Trigger problem with wife's 638

[zzzarkt]

Hello folks, I hope to get some help with a rather disturbing problem I found last night with my wife's carry gun, a S&W 638.

I was just watching TV last night so I decided to run some snap caps through my wife's carry gun just to do some dry firing. I immediately noticed a problem with the trigger, normally when you begin to pull the trigger, the trigger immediately moves back, the tension builds then the hammer is released right?

Well now when pressure is applied to the trigger it does not move at all until about 3 times the regular pressure is applied, I don't have a pull gauge but I would guess it is about 20-25lbs. Only when this amount of pressure is applied something seems to "snap" and then the trigger moves and the gun functions normally.

I don't think the problem has to do with the mainspring, because I can thumb the hammer back and dry fire in single action with no problem.

I am going to take the gun to a local gunsmith this weekend so he can take a look at it, hopefully the problem is something easy (cheap) to fix. I don't look foreward to having to send it off to S&W to be repaired, the gun is only about four months old.

If nothing else, this is a valuable lesson. Check the function of any firearm that you or your loved ones may depend on. The scary thing is just last weekend my wife was with her friends without me around carrying this very gun for protection. It is disturbing to think that she may have had to use it with the trigger the way it is.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, I could use some help here.

 

[Jim K]

Not easy to tell from a distance, but it might be a timing problem if the hand is trying to turn the cylinder before the cyinder stop drops. Look to see if the stop notches in the cylinder have any metal raised that would indicate a dragging cylinder stop.

If so, I would definitely suggest the gunsmith or S&W. Call S&W; I have seen reports of under a week turnaround time, though obviously that is not always the case. Since it is a new gun, they will likely pick up the shipping tab both ways.

I second checking out ANY firearm before depending on it. For an automatic, I always recommend at least 200 consecutive shots without a failure with the carry ammo and the carry magazine; for a revolver, 100 consecutive shots without a failure with the carry ammo.

Jim

 

[Confederate]

The 638 is a very small gun with a coil mainspring, if memory serves. This gives it a stout trigger pull double action. There may be a burr somewhere around the cylinder star but, barring that, make sure that any adjustments don't result in light primer strikes.

I have an older model 60 that has a similar problem. It stays in a basket loaded and for emergency use. Never tried to fix it and just resolved to live with it.

If anyone can fix it short of a trigger job, please let us know here. I always chalked it up to being a problem of small design.

 

[HSMITH]

Clean it, probably been riding in purses and pockets for a while......

 

[dbarale]

I do not know this particular gun but for most problems with revolvers the common causes are, loose ejector rod, crud under the ejector star, loose sideplate screws. it's worth doing a quick check on those...
Also make sure that one of the snap caps is not damaged causing the cylinder to bind. Just dry fire it with an empty cylinder and see if the problem is still there.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Clean it. Clean it again. If that doesn't solve the problem, strip it down to the frame and clean it again. The odds are at least 95% that you'll have solved the problem.

 

[tubeshooter]

Clean it, probably been riding in purses and pockets for a while......

Yeah, lint may be a factor. The burr theory is good advice also.

Good point on giving your guns a check with some snap caps, especially if it doesn't see regular use. I had a gun that would suffer from occasional cylinder lock, it is scary and sobering to see something like that and realize you could have been betting your life on it. I found out around the 50-round mark; I have other revolvers that are at about 10 times that and I feel 1000% comfortable with them.... but I still do the snap-cap thing occasionally above and beyond practice just the same, to this day. I guess that experience really stuck with me.

An aside: The gun that locked up went on to get stolen before I could try to get it serviced... which I wasn't really that interested in anyway, I could never trust a revolver again once it did me like that. Glad he only got my shoddy piece (!), and I'm also glad I got a replacement that works great thanks to insurance. I have to admit though, I have since wondered (hoped) the gun went on freeze up on the thief at the worst (best) possible moment several times.

 

[AlvinAmerica]

Smith & Wesson has gone the way of all other shoddy products...

zzzarkt,
It is not "lint', belly-button, or other, it is poor quality of firearm.
I purchased a 642 two years ago. Brought it home, loaded it with snap caps
and before I had run the trigger through 50 cycles it started getting gritty and hard to pull. A few more cycles and it froze up!.
I returned it to the gun store and they sent it off to S&W. When I got it back "repaired", I did the same dry-fire as the first night and, again, it got gritty, then froze up. I had it sent back again, and upon return it did the same thing!. Not a round had been fired from this gun. I again returned it but demanded another gun. They complied, but the 642 I now have I don't trust, period. I keep it loaded w 158 gr. LSWCHP (as a weapon of last resort). I have since moved over to Rugers...
GP100 and SP101... as my dependable SD weapons. Rugers are bombproof. I have absolutely ZERO faith in S&W.
FWIW,
Take care,
AlvinAmerica

 

[Confederate]

Why?

Just a question, but why use snap caps at all? I never use 'em in my Rugers or my Smiths. Do you do it for safety reasons or....?

 

[tubeshooter]

For me... it's more like "Why not? Can't hurt, might help".... as far as damaging firing pins and such.

 

[zzzarkt]

Update on the 638, well I went ahead and took the side plate off. Inside there was some fouling but no metal shavings that I could see.

I sprayed the whole thing out with a degreaser, then some breakfree. I let that sit a while to allow the breakfree to loosen the fouling, then hit it again with the degreaser. The difference was amazing, everything looked brand new inside.

I then sprayed some eezox (lubricant / rust preventative) in there and closed it up. The trigger problem was gone. The pull now feels better than new, smooth with no hang ups.

So in the end, I fixed the problem myself and didn't lose any parts in the process. I also learned a bit about the internal workings of the revolver. I also dispelled for myself two myths I had heard about revolvers, 1) never take the side plate off yourself or you will break your gun and 2) you never need to clean under the side plate because it doesn't get dirty in there.

I know now that both of these are false. My thanks to all who contributed, I really appreciate it.

 

[DB]

I have a 686P that I bought new about 4 years ago. I noticed after getting it home when dry-firing that occasionally,double action, the cylinder would rotate but the hammer wouldn't move. At the time I didn't feel confident enough to remove the sideplate myself. I sent it back to S&W for repair. It came back in about a week. All the repair paperwork said about the work performed was that they "cleaned" the revolver. Apparently this is another case of "unclean" insides causing problems with a new gun.