples.
BTW, did you close the cylinder gap by setting back the barrel? -TL
Follow-up
Thanks for the idea. The Dan Wesson has an adjustable barrel setting by screwing in the barrel and locking it with the shroud and a locking nut. The basic gun’s action is similar to the Colt Trooper in in function. You know the same but different!!! 😆 😆
Can you help me understand how your suggested test tells me anything different then I already know? If all the rounds have a shallow dimple the issue still remains that this one position is less then the others which result in a light enough strike the primer doesn’t go off. Wouldn’t this go to my idea of getting more firing pin protrusion by increasing the distance of penetration? I really am lost on why this one position would have less. It has to be related to the placement of the primer in relation to the firing pin, but I haven’t figured out what would cause it.
Again thanks for the idea.
Answer
I think it shows the true difference in the striking strength. If it is very different, the problem is localized to the particular chamber. Increasing the protrusion alone may not suffice. If the difference is marginal, the problem is across the board in all chambers, so increasing protrusion alone may suffice.
In addition to the depth of the dimples, the position is also important. A too much off center strike may lead to misfires. -TL
Answer
Increase your hammer energy in whichever manner you like. Make sure the firing pin protrusion is correct and increase it if need. Tighten headspace as need……..as you know the barrel/cylinder gap is easy to correct on these. Once that is all done, test fire, let us know if the problem continues. Ken
