Article on improving Smith & Wesson revolver triggers. Please review.

[straightshooterjake]

I have written an article on improving the triggers in Smith & Wesson revolvers. It is not a tutorial about how to change springs and stone parts. Instead, it covers general concepts about working on revolvers.

The article is posted on my blog here:

Improving the trigger on Smith & Wesson Revolvers

The goal of the article is to answer all the questions that frequently arise when people want to improve their triggers. Here are just a few of the points that are covered:

• What is a "good trigger?"
• What causes light strikes?
• What is the function and relationship of the important springs?
• Are there safety concerns from changing revolver springs?

The article is longer than I had originally intended, but the lockwork in revolvers is not really as "simple" as it sometimes appears.

I will be very interested in feedback on this article. The intended audience for the article is people who want to improve their trigger, but may not have decided whether to do the work themselves. So I am very interested in feedback from people who are just starting to work on revolvers.

I would also greatly appreciate feedback from experienced gunsmiths about the quality of the information.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Well, this article is aimed at a very specific audience, but I'm still surprised not to get any response on The High Road. I expect people here to have an opinion on everything.

I know the article is quite long, and maybe I should have called it an ebook. But revolver triggers are not simple, and my goal is to provide a pretty complete explanation.

If anyone has looked through the Table of Contents for the article, I'd be interested in opinions about the overall material that is covered. I am not aware of other articles that cover the same content.

Your thoughts will be appreciated.

 

[Spade5]

Interesting read. I have often wondered how the different components played a part in the double action cycle.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Spade5, thanks for your comment. Glad to know the article was helpful.

 

[BBBBill]

1.3.1 and 2.1.1 - I respectfully disagree on the premise of these two paragraphs. Changing rebound springs to lighten single action trigger pull does not have nearly as much effect as properly stoning the trigger's single action sear. Going lighter simply decreases the trigger return force with comparatively little effect on single action pull and may introduce other problems.

 

[straightshooterjake]

BBBBill, thank you for your detailed response.

Your point about adjusting the single action pull weight is well taken. I prefer to start by changing springs and only stone the trigger if necessary. But I agree that more information about stoning the trigger is needed. I will make some additions in the next round of updates.

Thanks again for your comment. I'm actually pretty happy that you only found one significant issue. That makes me hopeful that with a little rewriting, the whole thing will be pretty decent.

 

[boom boom]

straightshooterjake,
As I have and like the Jerry Miculek video, and am familiar with the Smith and Wesson revolver lockwork, I think that you did a good job and I did not see any errors. I especially like that you mentioned the new synthetic stones like those from spyderco that I regularly use along with india stones. I find the synthetics a bit easier to use for polishing.

I generally stay away from stoning the single action notch because I generally do not fire that way and prefer a smooth DA trigger. I really have not had a bad Smith revolver in SA trigger pulls anyway. Other than polishing springs, I generally leave them at factory weights but then again, those are my preferences. Rugers for me seem to do better though by altering springs.

Enjoyed it and would recommend. BTW, you might let the revolver forum folks know about this thread to get some more comments. A lot of people only follow one or two forum groups as I do.

 

[Slamfire]

Very good job. I mucked around with S&W triggers, all based on the advertising claims of spring kits touted by Gunwriters. While reduced power springs did lighten the trigger pull, it also lead to misfires. So much for truth in advertising. I came to the conclusion the best thing to do was test multiple new S&W revolvers and pick the one with the best trigger pull, and not muck around with spring kits. This has worked well for me.

 

[BBBBill]

I generally stay away from stoning the single action notch

That's not the way to adjust single action pull anyway. The stoning is done to the trigger's single action sear if needed. It seldom is necessary. It is extremely rare to find a need to stone the notch and difficult to do without magnification and some sort of jig. There are no known (by me) jigs made for that purpose.

 

[boom boom]

Bought a sw model 15 with a botched trigger job once but it was cheap and a rare 5 in factory barrel.

 

[boom boom]

Sorry BBBBill about short answer last night, was on my phone.
Yes, you can make a simple jig to SMOOTH a damaged notch--you need a trued flat plate (I use one for determining Mauser receiver flatness) and two trued flat surfaces to sandwich the hammer--I used some very small machinist's squares for my sandwich which goes into a shopvise. Have a lighted magnifier about 9 inches in diameter and use very fine stones and a lot of time because you have to make sure that you do not break through the case hardening and to check the trueness of the surface modifications.

You are correct in that if you aim to LIGHTEN a trigger then you focus on the sear and not the notch. But, if your notch is damaged--grooved by a damaged sear, it will affect the smoothness of your trigger pull in SA. The model 15 is a pre-15 model made in the transition year of 1957 and has a case hardened fairly unique hammer and thus was worth saving.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Boom boom, thanks for your comments about the article. I appreciate that you found it good enough to recommend. I am hoping that the word will slowly get out, and that people who have spring problems and misfires will be able to find this article.

Slamfire, I believe your experience with spring kits is very common. That was my reason for writing this piece. I am not sure how the idea that revolver springs are easy to work with got so widespread. I know sometimes installing springs does just work perfectly, but when it doesn't, the problems aren't always easy to figure out.

 

[earplug]

I didn't see any mention of having a bent crane or other misalignment effecting DA operation. No mention of the modern key lock safety being deactivated by radical lighting of the hammer.

 

[boom boom]

FWIW, Clyde Baker in Modern Gunsmithing has an excellent chapter on adjusting trigger pulls with simple tools Revolvers are covered in pp. 481-487. The whole chapter is well worth reading.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Earplug, thanks for your comment.

Issues like a bent crane are a more advanced topic. This article is really aimed at the advanced beginner. My hope is that if people have more complex problems, they will find links to more complete resources in the references section. However, I will think about whether some description of alignment issues should be included.

The note about hammer modification defeating the lock is a good catch. Thanks.

 

[straightshooterjake]

I have published an updated version of the article on my blog. The comments here were very helpful. Now I am thinking about adding photos to the article, but that will take a while.

Thanks for the advice, and if anyone else has thoughts, I'd be happy to hear them.

 

[boom boom]

I am glad that someone is putting some good information out on the web--thanks straightshooterjake.