New to S&W revolvers...Adjusting Trigger Pull.

[Wes Moran]

Well Im new to the revolver world...and I just bought a S&W 10-7 about a month ago now...Now I like this gun quite alright...its had a lil custom work done on her...Jarvis Bull barrel, DA only, trigger over travel stop, rail and red dot, etc.

But Im not sure bout the trigger pull. I wish it was a lil lighter and seeing as how its DA only I dont have the liberty of SA shooting, which is ok...I wouldnt shoot it in SA anyway. So my ? is...How reliable/safe is it to adjust trigger pull with the tensioning screw at the base of the butt?...and...If this is an ok way to adjust it how far (how many rotations) is to much, or how far is ok? and No I dont have access to a pull gage and no I dont wanna have to buy a spring set (that I might not like.)

 

[Old Fuff]

1. Never try to adjust the trigger pull with the mainspring strain screw. It wasn't made for, or intended to be used for this purpose, and if the mainspring doesn't have the right bow the trigger pull may do some strange things.

2. You can use lighter springs, but they may have been installed already. Lighter springs will give you a lighter action, but it may also become unreliable. As a rule, dropping the D.A. below 8 pounds is asking for trouble. Do go to www.brownells.com and buy a trigger pull gauge that will read to at least 10 pounds. At the present time you have no idea what you are working with.

3. Try turning the revolver slightly to the right in your hand, so that you can extend the trigger finger further through the guard. Pull the trigger rapidly to the rear, until the tip of your finger touches the back of the trigger guard. Then finish aligning the sight, and pull the short distance needed to release the hammer.

 

[Jim K]

For DA shooting, forget the "tip of the finger" advice. Use the pad in the middle joint and like OF says, let the finger tip contact the rear of the guard (or in your case, the front edge of the rubber grip).

Jim

 

[HSMITH]

Learn to shoot it as is, your ability to shoot a handgun and that includes EVERY handgun will improve dramatically if you do. When you get that one down pat work on a bone stock gun, shoot it DA only and shoot it until you can shoot it as well as your slicked up M10. At that point you will be able to shoot quite well with anything you pick up.

 

[Brian Williams]

If you want a better trigger pull, clean it very well, lube it as needed, then shoot it, dry fire it, shoot it, dry fire it. Repeat as needed.

I have a S&W 13 that has been shot a bunch and dryfired alot, it has a wonderful trigger.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

I have noticed that the actions in the most recent S&W revolvers I have purchased were filthy and not well lubed when they came from the factory.
I can tell you what I have done to my S&W's, which is a real simple way of getting them pretty clean:

-Remove the grips.

-Take a can of Gun Scrubber and completely hose out the action through the hammer, grip, and trigger openings.

-Using an air compressor, blow out any of the excess Gun Scrubber that is still in the action through the same above mentioned openings until it is dry.

-Then, take a can of Breakfree and completely hose everything out again.

-Dry fire it a bunch of times to make sure the lube gets worked into everything.

-Again using an air compressor, blow all of the excess Breakfree out of the action and wipe everything down.

By just doing the above I was able to bring the trigger-pull weight down by about 2 pounds and also made it very consistent.

I have also noticed that my more recently purchased S&W revolvers have a VERY heavy trigger pull as compared to the ones I purchased in the mid '80,s.

NOTE: I have heard that some of the finishes on S&W handguns, like the 340PD, can be damaged by gun cleaning sprays, so please be careful. "Synthetic-safe" gun cleaning sprays are now available for guns with plastic parts - I have never used them, so I can't vouch for their effectiveness.

 

[Sistema1927]

The best thing that you can do to smooth out a S&W trigger is dry fire. Lots.

This accomplishes two things:
1) It actually does smooth things out, and
2) It develops stronger trigger finger muscles.

 

[Big Az Al]

There are spring kits that let you change the trigger spring to different strength springs.

there is just a little trick here and without knowing the secret handshake so to speak, springs fly and one certain part has been broken.

20 to 30 years ago the technique in reducing the trigger pull was to buy a brand new trigger spring, cut the old spring a half a coil at a time until the trigger would not return properly, cut the new spring to a lenght one coil longer then that, and then you had a trigger spring as light as practical.

Be careful taking the sideplate off your smith, there is A HAMMER BLOCK, that just lays there when the sideplate is off, and when takeing the sideplate off almost always gets out of position. Not getting this part back in right effects the working of the action........it won't work.

LEAVING THIS PART OUT MAKES THE GUN UNSAFE

Al

 

[Rex B]

why not?

This comes up regularly on the S&W/gunsmithing forum.

According to those experts, using the mainspring screw is just fine. One referenced a S&W manual that said the proper method was to adjust the screw out until you get misfires, then screw it back in until it fires reliably. Measure the length needed, then shorten the screw and reinstall.

As a practical matter, you can back the screw out to where it feels right and fires reliably, then loctite the screw in that position. I would start by removing the screw, cleaning both screw and internal thread with degreaser. Then when you get it right, use the wicking threadlocker (green?). You may need to Dremel out a relief in your grips to clear the screw in the new position.

Personally, I don't see a downside to this. It can't hurt the gun.
If this is a defensive gun, I'd be real conservative.

I have done this to my 10-8 with good results.

 

[deadin]

You know, for a defensive gun I don't think I would screw around with the mainspring at all. You want it to be 100% reliable and that's how S&W designed it to be. Besides, I'm willing to bet that if you ever are in a defensive situation, a few ounces of difference in trigger pull will be the last thing you will need to worry about.

 

[Old Fuff]

Why Not:

Because the purpose of the mainspring strain screw isn't to adjust mainspring’s weight or "push" on the hammer, but to insure that it's bowed correctly. When the spring is out of the revolver, it's (mostly) flat. When it's installed it's curved. When you shorten the screw the spring becomes straighter, and has less flex. Go too far, and you get a condition called “knuckling.” At it’s worst it will jam the action. If you remove the stocks and back out the screw you can actually see the mainspring’s bow changing.

One clue that you’ve gone too far is that the hammer impact starts to have a tinny “tink” sound, as opposed to a solid “thunk.” You may think the trigger pull is great, but you can hear the difference.

Reducing the double-action trigger pull with the strain screw will also have some effect on the single-action pull, and may reduce it to where it’s unsafe.

Over time a mainspring may take a set, and if the screw’s been shortened the likely result will be misfires.

While the whole practice is questionable, it is better to use a lighter (thinner) mainspring then to shorten the mainspring strain screw. At least the spring will be correctly bowed. But don’t take this as a recommendation from me.

I have a name for folks that tamper with their revolver’s action when they don’t have the foggiest idea about what they’re doing…

Bubba.

 

[Master Blaster]

its had a lil custom work done on her...Jarvis Bull barrel, DA only, trigger over travel stop, rail and red dot, etc.

If somone went to the trouble of getting a Jarvis Bull Barrel put on and changed the action to DA only, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and Guess that the prior owner, had the smith do a real good trigger job on it as well.

So I wouldnt screw with it unless you know what you are doing, which you dont.

 

[bugburn]

Powerib mainspring

I am also new to S&W revolvers. I also thought the pull on my new model 64 was really stiff, my wife was barely able to fire DA. so i loosened the mainspring screw until it felt comfortable-quote' this may cause damage to the internal functions and timing of your firearm ' S&W certified tech. the end result was the screw backed out and it malfunctioned. ive been reading up on ways to accomplish a better pull, but in my research ive found that people have trouble with aftermarket spring sets. the preferred way to smooth and lighten trigger pull is simply to dryfire and maintain your S&W