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shaving the strain?

4K views 23 replies 6 participants last post by  Boriqua 
#1 ·
I bought a new strain screw. I watched my miculek dvd and I watched his utube vid and decided while I dont want to get down to the wieghts he is talking I wold like to lighten the trigger the tiniest bit.

I shoot it OK but find the switch from double action to single action when pulling through the trigger just pronounced enough to mess withme and honestly I just shoot the GP a hair better.

I tried a spring kit from Wilson and was light striking so I pulled it out but it did remove that noticeable transition.

I can probably leave it as is and I think most people would be envious of how I shot it .. but .. I am a born dyed in the wool tinker and have to mess with things.

So now that I have a back up screw so I can mess one up .. I understand we are taking 1000's off.

What are you using to remove material? I have a course arkansas stone, some diamond hones jewelers files ...?

Is it important to try and keep the dome shape?
 
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#3 ·
I put in the firmest rebound spring from the kit and then gave the rest of it away. I think the firmest was a 14#. its nice as it didnt make the trigger dead and mushy but .. there is a spot during the pull that is making me nuts. I thought it was just a smith thing but I tired a couple my friend brought over and its not there.

The weight isnt an issue .. its what feel like the transition between DA and SA. The spot at which, if you were a stager, you would feel it move from one action to another.

I may just open it up so I can get a better understanding of what mechanically is going on right at that part of the stroke. I Pull straight through quickly but it will still move that front sight ever so much .. right at that spot! Grrrrrrr

That is 21 rounds at 8 yds DA unsupported so I am not complaining to much .. Maybe not bullseye work but good enough for combat shooting .. but I know it can be better.

Green Illustration Plant Paper Flower


With my 3" Gp I wouldnt have those flyers at the upper right
 
#4 ·
First polish the rebound slide & the frame surfaces it moves on to cut friction, then think about springs if there's still any reason. Springs are the last ditch part of an action job, never the first. The staging issue is most likely a rough spot inside, not a spring problem. To answer your question: @ the range loosen the strain screw until you're happy w/ the tension but not getting light strikes (tighten until light strikes go away). Count how many turns you loosened the screw & remove that many threads, yes, the dome shape is important... it's not there because it's pretty. I always try leaving it a bit long & go back if needed since it's harder to replace metal than remove it. Spring work should only be done if polishing the action doesn't work, S&W doesn't put in extra strength springs because they're sadists. In the countless action jobs I've done as a gunsmith I can only recall 1 that needed a lighter spring.
 
#5 ·
Thank you!! .. I am a little confused about something though. I am looking at the screw and if I got it right you are suggesting removing threads? So I am not taking it off the end? The screw looks like a shoulder screw so wont it still just bottom out in the hole at the same depth? Glad I bought an extra screw!! :)

I bought the standard power Wolf power rib but havent received it yet. I don't need it lighter but the wolf claims to remove the stacking. I will open her up and check the areas you mentioned and watch the video again. Thank you!
Alex
 
#8 · (Edited)
I polished the rebound slide & area in frame where it rides on my 617 and put in a Wolff Factory Power, Power Rib main spring. I replaced the factory 18# rebound spring with a 16# spring. That was enough to drop the DA trigger pull from 11.2 pounds down to right about 10 pounds, and it is very smooth. I haven't been out to try it yet, but the hammer is still hitting pretty hard.
I also polished the rebound slide and frame on my M60 which had a pretty heavy (over 12#), not the smoothest trigger pull. I ordered the Wolf j frame kit with a reduced power main spring. Factory is 8.5#, the reduced power is 8#. I then put in a 15# rebound spring. This dropped the trigger pull down to 11.1# and its slick as silk.
When you polish the rebound slide & where It rides in the frame, it allows a somewhat weaker spring to be able to do the same work due to less friction.
I also have not tried the M60 yet, but the hammer is hitting hard. My reloads have CCI primers so if I don't have a problem with them I should be good to go.
Most of my revolvers have a pretty good trigger feel and pull, but there are a couple more I would like to slick up and lighten just a bit. Its amazing what that 1-1.5 # difference makes. my goal isn't a 7# pull that only ignites federal primers. If I don't get 100% reliability I will change things until I do
 
#10 ·
Its a 686+ .... I have been after the little funky hitch since I got it. I made a great deal of progress when I did a touch of work on the hand and ratchet. Very little messing with it gave me a great return.

Its not my first smith. I have had a two 686 6 shooters, a 66, a 586 L comp and a 629. This is the first one where I get that bit of funk midway.

I am probably not expressing myself well. It is just where you would stage the trigger if you were a stager. I did notice when I had the reduced springs I didnt feel it .. of course the gun wouldnt shoot but .. IT FELT GREAT! LOL :)

Now I am not a stager and never have been but even when pushing through .. Kink .. Just enough TO ANNOY ME TO PIECES! :D

Just got the email today that my Power rib was sent out so some time next week I will install and polish the rebound slide and frame where it rests. Wolf has a reduced and a standard. I bought the standard.

I will be sure to report back
 
#11 ·
Its a 686+ .... I have been after the little funky hitch since I got it. I made a great deal of progress when I did a touch of work on the hand and ratchet. Very little messing with it gave me a great return.

Its not my first smith. I have had a two 686 6 shooters, a 66, a 586 L comp and a 629. This is the first one where I get that bit of funk midway.



I am probably not expressing myself well. It is just where you would stage the trigger if you were a stager. I did notice when I had the reduced springs I didnt feel it .. of course the gun wouldnt shoot but .. IT FELT GREAT! LOL :)

Now I am not a stager and never have been but even when pushing through .. Kink .. Just enough TO ANNOY ME TO PIECES! :D

Just got the email today that my Power rib was sent out so some time next week I will install and polish the rebound slide and frame where it rests. Wolf has a reduced and a standard. I bought the standard.

I will be sure to report back
The standard is what I put in my 617. I have a reduced power sitting here I am probably going to try in my 2.5 inch 686. It has a 12 pound trigger pull, but fairly smooth.. Checked all 3 of my 686's and of course the old no dash has the best trigger pull at 9.67#. The 686-6, 2.5" is the heaviest at 12 # and the 686-6 P, 3" is in between at 10.96#. My goal is to get the 2 newer ones to feel as close to the same as the no dash as possible
 
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#12 ·
Keep in mind that a power rib mainspring will have a recess in it that the end of the strain screw will now fit into, that the stock spring did not have.

This in effect will cause the strain screw to be too short to properly tension the mainspring. The strain screw is a 8-32 screw, you can fashion a longer one from 8-32 set screw.

Is the gun you're working on a round butt of square butt frame? If round, you can use a strain screw for a square butt strain screw, which is longer.
 
#13 ·
Its a round butt and a pretty gun .. I dont mind the weight of the pull. After a bunch of dry fire and trips to the range I am ok with the weight .. its that little hiccup! Thank you for the screw info! 8/32 is easy to come by and the lowes near me has a drawer with socket head shoulder screws and set screws but if I understood .. I should be ok with the strain screw I have installed?
alex
 
#17 ·
well I went ahead and ordered the strain screw for a square butt. I like the price on those set screws but .. I figured I would try it with Proper parts and see how it goes. If nothing else ... It will go in my ever increasing stock of gun spare parts!! When I die I think my bin of spare parts may be worth more than the guns! :D

Just an FYI
I found this guy on ebay. I dont know if the prices are good or bad but .. Lots o stuff!

https://www.ebay.com/str/thegungarage
 
#18 · (Edited)
I've bought parts from that ebay seller... he seems a bit high, but he also has things when no one else had what I was looking for. He ships free, so when you compare prices with Brownells or Midway, he's close.

He charges $8.99 for the screw, Brownells doesn't carry the square butt screws, Midway has it for $1.99 plus $5.49 shipping for a total of $7.48, and it takes longer to get it.
 
#20 ·
alright for anyone coming along later!!

I polished the bottom and underside of the rebound slide and I ran a brass brush on a drill in the spring cavity again. I installed the wolf power spring Standard weight. I then installed the Square butt strain screw which is substantially longer than the stock screw. I didnt shave it or do anything but take it from the package and screw it in.

Its way to long. First ....I had to get on it pretty good to get it seated, the spring was bowed like Ulysses had drawn it and the gun was utterly unreliable as it was hard to cycle and then the trigger wouldnt rest.

I shaved about 1mm off and it was better but still tough and ugly. The spring however does a wonderful job of eliminating the stacking. So without a trigger gauge I did kind of winged it and put the original spring and screw in and launched a pencil.

I had already bought a backup round butt strain screw and decided to measure it. It was 1mm longer than the stock screw. I also took my caliper and measured and the indentation in the power rib is exactly 1mm. Now I know that is hokey math since you don't know what the spring is actually rated to and how it compares to the stock spring. but .. I did have a screw that made up the difference in the distance from the screw face to the spring.

So I installed the new round butt screw and launched a pencil. With no accurate means of measuring the launch distance .. it looked the same to me.

So I am going to run out to the range today .. and make sure to bring another gun or two to play with in case my experiment is a fail and see if it fires reliably with an assortment of ammo. If not .. the Square butt spring is still too long and I can continue to slowly remove material until its where I think it needs to be, put back in the stock set up, or put back in the stock spring and try and slowly remove some material from the stock screw.
 
#22 ·
You can measure the hammer strength using a trigger scale. You pull the trigger and hold it back, and then you hook your trigger scale under the hammer. Then you let the hammer down at rest against the trigger scale and the back of the frame. Then you pull back on the trigger scale until the hammer just starts to move, and you read the weight. Note that the trigger must be held back the whole time so that the hammer moves freely except for the strength of the mainspring.

There are pictures of this method in the S&W Armorer's manual, and with the older machined hammers there is a standard for the hammer strength. it should take 3.25 lbs to move the hammer on a .38, and 3.5 lbs for a .357. With the newer MIM hammers, the front of the hammer is shaped differently, so the trigger scale will sit in a different place, and those weights don't apply. But you can still use this method to compare different springs or different strain screws and get a measurement for how much spring tension is present.

The above info, as well as lots of other info about springs and strain screws is covered in more detail in an article I wrote:

Improving the trigger on Smith & Wesson Revolvers
 
#23 ·
How heavy is the rebound slide spring you installed? If I recall correctly the Wilson kit has a 13# spring. I think that is too light. I have had good luck with 14# - 16# rebound springs
I installed a Wolff standard power, power rib and a 16# rebound spring in my 617, along with some polishing. Trigger pull was just over 11#. I am using the allen screw instead of a strain screw so I don't know if I am exerting more or less pressure on the spring than a tight strain screw would but now the pull is about 9.8# and smooth as silk. I ran about 150 rounds through it with no light strikes
On my 2.5" 686-6, which had a 12#+ trigger pull, I installed a Wolff, reduced power main spring, 14# rebound spring, polished internals. Now I am at 10# for a DA trigger pull, very smooth. Ran 100 reloads with CCI primers and had no light strikes
 
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#24 ·
I was going to invest in a trigger pull scale but .. after my last outing I am very satisfied with the gun and more importantly my performance with it so I think I am done playing with it. I had gotten the wilson kit and the strongest rebound spring was 14lbs. That is what is still installed. I will put the wolf in the spare parts bin and maybe revisit it but .. I am pretty happy now with the stock main spring.

Those CCI primers are HARD! My 3 inch ruger which had a 10# main spring and NEVER had a light strike in a thousand+ rounds this weekend had a couple with my latest reloads using the CCI primers.
 
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