Zaydok Allen
Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2011
- Messages
- 13,275
Last year I was having some issues with failures to fire with a S&W 686 Competitor, PC gun. After posting a thread here, I was reminded to check the mainspring screw, and make sure it is tightened up properly. Well I did just that, but didn't have a chance to shoot it again. A serious lack of time due to work projects cut into my shooting time, and I had to focus on my defensive guns. All my range sessions were made up of fast shooting and simply focusing on getting rounds on paper as fast as I could. The great part was that I really increased my speed, without much of a loss in accuracy.
The bad part was that the 686 went in a case, and did not get shot until this last holiday season. While at the range I was getting one to three failures to fire per cylinder, in double action. Single action shooting all fired without a hitch. Obviously I found this disturbing as a competition gun is meant to shoot fast. I was shooting Herter's and Fiocchii 158 gr target ammo. The issue occurred with both ammo brands.
Well last night I decided to check the mainspring screw again, figuring it had somehow backed out, and needed a drop of Loctite to be applied. Well, the screw was very snuggly in place and had not backed out at all. So I was puzzled. I couldn't figure out why single action shooting works every time, and double action doesn't.
So I pulled out my 3" 686+ to compare it. The 3" gun has always operated perfectly in single or double action. In comparing the two guns, the hammer locks back at the same distance and angle on both guns in single action. However, in slowly pulling the trigger in double action on both guns, and keeping my thumb on the hammers, I was able to see that the DA trigger break on the 686 Competitor was about 1/8th inch (or maybe even a touch more) shorter than the 3" 686+.
So failure to fire in double action kind of makes sense now, with the trigger on the PC gun breaking a bit sooner than the 686+. I guess I'm looking for some advice from the folks who know S&W revolvers. I haven't taken the side plate off, as I am concerned about clumsiness on my part leading to lost springs, or gouged up screws and finish.
It seems to me that I would get one failure to fire occasionally in a range session in the past, and now the problem is worse. So it seems to me that the mainspring is not the issue, but rather it is an improperly cast or milled part in the hammer and/or sear mechanisms? I may be way off so please chime in.
I guess I'd like advice from the experienced folks too about whether I should go on an exploratory mission, or simply contact S&W. I hate sending my guns in, but I hate screwing up things that I paid a lot of money for even worse. I'm not terribly mechanically inclined and don't have a good work space with proper lighting to do much service work on a gun, so I'm really reluctant to go digging around.
What say you?
The bad part was that the 686 went in a case, and did not get shot until this last holiday season. While at the range I was getting one to three failures to fire per cylinder, in double action. Single action shooting all fired without a hitch. Obviously I found this disturbing as a competition gun is meant to shoot fast. I was shooting Herter's and Fiocchii 158 gr target ammo. The issue occurred with both ammo brands.
Well last night I decided to check the mainspring screw again, figuring it had somehow backed out, and needed a drop of Loctite to be applied. Well, the screw was very snuggly in place and had not backed out at all. So I was puzzled. I couldn't figure out why single action shooting works every time, and double action doesn't.
So I pulled out my 3" 686+ to compare it. The 3" gun has always operated perfectly in single or double action. In comparing the two guns, the hammer locks back at the same distance and angle on both guns in single action. However, in slowly pulling the trigger in double action on both guns, and keeping my thumb on the hammers, I was able to see that the DA trigger break on the 686 Competitor was about 1/8th inch (or maybe even a touch more) shorter than the 3" 686+.
So failure to fire in double action kind of makes sense now, with the trigger on the PC gun breaking a bit sooner than the 686+. I guess I'm looking for some advice from the folks who know S&W revolvers. I haven't taken the side plate off, as I am concerned about clumsiness on my part leading to lost springs, or gouged up screws and finish.
It seems to me that I would get one failure to fire occasionally in a range session in the past, and now the problem is worse. So it seems to me that the mainspring is not the issue, but rather it is an improperly cast or milled part in the hammer and/or sear mechanisms? I may be way off so please chime in.
I guess I'd like advice from the experienced folks too about whether I should go on an exploratory mission, or simply contact S&W. I hate sending my guns in, but I hate screwing up things that I paid a lot of money for even worse. I'm not terribly mechanically inclined and don't have a good work space with proper lighting to do much service work on a gun, so I'm really reluctant to go digging around.
What say you?
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