The paper proposes an approximate solution describing a collision of an elastic finite-length cylinder with a rigid barrier when the lateral boundary conditions of the first fundamental problem of elasticity are satisfied. A finite-difference approach with respect to time and the integral transform method are used to reduce the original initial-boundary-value problem to a one-dimensional one. It is solved using the matrix Green's function. The final expressions for displacements are obtained by solving a singular integral equation by the orthogonal-polynomial method. The values of displacements and strains are analyzed for short periods of time