S&W highway patrolman - tuning

[jcerillo70]

Hey guys,

One of my late fathers favorite guns that was passed down to me, I'm hoping to shoot a match with this year.

I am pretty mechanical but there was a lose piece floating around the mechanism I'm trying to figure out.
I'm assuming the elongated hole at the bottom sits in the nipple
There is a tension screw on the front of the grip, I'm assuming it's to adjust hammer strength?

The trigger pull is pretty hard-core in double action, but amazing in single. I would love to drop that Double action down though. Assuming it's done through removing that sliding silver bar and replacing the spring inside there?

I've never worked on revolvers so any help is greatly appriciated

 

[wiscoaster]

That's the hammer block. It's held in place by the side plate. It's normal to be loose when the side plate is removed, and often just falls out if you remove the side plate by tapping the frame on a flat surface. Just lay it back in there as shown in your photo. It looks to me like it's in proper alignment. There's a corresponding groove in the side plate, so I don't think the side plate will go back on snug if the block is out of place.

 

[1KPerDay]

These may be useful

 

[wiscoaster]

The "sliding silver bar" is called the "rebound slide". I'd suggest you view the above videos before you attempt removal and replacement of this piece. It can be tricky and you can damage the spring. You can probably improve your DA trigger pull to some degree just by cleaning and polishing this piece and the channel it slides in and and the other parts that interact with it.

 

[Steve in Allentown]

The Highway Patrolman was an N-frame S&W so springs are readily available for it from Wolff Gunsprings.

Is the firing pin attached to the hammer? If it isn't, you can buy a drop in kit from Apex that will provide an eye opening light double action trigger pull compared to what it is now.

If the firing pin is attached to the hammer, you can polish all the internal contact surfaces and replace the springs with lighter ones to reduce the double action trigger pull. The trick to it is understanding that the mainspring and rebound spring must be balanced with one another. Changing one and not the other is a recipe for frustration. I recommend getting both the Type 1 and Type 2 mainsprings as well as one each of the 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, & 16lb recoil springs so you can experiment.

Depending on how well the internals are polished and which combination of springs you use, the revolver may only be reliable with Federal primers. Generally speaking, the lighter the trigger pull the more likely it is that you'll need to use Federal primers to gain 100% reliability.

FWIW, I did a trigger job on a S&W 625 and got the double action pull down to below 5lbs. The trade off was I had to use Federal primers which was fine for competition but I wanted to be able to use a wide variety of factory ammo so I did a little spring swapping which added about a pound to the trigger pull and reliably set off all commonly available factory ammo.

 

[jcerillo70]

The Highway Patrolman was an N-frame S&W so springs are readily available for it from Wolff Gunsprings.

Is the firing pin attached to the hammer? If it isn't, you can buy a drop in kit from Apex that will provide an eye opening light double action trigger pull compared to what it is now.

If the firing pin is attached to the hammer, you can polish all the internal contact surfaces and replace the springs with lighter ones to reduce the double action trigger pull. The trick to it is understanding that the mainspring and rebound spring must be balanced with one another. Changing one and not the other is a recipe for frustration. I recommend getting both the Type 1 and Type 2 mainsprings as well as one each of the 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, & 16lb recoil springs so you can experiment.

Depending on how well the internals are polished and which combination of springs you use, the revolver may only be reliable with Federal primers. Generally speaking, the lighter the trigger pull the more likely it is that you'll need to use Federal primers to gain 100% reliability.

FWIW, I did a trigger job on a S&W 625 and got the double action pull down to below 5lbs. The trade off was I had to use Federal primers which was fine for competition but I wanted to be able to use a wide variety of factory ammo so I did a little spring swapping which added about a pound to the trigger pull and reliably set off all commonly available factory ammo.

Yes it looks like pin is attached

 

[jcerillo70]

So while that trigger kit is out of stock, maybe it's worth me playing with those wolf kits until it's back

 

[Steve in Allentown]

So while that trigger kit is out of stock, maybe it's worth me playing with those wolf kits until it's back

I'm afraid you won't be able to use one of the Apex kits. They will only work with frames that have been manufactured with a separate firing pin that is retained in the frame itself. You can still use the individual Wolff springs to get a much better trigger pull than what you have now. It'll just take some experimentation to find the spring combination that works best with that particular revolver.

1kPerDay's links to the Midway videos is a good start and should get you headed in the right direction.

 

[BBBBill]

If you don't have one yet I strongly recommend the Kuhnhausen S&W Revolver manual, available from the publisher, www.gunbooks.com, or several other retailers like Brownells and Midway. It will be of great use to you in undertanding you revolver - how the parts work together, how to correctly disassemble/reassemble, how to do specific gunsmithing tasks, etc.

I have to ask - How did you take the sideplate off? I hope you did not pry it. The correct way is to remove the screws and tap the grip frame with a hammer handle or plastic mallet to vibrate it out. Prying can damage it. Also the yoke screw is fitted to the yoke, but will interchange with the other domed sideplate screw. Don't mix them up.

 

[natman]

I am pretty mechanical but there was a lose piece floating around the mechanism I'm trying to figure out.
I'm assuming the elongated hole at the bottom sits in the nipple
There is a tension screw on the front of the grip, I'm assuming it's to adjust hammer strength?

The piece is the hammer block. It keeps the firing pin from contacting the primer if the gun is dropped. It slides out of the way when the trigger is pulled. DON'T REMOVE IT!!!.

I'd recommend a couple of drops of oil, especially around the sliding part with the spring inside.

 

[243winxb]

Dont break the post off when changing springs. View attachment 982482

Different primer hardness can cause misfires in a tuned action.

 

[wiscoaster]

There is a tool made especially for the rebound slide:

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...-prod774.aspx?avs|Make_3=Smith%20%26%20Wesson

...though with a little bit of dexterity and caution you can do without.

 

[Steve in Allentown]

Here's another opion, It's more expensive but this is the one I use: Gunsmither Tools