Dry firing and lightening trigger pulls

[Mastrogiacomo]

I've got the SP101 DAO that I love. When I'm not at the range, I enjoy holding the gun so I bought some A-Zooms to practice with while at home. How often does a person typically need to dry fire to lighten the trigger pull? I'll probably send along for work at some point (maybe Gemini), but for now, I'd rather not part with it.

 

[ChristopherG]

When Jerry Miculek introduced his video on how to do a trigger job (on an S&W, but I expect the point holds true for your Ruger), he said, "all we're really gonna do (Louisianna drawl, you know) is get it to where it'd be on its own in about 3,000 rounds."

So I'd say, start with 3,000.

 

[ChristopherG]

Oh, yeah. You may not be able to tell exactly how much is trigger-smoothing, and how much is finger-strengthening; but it's all good.

 

[Mastrogiacomo]

3,000....I'll start now. Thanks.

 

[mete]

Dry firing will not lighten the pull much but it will smooth things out. A trigger job is much faster IF you know what you're doing.

 

[Standing Wolf]

A trigger job is much faster IF you know what you're doing.

My friendly local gunsmith says about 10% of his business involves cleaning up after people's attempted gunsmithing. Very profitable work, he says.

 

[Mastrogiacomo]

I'm not that great with guns and even with my beloved Berettas -- I go only so far. Rather than screw things up, I'd prefer to send it to the gunsmith instead of pretending to know what I'm doing when it's obvious I don't. I'll save that for the Mark III.....

When I have the funds, I'll send it off. Maybe Gemini or Actions by T....we'll see. Thanks again.

 

[Kamicosmos]

No need to go crazy with a SP101. Buy the spring pack from Wolffe springs. My DAO SP likes the 10# mainspring, it will light all primers and is significantly lighter than the factory trigger pull. Swapping springs is pretty easy on the SP/GP series of guns.

 

[JohnKSa]

I really wouldn't expect to see the trigger get much lighter in pull weight due to dryfiring. I would expect it to get much smoother.

 

[Sunray]

"...dry fire to lighten the trigger pull?..." None. It needs a trigger job. Relax. Except for high priced Colt Pythons, all factory firearms need a trigger job. You could just change the springs first though. $10 will buy you a spring kit from Wolff Springs. Go here. http://www.gunsprings.com/1ndex.html

 

[RyanM]

I bought one of the Wolff kits for my SP-101. With the 9# mainspring, ignition is still 100% with CCI primers that were purposely seated a teeny bit too high (they tended to push themselves out of the pocket some of the time, which would jam up the revolver, though). I had to stone one of the internal pieces a tiny bit to get the trigger to return smoothly with the 8# return spring, however. Trigger pull is lightened to 7 pounds with no stacking DA, and just a hair over 2 pounds SA, according to my postal scale.

 

[BluesBear]

As the coil springs in the Ruger flex they will indeed get ever so slightly lighter.
But as alread been said dry firing will really smooth things up. And it will smooth itself better than any gumsmith can because the part are burnishing themseves against each other.

And a side effect is that you will not only strengthen your fingers, which will make all of your triggers sem lighter, you will become "as one" with that guns and it's trigger pull. You will come to know it like it was an extension of yourself.

And that knowledge is something that no gunsmith can sell you.


A wise man once said that "A Gun is like a Lover. It's much more satisfying if broken in all by yourself."

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I have been known to strip a revolver down, replace springs and put a TINY dab of grinding compound on each contact surface, then reassemble and dry fire.

Strip it down again and clean it thoroughly and re-lube and it makes a big difference.

 

[fisherman66]

Will leaving the hammer cocked for a lengthy time (days or weeks) lighten the pull?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Will leaving the hammer cocked for a lengthy time (days or weeks) lighten the pull?

Probably not. People leave M1911s cocked for months and years, and magazines loaded for similar periods with no real effect.

 

[BigBoar]

From what I gather elsewhere (no first hand experience) dry firing should take a pound or two off of double action and strengthen your finger if not already developed. On a tuned SP I have I replaced the furnished springs with Wolff springs (9 pound mainspring and 8 pound trigger return). Since then I have run 1500 rounds through it without misfires. One MAY need to use the 10 pound trigger return (stock) if the gun has not been polished internally to get decent trigger reset and the 10 pound mainspring to get reliable ignition. It all depends.

As to those that tune SP's some of the following of which I am aware are:

http://www.alphaprecisioninc.com/
http://www.apextactical.com/
http://www.geminicustoms.com/Projects.htm
http://www.magnaport.com/
http://www.theactionworks.com/
http://www.cylinder-slide.com/
http://www.yost-bonitz.com/info/
http://www.tenring.com/
Neil Keller (Kustom Ballistics - no website)
http://www.actionsbyto.com/

The last, Teddy Jacobson, is "semiretired" but may still work on the gun.

 

[Old Fuff]

After reading a thread like this one the Old Fuff goes back and runs his fingers through his box of butched lockwork parts. Most of them were "polished" and "tuned" by someone who had read an article or a 'net forum thread. Most of these guys paid big-time later to get their gun running again, or sold it cheap (sometimes to me) and took a loss rather then deal with getting it fixed themselves.

Dry firing takes longer, but in time the parts will be smooth and burnished. Ya' save money on both a (so called) trigger pull job, and you don't pay out to get it fixed after the trigger pull work. You also don't have to use a certain brand of primer, seated just so ....

 

[grendelbane]

28 years ago I bought my first store-bought wheelgun. It was a Ruger Security-Six, and I still have it.

I have lost track of the number of rounds it has fired. It has had a steady diet of both .38 Specials and .357 Magnums. Some of those were definitely on the hot side. (I think that there is a strong correlation between testosterone levels and powder levels! ). As I have grown older, I have lightened up on the powder.

Then there are the times that I dry fired that Ruger. I have lost track of that, also.

Anyway, I hope to get it broke in before I turn 50. It is getting smoother all the time.