H&R Special Revolver
I recently had the opportunity to examine a pre-WWII H&R top break .22 revolver. The cylinder seems to index and lock OK when the revolver is operated single action. But, the cylinder consistently skips one chamber when the action is cocked slowly. After about 4 operations, the cylinder indexes to the next chamber, then begins the every other chamber action again. This doesn't seem right to me, but I am not familiar with this model. I'll try to test fire it some time if I get the chance, but the action of the cylinder seems very strange to me.
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Sounds like either a worn down cylinder bolt or worn out cylinder bolt notches??? 0 -
Try a good cleaning/degreasing of the lockwork parts. I once sold an old S&W 1917 on Gunbroker, and the buyer sent it back because it would not rotate the cylinder far enough to lock up. He sent it back, and since he was telling the truth about it, I refunded his money, in full, including shipping.
Then, I detail stripped the revolver. It was grungy inside, with lots of dried, caked on oil and dirt. I cleaned all the parts, and the inside of the frame, properly lubed it, and re-assembled. VOILA! The timing problem was fixed and the gun worked perfectly.
The next buyer paid more for it than the first one did, and was happy with it.0 -
O! H&R, I'll never forget when I sold an old H &R
and it came back with a nasty letter. The wife of the buyer said, I hope your happy now that my husband is dead because of the faulty gun you sold him.
She sent the gun back and 1 spent case.
I was shocked, after a little investigation I found out he committed suicide0 -
Where there's a will, there is a way.
I have a suicide gun in my shop. It isn't for sale.0 -
Guess you just can't trust those old H&Rs! 0 -
Top break revolver? Fails to index completely when slow cocking? Check this-
IF someone tried to close the gun when it was cocked, the hand would be extended. Geometry of that gun was PERFECT for the edge of the cylinder to strike the tip of the extended hand, denting the tip. The hand gets just a smidgin shorter. When cocking it energetically, cylinder's inertia makes it turn far enough for cylinder stop to drop into slot. SLOOOOOW cocking- hand is not QUITE long enough to push it that last little bit.
Open the gun, then cock it. Look at the tip of the hand. Got a little ding in it? Mild case, smith can remove hand, peen hand back to normal- severe case, replace hand. But getting parts back into right place in those solid frame revolvers should not be attempted unless you have a firm command of profanity.0 -
O! H&R, I'll never forget when I sold an old H &R
and it came back with a nasty letter. The wife of the buyer said, I hope your happy now that my husband is dead because of the faulty gun you sold him.
She sent the gun back and 1 spent case.
I was shocked, after a little investigation I found out he committed suicide
OMG!0 -
What is happening is that the cylinder consistently skips one chamber and locks on the second chamber. The hand is pushing the cylinder too far. I pulled the bullets from nine .22 Long Rifle cartridges and inserted the primed cases in the cylinder. It fired every other cartridge on the first rotation and all but one on the second rotation. That cartridge was never hit. I had an Iver Johnson that would skip a chamber and corrected it by filing the hand down.
Looking at Numrich, it appears replacement parts for this model are all but non-existent, so I want to approach any filing with extreme caution.0 -
H&R were the best of the cheapies. I would suspect the pawl/hand is worn. You might try streching it some with a cross pean hammer depending on the steel hardness. Second would be a blob of weld on the end filing it back to origional profile. Make sure the bolt and notches are square and burr free, a little champher is OK. Check the other pins/parts for fit like the trigger. 0
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