S&W crane replacement

[jtcarm]

I guess years of weak-hand IDPA reloads with Comp 3s have taken their toll on the yoke of my M-66.

There’s a little notch worn in the yoke where it contacts the screw. When I reload, the crane slips forward about 1/10” and I have to pull it back to close the cylinder.

I know the crane requires fitting, but what’s the difficulty factor? Do I need to take it to a smith?

Rant: one would think a firearms manufacturer that presumably employs design engineers would understand the concept of wear parts, i.e. construct the yoke screw from a softer metal so it doesn’t damage the much more expensive and harder to replace crane.

[41magfan]

Try this; remove your yoke screw and swap it out with the other domed head side-plate screw and see if that retains the yoke better.

ETA: After the swap, try and open the cylinder carefully and don't force it if you feel resistance.

ETA again: Your yoke shouldn't need replacing .... it's a fitment issue involving the screw.

[jetfire]

Try this; remove your yoke screw and swap it out with the other domed head side-plate screw and see if that retains the yoke better.

ETA: After the swap, try and open the cylinder carefully and don't force it if you feel resistance.

ETA again: Your yoke shouldn't need replacing .... it's a fitment issue involving the screw.

He might need to replace the crane - I had a 686 that I wore a groove into the crane from a shitload of vigorous reloads, and even after swapping the sideplate screw for a new one, it still wouldn't stay in the gun during a rapid reload. This was part of what put me off my feed on newer manufactured S&W revolvers for serious, high round count competition.

[41magfan]

The side-plate screw swap (or replacement) thing isn't really a fix in most cases, but it can work in some instances for a couple of reasons. I mentioned that simply because it doesn't cost anything to try it first.

There are a couple methods used to fix the condition which is called yoke play/slop (not to be confused with end-shake) without replacing the yoke. My suggestion to the OP would be to find a pistolsmith, S&W trained armorer or just send it back to S&W.

[jetfire]

The side-plate screw swap (or replacement) thing isn't really a fix in most cases, but it can work in some instances for a couple of reasons. I mentioned that simply because it doesn't cost anything to try it first.

There are a couple methods used to fix the condition which is called yoke play/slop (not to be confused with end-shake) without replacing the yoke. My suggestion to the OP would be to find a pistolsmith, S&W trained armorer or just send it back to S&W.

I ended up sending mine back to S&W (or selling it, I don't actually recall). Haven't used a Smith for competition since then, and haven't managed to break any of the GP100s that I used to replace them. That's not a knock against S&W, because I'm reasonable certain that I just had a poorly made individual model that wasn't representative of the 686SSR as a whole.