Gunsmithing Dan Wesson Model 15 primer strikes off alignment

[Disfunctional_Engineer]

I know this is probably the wrong sort of forum but you never know I haven't really had much luck elsewhere. Bought a basket case Dan Model 15 (one of the early "pork chop" ones) and it strikes the primer off center. It doesn't fire reliably. I was wondering if anyone ever managed to deal with this before successfully. It acts like it's rotating the cylinder too far and it's worse in double action than single.

 

[FisherT&C]

I know this is probably the wrong sort of forum but you never know I haven't really had much luck elsewhere. Bought a basket case Dan Model 15 (one of the early "pork chop" ones) and it strikes the primer off center. It doesn't fire reliably. I was wondering if anyone ever managed to deal with this before successfully. It acts like it's rotating the cylinder too far and it's worse in double action than single.

Possibly someone put a new hand in it trying to correct a timing issue and didn't fit it properly. Removing a slight amount of material from the face of the hand where it engages the ratchet on the ejector will correct cylinder timing if that's the issue. If the cylinder isn't aligning to the barrel, do not continue firing it. The forcing cone can shave the bullet and a piece may come back at your face.

 

[Disfunctional_Engineer]

What's weird is it doesn't seem to shave when I shot it and looking down the bore it doesn't seem misaligned on the cylinder when double action. I haven't gone to the trouble to get a set of rods to slide down the bore yet to check however which would probably be the next rational step there. I'm not sure what the tolerances are and if the forcing cone on the barrel would cause it to be more challenging to visually perceive this alignment however. Maybe I'll make a dummy round or something so I can clearly see where the bullet is in the cylinder.

The cylinder also seems to be a different color than the frame. What are the chances that the cylinder was swapped out in a manner that was poorly fitted? From what I read Dans don't always have well matched finishes so I kind of dismissed it.

 

[GH41]

Possibly someone put a new hand in it trying to correct a timing issue and didn't fit it properly. Removing a slight amount of material from the face of the hand where it engages the ratchet on the ejector will correct cylinder timing if that's the issue. If the cylinder isn't aligning to the barrel, do not continue firing it. The forcing cone can shave the bullet and a piece may come back at your face.

The hand rotates the cylinder but the bolt stops the rotation and locks the cylinder in the firing position. If the hand is short it may not rotate the cylinder far enough for the bolt to fully engage the slot in the cylinder. Cock the hammer very slowly until the sear engages like you were firing it single action while watching the bolt. The bolt should fully engage the slot just before the sear locks the hammer back. If you have to jiggle the cylinder to make the bolt jump up the hand is likely short. If the hand is long the gun probably wouldn't cock. The bolt would stop the cylinder and if it did fire you wouldn't be having he problem you are having. The bolt is what times the cylinder. Open the cylinder and with the eraser end of of a pencil push the bolt down into the frame. It should be free and follow the pencil up and down without any hesitation. It has a spring under it but it isn't very heavy. Have you had the side plate off? I am betting something as stupid as dried grease or debris in or around the bolt, frame slot or spring is the problem. I agree with Fisher's warning. I wouldn't fire it before fixing the problem. I would only test fire with empty primed cases. If you don't reload or have a bullet puller just get some cheap lead round nose lead bullets and pull them with vice-grips.

 

[Disfunctional_Engineer]

I have had the side plate off, this gun is clean as a whistle inside. Yeah I tend to use primed cases in it for testing.

As a question, the hand is actually considerably thinner than the area between the frame and the side plate. Unlike the trigger this seems to give it considerable room to wobble. The only thing that seems to hold the cylinder into alignment is a plunger/spring built into the cyilnder subsystem. This seems to allow a decent bit of wobble of the hand out of alignment. Am I crazy to think this should be tighter? Also, the spring loaded ball seems to allow some cylinder play up top. It doesn't seem to let me do that on an S&W but I think it's an apples and oranges comparison due to the differences in lock up. I wish I had another one of these to examine that was working properly I could feel the lock out up on.