New S&W 442/642: need trigger job?

[Riverblue]

I have a new S&W 442. I was told by a CCW instructor that this type of gun often needs a trigger job, to make the trigger lighter. I don't detect any bumps or unevennesses in the pull, though I am sure that if the pull were lighter it would be easier to use. What has been others' experience especially with the NEWER versions of the S&W 442 or 642? (Older models may have trigger set lighter to start with...)

 

[armed85]

I have a 642. The trigger is heavy, but it's an accurate gun nevertheless.

I would not mess with that primer busting mainspring. That thing is so heavy no primer is safe! It laughs at CCI's hardest!

Seriously though, I prefer a heavy trigger for a pocket gun. For a dedicated holstered weapon, I prefer a light single action pull.

 

[ravencon]

If the instructor said the the action should be lightened I would take anything he said with a few grains of salt.

If he suggested that the action needs to be smoothed then I'd agree. Most current standard production S&W revolvers I've handled have actions that need some work or plenty of dry firing. Performance Center revolvers are a different matter.

 

[20nickels]

You can have a lighter, smoother trigger without affecting the heavy hammerfall. Most of a good trigger job is smoothing out the rough spots where the parts contact each other, it all adds up resulting in a smoother easier pull. Nothing that pulling the trigger 6000 or so times won't do. Use A-Zooms. Changing or lightening the springs is a different matter.

 

[Hawk]

He may not have been making note of the weight so much as the habit "J" frames have of leaving a big old knot on the bottom of your trigger finger.

I thought Grant Cunningham had something to say about the phenomenon and a fix but danged if I can find it on his new site.

Maybe I'm just imagining it but I can state with certainty that I'll raise a blister after 50 or so rounds with an old 640 - has nothing to do with weight or smoothness, so far as I can tell.

Fuff, help me out here - what am I talking about?

 

[SnWnMe]

Dry fire it everyday for about a week and see what it does for the feel. Try about a thousand clicks a day. Watch TV or sumthin.

 

[SnWnMe]

Hawk, I get that with serrated triggers of the older Js. Between the heavy spring and the sharp ridges my finger gets abused after awhile.

Whenever I gain an older J with the serrated trigger I take it apart and break the ridges with a fine file or a Dremel. I especially focus on the bottom part of the trigger hook.

 

[1BLINDREF]

+1 on dry firing it.
I dry fired my 642 about 500 - 600 times and the trigger smoothed out very nicely. Stick with it, you'll grow to really love your 642.

 

[Riverblue]

Thanks for the tip on dry firing thousands of times. I might try that when a TV show annoys me. I suppose it's also a good hand/finger exercise. By the way, I notice that when I live fire the 442, the recoil kicks back into my thumb and starts to dig into the skin. Not pulling blood, but breaking the skin. Am I holding the gun wrong?

 

[glockman19]

I dry fired my 642 & 442 500-1,000 times and it feels great now. If you're using it for CCW I'd leave the trigger alone. Teh trigger job could cause you problems if you ever had to use it.

 

[armed85]

While dry firing your gun wont damage it, dry firing it 6,000 times will increase the wear well beyond what it should be for a new gun. Purchasing snap caps will lesson the wear from dry firing by damping the impact of the hammer hitting the firing pin.

Snap caps are inexpensive and reusable in any gun chambered for .357 Magnum or 38 Special.

If you're going to dry fire your gun that much you should really consider snap caps.

 

[Riverblue]

Snap caps: yes. I actually never dry fire without them, as I thought I read somewhere that it can damage the gun to do so.

 

[10-Ring]

The newer wheelguns from smith have felt heavier & grittier and I've been told that has been a result of the internal locks the new smiths come with...just another reason I stick w/ the vintage ones

 

[SnWnMe]

Just to correct a little misinformation here you've heard

The parts of the lock do not affect the action except at side of the hammer and even then it rides in its own groove and offers no resistance.

I have J frames of all sorts of vintage and they all have one thing in common. Heavy triggers.

 

[SnWnMe]

While dry firing your gun wont damage it, dry firing it 6,000 times will increase the wear well beyond what it should be for a new gun. Purchasing snap caps will lesson the wear from dry firing by damping the impact of the hammer hitting the firing pin.

I guess I'm pushing my luck. Besides, wear is 95% of a S&W "trigger job".

 

[Hawk]

Hawk, I get that with serrated triggers of the older Js. Between the heavy spring and the sharp ridges my finger gets abused after awhile.

Whenever I gain an older J with the serrated trigger I take it apart and break the ridges with a fine file or a Dremel. I especially focus on the bottom part of the trigger hook.

That sounds right. Mine is an older 640 - .38 only and no lock.

Perhaps I'll try breaking the ridges - do the newer "J"s not come with the serrations?

 

[SnWnMe]

Hawk, I don't recall seeing a serrated J frame trigger on a new Smith. Maybe it's hard to make it out of MIM?