Bad timing on smith and wesson revolvers?.?

Question

I recently purchased a Model 629 Revolver and i was talking to my friend father which used to be a gun smith. He told me that Smith & Wesson revolvers loose there timing after awhile and that some even come from the factory with bad timing. Is this true?, i even heard that the quality of Smith & Wesson revolvers are quiet poor. Has any one had any experience with any of these problems?.

Thanks, Roger.

i should have said, " i heard the quality of newer Smith & Wesson revolvers to be quiet poor."

Answer 1

You've been told a Grim's Fairy Tale.I've been a S & W Law Enforcement armourer and Gunsmith for over 30 years working on S & W's primarily.The are "Hand" fitted and timed at the factory and it is virtually impossible to have the timing go bad unless someone who wasn't qualified or wasn't a Gunsmith tried to do a "Trigger " job (Lighten the trigger pull) which in turm would have an effect on the timing. Your 629 being a .44 Magnum is unaffected and as all other factory guns are designed to function perfectly as long as they aren't "tinkered" with. I personally have put over 10,000 rounds thru my 4" 29/.44 Magnum including "Hot " hand loads with no problems..I have never seen a Smith & Wesson in all my 30+ years of working on them, that had bad timing that wasn't the result of tampering........

Answer 2

Smith And Wesson Model 19-2

Answer 3

I own older Smith & Wesson revolvers and late model Smith & Wesson revolvers and never have had a quality issue. They are the best name in revolvers and offer a lifetime warranty for the original owner. They'll even take care of you if you're not the original owner. They stand behind their products. As a person who constantly shops for new & used revolvers of all makes, I can tell you there's a lot of talk out there about many brands and much of it is completely false, rumors with no basis and people commenting on guns they've never even owned. Smith & Wesson build excellent revolvers and if they had problems, I'd tell you honestly. I own old model 10's and 686's and they just go and go. Timing is perfect now, just as it as it was back in 1960's when it was new. You can't go wrong with S&W. I spend 2-4 days at stores just looking and spend hours weekly doing research and have spoken to many gun owners and I only hear praise about S&W, except for their Sigma 9mm handgun, but that's another story.

Answer 4

I went to the S+W Academy in 1984 to be trained to repair revolvers. The weapons they produced at the time are checked so carefully it is very difficult for a bad one to pass through. Our class made 5 revolvers apiece and repaired 20 revolvers.

Keep in mind, there are many hand fitting operations for revolvers. Any we made were also checked over and repaired if needed by the factory before they ever left the plant.

A .44 magnum may have shot "loose" especially if the owner was a hand-loader and wanted to " stoke up " the loads.

If a revolver is fired enough or uses a steady diet of heavy recoil loads, you will age it a little quicker no doubt. Timing on a S+W is controlled by the cylinder advancing hand and the cylinder ratchet. Getting a thicker cylinder advancing hand is not expensive but you really would want to take it to someone who has been trained specifically for S+W revolvers.

Unless S+W had made alot of changes for the worse, their quality is fine as far as I know. Get someone experienced to see if the timing is bad. The process is simple.

Answer 5

to me, you heard right. Some revolvers need to restore timing after heavy use. some. because of weaknesses of springs and shortening of parts.
note: i an very fond of S&W revolvers. i had some, including a model 29 and a model 19, 2,5" .357 vintage. so, i don't want to talk bad of S&W.

when u pull the trigger rapidly to fire, your timing won't fail: velocity of moving parts would hide every little problem and revolver is flawless.
when u use to shoot with "two-times" double action (u can with smith, not with colt) maybe you could meet some timing affection.
once i saw two model 686, brand new: one had really good timing, the other was not perfect. they were both brand new.

for example: when u pull the trigger slowly, or better you do it while touching the cylinder (to increase its inertia) you should see that the cylinder must be blocked before the hammer goes down.
when you shoot SA or DA rapidly it won't fail.
when you shoot DA slowly, it could happen that hammer hits the cap and "then" the cylinder is blocked, or at the same time.

with my model 29 it never happened because, even if it had a good timing, the bigger and heavier cylinder had a good inertia and when rotating it took velocity and went to block very easily.
with .38 or .357, smaller cylinder, it could happen

NOTICE: it COULD, but it's rather difficult. i saw very very few such worn-out revolver to need reset of timing.
i think u won't have problems.
but you'd better chek the correct timing while pulling the trigger very slowly and notice when the cylinder is blocked and when the hammer hits. and be sure u check all the chambers, sometimes the blockage is not the same (if the cylinder pin is not perfectly round, that it's nearly theory, sometimes u have good timing and blocking on 3 cham and unperfect on the other 3).

i trust my model 19.

Answer 6

I think you buddy's dad is exaggerating a bit. I own a couple of the new smiths and several of the older ones. I've had one S&W revolver with a timing problem. A 1950 vintage .38 spl., K-38. I suspect the only reason there was any problem was the previous owner's attempts at home gunsmithing.

When S&W started installing those locks on the gun there was rumor started that they would malfunction and lock up the gun. Rumor was not true.

The present ownership & management of S&W are all shooters themselves and I think their quality control is top-notch. Alas, Colt should get a clue. . .

Answer 7

I've never heard this before about Smiths. Some people say the Colt Python (no longer made) will lose its timing. Of course, that was after some heavy usage.

The 629s I've seen (haven't shot one yet) seem very strong, durable and of good quality. The older 29's also. I suppose that the heavy beating of the .44 Mag. may cause some wear and tear, but I doubt if it is as your friend's father implied. Did you ask him why he is NO longer a gunsmith???

H

Answer 8

Never had any problems with any Smith and Wesson revolvers at all. And owned one dating all the way back to 1919 still shots good and cylinder indexes good.
Smith & Wesson and Colt have always been the top two in my book with Ruger coming in third but still a good revolver.

Answer 9

It's rare, butI have see this happen.
I had a model 37 J frame and I was hit in the lip with a piece of copper jacket that sheared off the round.
(I was standing next to my nephew as he fired it)

A competent gunsmith can easily solve the problem if you run across it.

Answer 10

Don't believe everything you are told... I have had no problem with any of the ones i use including the Python........or the K-22.