S&W Broken Ejector Rod Removal

[Rapier]

It occoured to me that I found out something that could be of benifit to some here. Smith in its infinate wisdom did not make all K frame guns alike. If you go to an assembly / disassembly book you will find the removal of the ejector rood on a K frame illustrated as a lock the ejector rod in a padded vise and turn the cylinder counter clockwise.

BEWARE not all Smiths have a right hand thread some have a left hand thread.

Now if you should break an ejector rod off in the shaft of the extractor, here is a way to get a LH thread rod out. First cut the center pin off at the top of the shaft. Lock the tip of the pin in a mill vise with the extractor flat on the top. Center the pin and with a small drill bit drill the pin down the center past the ejector rod to a point where you can get a larger bit to bite. Now take a drill bit just larger than the interior diameter of the ejector rod, turn the mill to its slowest speed and let the drill bit grab as it turns into the tip of the broken rod. If it is a LH thread, the rod tip will come right out, unthreaded by the drill bit.

This gun was dropped years ago, onto a concrete floor with the cylinder open. The impact bent and cracked the rod, so when I tried to remove the rod it broke in half at the shoulder, just inside the extractor shaft.
Ed