Quote:
Originally Posted by chief38
Looks like the old lock work would be durable enough, but how smooth do they function?
Chief38
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My .38 M&P 1902/first change is a delight to shoot. I actually think the rebound slide system, however reliable it is, has the potential to feel rough or draggy in DA operation because of the grime that can get down inside the slide. I have also found the occasional oversize coil spring in rebound slides that a DIY gunsmith did not realize was .01" too wide. Now those are rough guns!
My early M1903 .32 HEs (a compact fixed sight model and two target revolvers) work just fine with the flat trigger return spring.
Ladysmiths are a constant irritation to me because I keep buying specimens that are capable of reliable operation only if they get some TLC. In first and second models the work has involved problems with the foremost end of the trigger return spring, which I have found in some guns to be either worn (too short, and capable of disengaging from the pawl on the hand) or already "repaired" by previous owners (too long, which does astonishing things to the inner surface of the sideplate when the spring flexes to the side rather than simply up and down in the designed plane of operation). These worries don't apply to the third models, of course, which had the rebound slide system. But then the third model Ladysmiths have other potential problems involving hands, forcing cones, bent center pins in the ejector rods, and so forth.
Unsolicited advice:If you are thinking about setting up an Orphan Ladysmith Rescue Station, make sure you have the emotional strength to deal with disappointment and enough calluses on your fingers to protect you from jabs, slices, pinches and all the other things that can happen to fingers trying to work with small parts under more spring tension than you might have predicted.