For anyone that has carried their revolver(s) extensively while hunting, hiking, in the outback, hanging out in the desert, climbing mountains hunting for mountain goats and yeti, etc. Have you had actual hard lock-ups due to debris getting in the works and rendering the gun a paperweight? How much is that concern overblown? Are Rugers more resistant than S&W to this type of thing or not really?
Last edited by Speederlander; 11-15-2018 at 05:57 PM.
Two words: Flap Holster.
Revolvers have multiple ingress points for dirt and debris as well as snow, pine needles (I had a pine needle bind the cylinder of my S&W 624 a few years back; I'd done some "brush busting" with the gun in an open hip holster and the pine needle worked its way between the cylinder and the cylinder stop. That gun now rides in a flap holster when I carry it hunting), blown sand or pollen--basically anything that can get in will get in. I don't find my Ruger DA's to be better sealed than my S&W DA's with one important exception: the Ruger ejector rod setup is much less vulnerable to fouling that the hollow-rod/front locked S&W system. I had a S&W M27 lock up when sand got into the ejector rod housing and made it impossible to release the cylinder.
I've never had a Ruger single action revolver lock up on me, but that likely is because the mechanism has fewer ingress points.
My thought on carrying a field revolver: keep it covered until you need it. Either a flap holster, a HPG Kit Bag, a shoulder or chest holster under a vest or jacket, etc.
Last edited by oregon45; 11-15-2018 at 06:16 PM.
In the 80s I spent about 5-6 years nomadding around N Az with some trips up through the rockies. The first couple were off the back of my motorcycle much of the time as weather allowed (and not just nice weather, ive been rained more times than i can recall and snowed on a few times), the rest in a pickup, and 2 years off and on in a tipi. I averaged about 10 months/yr out and about. Most of the time I carried my smith 29 4", with some time with other stuff, some Colt SAA, some Colt 1911 and National Match, and a Ruger SA or two. The 29 was carried part time in a half flap holster I made, and part time in an open top holster of basic Threepersons style. I shot it a fair bit, and hunted bunnies year round, as season on small game was open all year. I know I went one year between cleaning at least once, probably twice, and possibly longer on on period. The loss of blue and the rust stains are still on the gun. I open carried the majority of waking hours unless working (there was no legal concealed carry then).
I had zero mechanical issues with any of them under any condition other than negligence of not torquing the extractor rod on a different smith 29. I broke one mainspring in a smith 22, and I broke 3 transfer bars in Ruger SAs from dry firing. The 22 smiths would bind up if I shot them enough with cruddy ammo, like the old plain waxed lead bullet Winchester Wildcats. One gun had tighter chambers and would go 500-700 rds before getting sticky, another would go 1000-1500 with the same ammo, longer with cleaner ammo. Brushing out the chambers was generally all it took. The centerfire stuff may, or may not, have gotten blown off by breathe if super dusty, and may have had a quick go over on the outside with a toothbrush, and maybe once in the year a brushing under the extractor star. Im an example of one, but my personal inclination is Id trust a Smith K or N frame under any similar conditions without reservation.Rain, snow dust, riding motorcycles, whatever. Sleeping under the stars weeks/months at a time, roaming and hiking some nearly every day when not working. Ive slept out under the stars in the rockies in grizzly country many dozens of times, also in tents, in the back of my truck, unknown numbers of day trips or overnighters, I never gave my guns any second thought, just grabbed them and went.
My .02
Last edited by Malamute; 11-15-2018 at 06:38 PM.
When I was 13 I was willed a Smith model 18-2. It was a constant companion. Through out my teen years I carried it everywhere I went, horseback in the beginning and then on a Kawasaki 3 wheeler. That pistol has been fished out of trout streams and mud holes. It was carried in a Threepersons style or a tankers holster and the only problems I ever had was wax build up from cheap ammo and could fix it with a quick brushing of the cylinder. When I lived in Idaho, while I was out shooting jack rabbits it took a tumble onto some lava rock and took a gouge out of the rear sight. I had a SBH that accompanied me on every deer hunt I went on for a few years. I never had any issues out of that one and wished I had it back now. I slammed the truck door on my Ruger Bisley.45(replacement for the SBH) and done more damage to the door than I did the gun. Both were carried in open top holsters. My Gp100 .44 got to go to Wyoming elk hunting this year. It was dry and dusty and it needed a wipe down every night before bed. It sees time between a HPG kit bag and Simply Rugged Cattleman. I have had plenty of debris in a holster and never remember a time that it was an issue other than being annoying and .22 ammo is not water proof.
Thank you for reminding me, I stuck my 29 in the front of my pants to make a nature call when in the back of my truck one night, it fell out as I was going over the tail gate and bounced off the heavy steel rear bumper. It seemed to land on the rear sight and cracked one side of the blade in the rear sight. It functioned fine, I got another blade within a couple weeks I believe, and still have the old one. It didnt disable the gun nor even make the sight unusable, just cockeyed on one side. I see people seeming to desire fixed sights, but I have no complaints about Smiths adjustables, and prefer the sight height and picture for the most part, besides the obvious part about zeroing for the load and hold you prefer. In a pocket gun I can understand it though.
Ive dropped various pistols in dirt, sand and rocks on several occasions and not had any failures other than chipped grips.
Last edited by Malamute; 11-15-2018 at 07:37 PM.
I’m throwing out the BS card right away to anyone claiming a twig, leaf or dust caused a jam or mis-fire in any modern revolver.
I've seen several fixed-sight guns that have been dropped on the rear notch, distorting the profile and giving a slightly wonky sight picture. Might be possible for someone with some skill to blacksmith it back into shape, more or less, but not easy to fix that with a phone and a screwdriver.
Last edited by OlongJohnson; 11-15-2018 at 10:00 PM.
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Not another dime.
I carried a S&W 329 and 629 in an open Blade Tech OWB for years in AK, in and out of streams and they always ran.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
Several? Dropped perfectly wrong to bash the top of the back strap “distorting the frame and the rear sight?” Several? I’d like to give the benefit of the doubt here but honestly I’m having a really, really, really hard time. Maybe it’s because of all my years of experience gunsmithing I’ve never seen one so I’m prejudiced. Any gun dropped, slammed, hitting something hard enough to damage a rear sight milled into the top of the back strap would be enough force to destroy any other rear sight attached to it. I think that is a safe assumption.Originally Posted by OlongJohnson
If this did occur I think it would be a weld & artful needlefile work. How did you fix it OlongJohnson?
I had a bit of dust render a DA revolver inop once.
In my teens I spent plenty of time on a tractor getting ready for spring planting, and usually carried a S&W 19 on my belt in the open, exposed to the dust. One evening after having spent several hours doing this earlier in the day, I attempted a running shot (or two or three) at one of the groundhogs that liked to appear just before sunset. I fired a quick DA shot and missed. I hauled the trigger through again, and the cylinder rotated but the hammer didn’t move. Again- same thing- rotation but no hammer.
I took off the side plate that night and found the DA sear (pivoting nose in the hammer’s front) was sticking in the hammer so it wouldn’t pop out far enough to be in the trigger’s path. The trigger would pass by without contacting it to draw the hammer back.
It had to be sticking in place from the fine dust earlier in the day, though it was impossible to say for certain. There was no obvious bit of crud found when I cleaned the insides.
That was the first and last time I ever had anything like that happen. I made sure to keep the gun better shielded from dust after that. This was when all you heard was crap like “revolvers don’t stovepipe” but there I was knowing mine had been turned non-functional by some foreign material so small I couldn’t even see it.
A freak event? Sure it was. Probably. But a revolver is still a mechanical object and all mechanical objects can fail.
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