Fixing my Taurus model 44 revolver

[MichaelK]

Had a problem that I was able to fix myself.

The yoke screw on my 44 magnum tends to loosen with use, and on more than one occasion, the cylinder actually fell out of the frame because the screw was too loose. Apparently, the last time it happened, a little spring that pushes the cylinder stop in place also fell out, which was lost. So, upon replacing the cylinder, the cylinder stop no long functioned and the cylinder was spinning freely. NOT GOOD!

After taking the gun home and disassembling it, I figured out what was wrong, then consulted an exploded diagram of my Taurus to determine the coil spring was missing.

I did not have a spring of the right size and diameter to fit inside the frame, so I Bubba'd a new spring. I selected a 1/4" wood bolt that had about the right diameter and pitch to fit. I heated a spring red-hot on the kitchen stove, then straightened it. After letting it cool slowly, the now soft wire was wrapped around the bolt. I subsequently unscrewed the shaped wire off the bolt and reheated it to orange hot and plunged it into cold water to harden. I then reheated it over the flame, but not enough to make a visable glow, in order to temper it.

I got more than an inch of what looked like uniform, perfectly formed spring. I then started trimming it with my Dremel tool on the fly till the cylinder stop functioned properly, and the yoke screw positioned properly. It WORKS! To finish up, I put locktite on the yoke screw so this wouldn't happen again.

[Doninalaska]

Good job! I was going to suggest Loctite, but you already figured that out.

[MtnManJim]

Good job Michael! It sounds like you're a talented "fixer." Not only that, but there's a certain pride that comes along with being able to design and build something yourself that works better than the original.

[Kachad]

Love the term Bubba'd.

Nice work!