It is a common misconception that revolvers do not jam. They do. The most recent example that I found was on a retired Marine’s Colt Anaconda that he was carrying while deer hunting. He handed it to me to examine, and the cylinder could not be released.
With a little thought, I determined it was a similar problem that I have experienced with some Ruger revolvers... The Cylinder pin had vibrated/revolved out far enough to keep the cylinder from opening. With a little care, I was able to do the “fix” by trapping the cylinder pin while counterrotating the cylinder, enabled by cocking the hammer just enough to unlock the hand and stop.
Not that hard to do when you know what you are doing, but he had no clue. He would have ended up taking it to a gunsmith.
A little locktite on the cylinder pins makes a semipermanent solution.
I apologize to those that take this as bragging. I was simply trying to illustrate that all guns have their vulnerablilities, and once I started on the example from a couple of months ago, I thought I should finish it.
The ejector rod unscrewing is the most likely form of revolver failure. Smith started changing theirs from a right to left hand thread in 1961 because the .44 Magnum model 29 was prone to this. This was the 29-1 version. All the other models followed suit shortly thereafter.
The only other revolver failure I have personally experienced is when some unburnt Unique powder built up under the extractor star and caused it to bind.