pin not hitting the primer hard enough?

[MJRW]

The new to me Smith 686. Not every round is firing. Can't detect a pattern. Did the pencil test. Pencil clears the barrel, but not much more. Trigger is really sweetly light. Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Factory loads or hand loads?

Is the strain screw in tight?

Did your brother bung things up by doing a "home action job" on it?

 

[MJRW]

Factory loads. UMC and magtech. They would fire second time. It is possible he messed up while doing home trigger job. Could you guide me to the strain screw?

 

[MJRW]

Ahhh, I think that did it. Just put it back together and did the pencil test. Solid 5'. Weeeeeeeeeeee doggy. Thanks again, Mike.

 

[Mike Irwin]

what did it?

You found the strain screw?

The the bottom front of the grip?

That's the first thing that you should always check on an S&W revolver when you have reliability problems.

 

[MJRW]

Yep, that's the one and it seems to be hitting harder. Thanks.

 

[foghornl]

Seems like you fixed it, was wondering if it still had the factory springs?

 

[MJRW]

These are clearly not factory springs throughout. The single action has no creep at all and is very very light. Double action is feels like about 5 pounds. From my limited Smith experience, even these are light.