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I have a S&W M48 made in 1960. It's a beautiful revolver with that wonderful old school blue. A six K-22 with the punch of .22 Magnum. But after I bought it and started shooting it, I discovered it has "issues." I posted about it on the S&W forums and discovered it's a "known issue" and you "just have to live with it." The issue is that extraction is difficult after only six shots and gets worse quickly after that.
The reality seems to be that .22 Magnum works great in a single action since you eject one piece of brass at a time. But in a double action you eject all of them at once. Depending on the particular brand of ammo and the particular gun, it can be a real issue. In my M48, the first six rounds eject with one firm palm slap. But I'm already telling myself that the clock is ticking. The next six may or may not eject with a good push. Sometimes I end up really pushing. As I said, it depends on the brand of ammo but within 32 rounds of ammo... I'm totally done until I totally clean the gun. It just becomes impossible to get the empties out of the cylinder. But if you look at the cylinder after it is clean, those holes are perfectly mirror smooth. It's not a manufacturing issue, it's a double action revolver issue with the magnum ammo. Lots of M48 owners experience the same thing. I've even considered selling it but it's just such a pretty gun. And it does shoot well. And you don't just stand around plinking a couple hundred rounds with a .22 Magnum anyway!!
Gregg
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