H&R 929 "Sidekick" Question?

Aimhigh

I bought a real nice looking(1974 vintage)4-inch, Harrington & Richardson "Sidekick" revolver that doesn't look to have been fired much? However, I was wondering if it is normal for these cheaper made H&R revolvers, to leave light marks from firing these guns, from the cylinder ratchet gear teeth, directly in the center of the recoil shield? These marks aren't deep into the metal(Just, lightly through the bluing leaving the exact shape of the cylinder ratchet gear teeth, imprinted into the bluing)! There are no other marks on the recoil shield! This gun isn't loose-nor, does it show any wear!

He Dog

None of my H&R revolvers does that, but b.goforth here is the guru on H&R.

Aimhigh

Well, I hope that Mr. B.goforth will chime-in here soon?

gunnut505

My 1975 vintage H&R 929 got a nick in the very same "gear" and wouldn't rotate past that one chamber unless it got turned by hand; zinc isn't very strong.

b.goforth

i really hate to disillusion you folks but i know alot more about H&R history than technical information. i personally to do like to work on them although i have repaired many. the internal mechanism parts are harder than the frames and once the inside of the frame gets wear they are very hard to rebuild. i would say imprints of cartridges on the recoil shield are normal but of the cylinder ratchet may not be. it would indicate movement front to rear during firing. this kind of movement may not cause any real problems until many thousands of rounds have been fired. H&R never said their handguns would last a life time.

with all that said i still feel the H&Rs and iver johnsons are some of the most overlooked and interesting collectibles. a person could build a nice little collection of post WWII h&r swing-out cylinder models with all the calibers, barrel lengths, finishes and different model numbers.

when it comes to iver johnsons of the post wwII era their handguns were so well built and technically advanced that they caused their own downfall. the transfer bar ignition system in used today was patented by iver johnson in 1896 and the safety trigger (ala glock)was patented in 1886. once you bought a iver johnson there was little need to buy another. a little known fact is that about 75% of all iver johnson's arms & cycle works 'safety automatic revolvers' were manufactured for black powder cartridge pressures. the fact that so many of them are still around attest to their strength. i have tried for a while now to convince people to stop firing their black powder iver johnsons and h&rs so they will still be around for the next grneration of collectors.

thank you all for reading my ramblings.
bill

Aimhigh

B.goforth:

Is there anything that can be done(Or a replacement part?)to limit the movement of the cylinder? If so, what? I was not able to determine what stops the cylinder movement, from the Numrich parts diagram?

b.goforth

i doubt there is any thing your can do to remove the movement in your cylinder completely. i personally would not worry about it until or unless it begins to cause problems with the cylinder timing (alignment of barrel and cylinder). remember we are talking about a 1974 era revolver that has been out of production since 1986 and replacement parts from numrich are going to mostly be used.
bill