What to look for in a used revolver?

[bountyhunter]

Originally Posted by Tyoung

The way I understand checking the cylinder lock-up is to cock the gun then pull the trigger and ease the hammer down. With the trigger still back wiggle the cylinder. If I'm wrong let me know.

You are correct.

[bountyhunter]

Originally Posted by slugger6

First, be sure the revolver is unloaded. Then pull back the hammer into the cocked position. Now attempt to wiggle (rotate) the cylinder back and forth. There should be little to no wiggle in it. If your cylinder is loose the revolver will probably shave lead when it fires. I had a S&W once that got to that point...little flecks of lead embedded in my shooting hand...dangerous and painful. Hope that helps.

In fact, that's no longer true. A little play in lockup can be found on virtually all revos, even new ones (unless they are ones I just bluprinted and fitted a new hand into).

SW's new guns usually have play in lockup.... mainly from necessity. A production gun is not well enough fitted to be "dead straight on" for alignnment of every cylinder tube to the barrel. A little play actually lets the cylinder rotate slightly as needed as the bullet leaves the cylinder and eneters the forcing cone (end of the barrel).

A gun with NO cylinder play which is slightly off alignment center will still put a side force on the cylinder as the bullet enters the barrel, and loosen itself up quickly. Shaving lead is actually more likely to occur in a gun with a TIGHT cylinder lockup which is off center. It won't allow the cylinder to move and it forces the bullet to shave the edge of the cone.

[bountyhunter]

Originally Posted by B. Adams

When I'm looking at revolvers, I take a spark plug guage with me, the kind with the flat blades, to check the gap from cylinder to forcing cone. The closer it is, the better, but any more than .002" and it's getting too tight. I think .007" is a lot, and .009 is just too much.

The factory allowable spec used to be .003" to .010". I have seen new SW guns as wide as .015". They shoot OK, just a small loss of muzzle velocity.

[bountyhunter]

Originally Posted by Brickboy240

I have an older S&W Mod. 19 357 in 4" trim that is a great shooter. Hard to go wrong with a 4" K-frame Smith...they're very good guns. The 586/686 Smiths are also good guns, but a tad on the heavy side. The 38 and 357 mid-sized revolvers are probably some of the finest things S&W ever made...or ever will.

The K frames are great, I own about six of them. They are not as rugged as the larger frame guns like the 686. Most folks say the K frames are good for infrequent use of full magnum loads, but the big frame guns can handle them better. The K fram has the forcing cone chopped off across the top: that makes it fail sooner from magnum flame erosion and it also puts the top strap closer. Top straps fail often on magnums when the flame wear cuts through them.

[bountyhunter]

Originally Posted by Clobbersaurus

The shop near me has a lot of used S&W revolvers. Ill have to take a closer look at them. Weight will be somewhat of an issue as my wife will be using it more than my semiautos when she gets her license. Its also why I want the .357 so we can shoot .38s out of it. Thanks man.

The 4" model 66 weighs about 32 ounces as I recall. Perfect front to rear hand balance. Trigger pull might be too heavy for a lady, maybe not.

[chaad]

LEO trade model 66s at www.CDNNsports.com. No connection, just have purchased from them in the past with good results. Download the catalog.

[invssgt]

Here's a Revolver Buyer's Checklist that I have been using for years with good results. Adjust text size to about 14 for easy reading.

[Clobbersaurus]

I really appreciate all the info you guys supplied. My revolver search was put on hiatus as I started looking at ar15s. Should have that soon.

Anyways the shop I go to has a used sw 686. Looks real nice. I have to give it a good look over. They are asking 539.99. Didnt have a chance to get the value of that yet. A quick look on gunbroker shows that is prob high.

EDIT: its the 4"

[mrhonky]

Thanks for the info everyone, I'm looking at a Ruger GP100 myself.

[Soup]

Originally Posted by NBollinger

there is a great article on The Firing Line Forums located at Revolver checkout: how to tell if a particular specimen is any good - TheFiringLine Forums this article talks about cylinder play, cylinder gap, timing, trigger, and signs of bad gunsmithing.

Thanks a lot for that link, very informative.