Gunbroker enabled Model 10

[Jamie]

I am still waiting for my S&W Model 15 to be delivered. Thanks to all of the enablers here at P-F

My Model 10-5 arrived yesterday at my local range. Having free transfers is a real bonus of my membership.

I hurried over with about 150 rounds of variously handloaded ammo using 3 different primers. My snubbie Model 10 only likes Federal about 90% of the time.

This model 10 looked much better in person than the Gunbroker photos indicated, and for $395.00 plus shipping and taxes, no complaints here!

I had zero issues shooting the 1st variety of 50 rounds. Absolutely no ignition issues and the trigger was smooth, the gun tight in all of the right places. I was Happy!

Then... the hammer wouldn't come back when the trigger was pulled. What a sinking feeling.
I found that if I manually pulled the hammer back about 1/32nd of an inch, I could feel it catch, and the gun would cycle and fire. This went on for about 12 rounds. Each time having to manually pull the hammer back that 1/32nd inch and feel it catch.
(I'm probably only making sense in my head...). But then this model 10 started functioning 100%. No issues whatsoever for the next 75 or so rounds. I could not get this old revolver to reproduce that issue again.

My thoughts were there must be a bunch of gunk inside causing my issues.

Upon arriving home I applied some Kroil to the sideplate screws and left her set overnight.

I was pleasantly surprised when I took the Model 10 apart this morning. There wasn't nearly as much accumulated crud inside as I've come to expect (in my admittedly limited experience) with old revolvers.

I'll try an attach some pics of what I found, but a very small piece of metal fell out and onto my paper towels when I removed the hammer/sear unit.
I looked at each and every piece very carefully, but for the life of me can't figure out where this tiny piece of metal came from.

I cleaned and reassembled everything and did about 100 or so trigger pulls and some dry fire. Solid. No issues at all.

I'll go shoot it again tomorrow morning and see how it goes.

Anyone have any idea what this piece of metal is? Or any thoughts on what caused the issue I described if this piece of metal wasn't the culprit?

[HeavyDuty]

That might be a vintage Springfield, Mass machining chip.

[Jamie]

That might be a vintage Springfield, Mass machining chip.

Thank you. That never even crossed my mind.

[Malamute]

It may be a leftover chip from manufacturing, though unless you take all the parts out and look them over and see a chip or void, you wont know if it came from something in the gun.

Very clean model 10.

If you very lightly stone the hammer and trigger contact points on the sideplate (the round raised parts around the pins), and the edges of the sideplate where the hammer and trigger rub, you can smooth the feel up a touch and reduce the points that can scratch the finish on the hammer and trigger. I do the frame side also for the same purpose. It doesnt take a lot, just reduce the machine marks some. A careful clean up of the clyinder locking bolt where it touches the cylinder, basically a very light de-burring of the sharp edges can help reduce the line on the cylinder some.

[Jamie]

Thank you Malamute.

I didn't disassemble the hammer in that I left the stirrup, firing pin and sear together, nor did I disassemble the trigger. Guess I need to.
Too many years of Glocks has left me at a knowledge deficit. But I'm working on that.

I'll do another takedown after tomorrow's range session and give everything an even closer inspection.

I've never done any stoning before for concern over removing too much, but I may well give it a try. I'm already quite pleased with the trigger and "feel" of this gun in general, but if it can be made better, then why not?

I appreciate the insight and advice.

[Malamute]

No need to strip all the parts out of the hammer and trigger, id just take them out of the frame and give them a good looking over.

The edges of the frame and sideplate that can rub the sides of the hammer and trigger are simple and can help alleviate the common rub marks on the nice color case finish on the hammer and trigger.

Any time you can reduce the surface roughness it can help the feel. Extended dry fire does this by rubbing the parts smooth, but a little careful stoning with a very fine stone simplifies it. I mostly use a small 1/4" triangular ceramic file from Brownells for small work. Its very fine and very slow, just right for stuff like that. it also works nicely to remove the small sharp edges on triggers and hammers, both the grooved face that can have little sharp areas, and the back edges that most never think of, but can be quite sharp.

Some stuff may only need a few light strokes to break burrs or sharp edges, like the cylinder locking bolt. I just do the parts that actually touch the cylinder. Parts like the inside edges of the frame and sideplate where the hammer moves may only need a few strokes also, just enough to knock the top off the machine marks.

[FrankB]

I have a S&W Model 36 that had trigger that was occasionally hard to pull during its first trip to the range. I took the side plate off while at the range, and there was a little piece of metal floating around inside. I pulled it out, replaced the sideplate, and everything has been dandy since. There weren’t any chipped parts, so I chalked it up to stuff gets into places at the factory.

You have a great looking revolver! 👍👍👍👍

[Jamie]

Thank you FrankB.

I'm hoping that's all it was.

Keeping my fingers crossed and looking forward to shooting her again tomorrow.

[Jamie]

Well, 200 rounds with absolutely zero issues.

I repeated my disassembly and cleaning the same as yesterday. I inspected every surface and edge I could see and all seem intact.
At this point I have to just chalk it up as machining debris.

Whew!

I do have a set of stones in my "basket" at Brownells and plan to cautiously stone the surfaces Malamute mentioned.

My 68 year old eyes are challenged with the front sight combined with indoor range lighting. So I have my first coat of orange Testor's drying as I type this.
2 coats of Testor's with the 3rd coat being clear fingernail polish worked well on my Model 10 snubby.

I have a set of BK grip adapters on order for it as I've had good success with them.

Thanks again for the help folks.

[rainman]

Congrats on a great find. Thanks for preserving a classic piece of America.


-Rainman