S&W Trigger job ?

[WestKentucky]

I see all over the place that you can polish the interns and get a much better trigger pull. That makes sense. Everybody suggests using Arkansas stones to do the job, also makes sense...BUT...what I don't understand is why a little lapping compound and a cotton polishing wheel won't do nearly the same. I understand part of the stoning is to not only smooth, but also to level the surfaces, but I can't see this being nearly as important as removal of even light tool marks by polishing. Am I missing something?

 

[stoky]

You don't want to round off edges on the sear or hammer notch(s), or change any angles. Arkansas stones are flat and easier to control than a motorized wheel. Get a jeweler's loop powerful enough to see the roughness of the surface. All you want to do is stone down the highest jagged stuff.

 

[WestKentucky]

Ah...rounded edges is what I was missing. Yeah, that would make for a dangerous trigger if all it had to do was slip to fire.

 

[Old Fuff]

Rather then polish (which removes metal) and can void a warrantee if you ever need factory service, simply dry fire the revolver about 1000 times with snap-caps in the chambers to protect the firing pin (and spring if they're is one). This burnishes the parts at contact points and makes them smoother without removing an metal.

One time I was sitting around jaw-jacking with a well known pistol smith who was about to operate on a S&W that was totally disassembled. I ask him about how did he do his polishing? He smiled and then coated several of the internal parts with Dykem (a machinist's layout dye). Then he reassembled the parts, double-actioned the gun several times, and took it apart again, while explaining that only the places where two or more parts rubbed together would have dye rubbed off.

Eyeball inspection revealed that about 98% of the dye was still intact! Any polishing where the dye was untouched would have absolutely no positive affect.

On the other hand he did something you'll never find in "free" Internet advise.

He checked to be sure the hammer and trigger studs (the pins the hammer and trigger rotate on) were straight, because if they weren't - and that is not uncommon - the respective parts would be tilted, and rub where they shouldn't causing less then optimal smooth movement.

They're is a lot more done by professional 'smiths who know what they are doing then you'll ever find out on the Internet.

 

[9mmepiphany]

what I don't understand is why a little lapping compound and a cotton polishing wheel won't do nearly the same. I understand part of the stoning is to not only smooth, but also to level the surfaces, but I can't see this being nearly as important as removal of even light tool marks by polishing. Am I missing something?

In my 25 years of handgun shooting, I've known more than a few pistolsmiths and one thing that they all agree on is that the Dremel Tool, or other handheld motorized polishing tools, has been a godsend for their business.

They count on the use of these tools, and the impatience of their owners, as a steady source of income when fixing "owner repairs/improvements"

 

[gwpercle]

Clark Custom Guns
336 Shootout Lane
Princeton , LA. 71067

They will do you a trigger job that puts a smile on your face and a song in your heart. Nothing short of magical and worth every penny.

After having one done by them , I threw all my stones, diagrams , u-tube videos, DIY trigger job kits and instructions in the trash.....I was wasting my time and money.....them folks do a REAL trigger job ! All the polishing and smoothing helps a little, but Clark Custom does things way beyond my abilities and it shows ...BIG TIME.

Been there , Done that , know better now .

 

[joem1945]

For a poor mans trigger job, load up the snap caps, apply forward pressure to the hammer and operate the trigger. The additional force on the hammer will smooth things out a bit. Works nice on 1911's and a few others.

 

[zb338]

Wolff springs sells target trigger kits for S&Ws. They are on
line I believe it's https://www.gunsprings.com/
S&W revolvers are really easy to take apart and replace
springs.

Zeke