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I decided to finally get around to doing trigger work on a few of my S&W revolvers. I have been considering sending the ones I use the most off to the performance center, but figured I'd save some money work by doing some spring replacement, cleaning, and lubing. Although S&W does do other things along with their trigger work, I couldn't justify the price for a bunch of guns.

So I went with Wolff mainsprings and trigger return springs. I disassembled each gun and gave a thorough cleaning with simple green and nylon brush, then coated with CLP and lubed the action parts with a moly grease.

The guns I decided to tune were; 686-3 4", 686 2.5", 625-3 4”, 67-1 4”, and a 642-1. As far as which springs I decided to go with reduced power mainsprings for the 686-3, the 626-3, and the 67-1, and replaced the 686 (2.5") mainspring with the standard power wolf, and kept the factory spring (coilspring) in the 642. As far as return springs I went with a 13lb in the 686 (4"), 625, and 67, a 15lb in the 642, and 14lb in the other 686.


Here are some quick pics of the process;

Some guts before cleaning;
IMG_0246.jpg
IMG_0247.jpg

Soaping and scrubbing;
IMG_0249.jpg

Rinsing;
IMG_0251.jpg

Drying
IMG_0252.jpg
IMG_0253.jpg


For measuring the pulls I used a lyman digital gauge. (thanks GeneT!)

Anyways here are the results that you are all looking for;


686-3 4”
Before;
SA 3.34 lb
DA 10.38 lb

After;
SA 2.93 lb
DA 7.31 lb



686 2.5”
Before;
SA 4.14 lb
DA 11.5 lb

After;
SA 2.91 lb
DA 10.16 lb



625-3 4”
Before;
SA 3.79 lb
DA Over 12lbs

After;
SA 2.81 lb
DA 10.16 lb



67-1 4”
Before;
SA 4.57 lb
DA 11.63 lb

After;
SA 3.5 lb
DA 9.63 lb



642-1
Before;
SA NA
DA 11.88 lb

After;
SA NA
DA 11.59 lb


So I ended up with some great improvements on some guns, my main goal was to improve DA pulls, since S&Ws already have a great SA pull. The only gun that concerns be about functioning properly is the 4" 686, the DA pull lightened up quite a bit, so I need to get out and range test all of them to make sure there is no affect on performance. If the 4" 686 doesn't have any light strikes, it will be a very good competition/range gun!

I will post once I get out and test all of them out and see what results I get.

If you are interested in any tips as far as how to do this yourself, don't be afraid to ask!
 
Go to smartflix.com and rent the Jerry Mikulek trigger DVD. No need to touch the sear or hammer spring, cleanup the trigger return spring and block, deburr here and there, major improvement. I like to see K, L and N frames with a 2.5/8.5 trigger.

http://smartflix.com/store/author/63/Jerry-Miculek

I've been thinking of getting his DVD, I hear good things about it. But I do have the AGI S&W trigger movie, and armorers course.
 
Make sure to check your push off. And definitely check the gun with all kinds of ammo. Some primers will not detonate with the reduced power mainspring. Also, when the gun gets gummed up, the reduced power trigger return springs can fail to full reset the trigger in a positive manner. Simply cleaning, de-greasing, a bit of burr removal with a hard stone, and proper lube will work wonders.
My recomendation for lubing the innards is a small drop of Break-Free on the trigger pin, hammer pin, and trigger return spring, and a good lubricant on the frame under the rebound slide assemble (two sides). Nothing more.
These things alone, with the factory springs, will improve triggers dramatically. Especially on new guns.
 

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