exfed2002

I have a 40+ year old Model 60 that I bought from a friend of mine several years ago.

It has seen considerable use and was rather loose after all these years.

A single .002 endshake bearing fixed the cylinder endshake, and the cylinder gap is now .006, headspace is .010.

I did notice that the pinned barrel seems to be slightly offset from center such that the locking bolt (even a larger diameter one) in front is not in contact with the inside of the ejector rod when the cylinder is closed. Looking from the rear of the weapon, this would offset the sight slightly to the right, and indeed, the weapon has always shot a few inches to the left at 25 yards.

Due to the fact that the locking bolt does not mate solidly with the ejector rod, I can apply side pressure to the cylinder and cause it to move sideways, opening a gap of about .010 between the yoke and the frame. There is no yoke endshake. My friend tells me he recalls this condition since he bought the weapon in 1970. All of my other S&W revolvers lock up such that there is no sideplay in this area.

Since there seems to be no shaving or spitting, is this something about which I should be concerned? The cylinder rotates without resistance or binding. If it is a matter of concern, and taking into account that the barrel is pinned, what is the best way to correct this and bring the locking bolt in line with and in contact with the ejector rod?

Or should I just not worry about since the weapon seems to shoot well?

dfariswheel

Well, it isn't right, but as long as it works correctly and doesn't bug you, whether to have it corrected is a personal matter.
With a short barrel you probably wouldn't notice any loss of accuracy due to the improper lock up.

The "fix" would be to send it in to S&W and have the barrel correctly indexed.
With a 40 year old gun, it's a coin toss as to whether S&W would fix their error for free or would charge.

exfed2002

That's what I was wondering, but then I get like this.

I was wondering if it would be a problem to de-pin it, tap it over that little bit, then open up the pin channel at the top of the barrel and re-pin it.

I haven't rebarreled a revolver since the early 80's when I rebarreled my Model 67 with a Model 64 barrel and then had a gunsmith friend silver solder the old front sight onto the 64 barrel. For that I used Geroge Nonte's PISTOLSMITHING book and my gunsmith's advice for guidance. This was before Kuhnhausen's book was out. The revolver is now my bullseye weapon, as they stopped allowing us to carry 38's shortly after I did the work. And it still works great and locks up solid.

Nonte's book just says to de-pin, adjust, and then re-drill the channel.

But again, I should stop looking at these things.........I still shoot the Chief better for qualification than the other weapons.

dfariswheel

Doing barrel work without the correct frame wrench and barrel vise set up is "iffy" at best.

Tapping the barrel to move it might work on a pinned S&W where the torque isn't as high as the later non-pinned guns, but I'd still be very reluctant to do that.
Of course my standpoint is from working on other peoples guns, where I had to be responsible for any little "Oops".

exfed2002

Your point is WELL taken.

Since the sideplay was small, I went with the maxim of working on the cheapest part. I got a new oversize locking bolt and spent some time fitting it.

The action is smooth and while there is palpable play it is barely visible and probably no more than a couple of thousandths.

So.........I am happy, and, more importantly, the weapon is happy! 8-))