G2126,
From reading through these posts, a trigger job does have the potential of negatively impacting the reliability of the 642/442. To me, the death-and-taxes reliable nature of the 642/442 is what makes it so attractive. You did not mention if your's was NIB/Like NIB, but that trigger will improve somewhat with a lot of dry firing. Dry firing is VERY important with these little guns to break them in and improve your trigger control, so give that a try before doing the trigger job. BTW, I am as accurate at 7-10 yds distance with my 642 as I am with my XD 9mm. Makes sense, as the .38 special is one of the most accurate handgun cartridges in existence, more so than a 9mm or .40 S&W IMHO. I admit accuracy is a relative term for me. If I work at it, I can produce 6" groups at 7 yds with my 642. Not bad, its decent enough for your average self defense range. But I hope to be shooting those kinds of groups at 15 yds in the near future. The proof of this little gun's capability is that if I really concentrate, I can hit in and around the X-ring at 7 yds, so consistency with trigger control and grip seems to be my biggest hurdle. I am experimenting a lot, so that explains the inconsistency. Plus, when I get tired I get pretty sloppy. (BTW, barrel length has little, if anything to do with the accuracy potential of the gun, its just that a shorter barrel has a shorter sight radius, making
aiming difficult).
When I practice trigger contol, I first check to make sure my gun is unloaded about a half a dozen times. I ask my wife to check too
. Then I go in our bedroom, which is painted dark blue. I aim at the white switch plate and proceed to dry fire. It's pretty easy to see when I'm doing something wrong. Remember that there will always be a little wobble. I've been trying with different grip techniques too. Being right handed, I think what will work best for me is gripping the gun with about 60-70% of the total grasping force coming from my
weak left hand. I am finding this helps me relax my right hand and trigger finger for better trigger contol. Anyone else find this to be true?
On another subject, I looked back through the Club and found that most of you prefer the round cut Mika pocket holster to the square one, so I think I'll order one this weekend. Did you just specify that you had a 642/442, or did you give him custom dimensions for your holster?
Also, about the stock screw holding the grips in place. I try to oil mine every few days, but it still corodes in a hurry. I usually remove it once/month to scrub it with a brush and reoil it. Has anyone found a better solution for controlling this problem?
I'm going to be totally ****ed when the wal-mart stops carrying handgun ammo. Time to start ordering cases of it online i suppose :/ This is the same store i watched raise the price from 8.99 per box of 50 9mm's to 11.99 per box in a 3 week period. I came in and bought about 6 boxes per week for 3 weeks (the employees took notice) and whaddya know the prices went up 30% just like that. I stopped coming in for 2 months and now they're back down to 9.99.
(make sure gun is unloaded, remove magazine, make sure gun is unloaded, lock slide back (cocking firing pin in the process), make sure gun is unloaded, flip up disassembly lever, make sure gun is unloaded, unlock slide and let gently slide forward, PULL TRIGGER). Yikes. ADs/NDs have happened this way. There is no harm in being a baby about safe gun handling.
