I need some advice. I took my minty 1983 era Model 36 snubbie to the range today. It shot great single action and the new finger groove wood grips from Thailand felt comfortable. The problem is I had 2 misfires (weak primer strikes) during double action firing. Needless to say, I stopped firing double action. Should the coil mainspring become weak after 30 years? In gun years this doesn't seem that old. Is there a way to adjust the mainspring on this j frame? Or should I just "spring" for a new spring from wulff?

Thanks for any help.

Cap

If it's 30 years old, there could be an accumulation of normal crud inside the action that is slowing down the moving parts. Sounds like a time for a good disassemble and cleaning. While you have it apart, a new mainspring wouldn't hurt.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

H Richard,

Thanks. I'll get a new spring and give it a good cleaning inside.

I have a 36 snubbie I bought in 1974 and is has never been worked on at all and shot fairly often. Over the years, there has been maybe 1,000 rounds through it but never more than 50 rounds per outing and possibly once each year but like last week, only six rounds were shot that day and that is not uncommon either.

You might just need to give it a good cleaning and shoot it regularly. It may have been some bad ammo and not the gun.

I ordered an extra power mainspring from Wolff. I think it is money well spent. I need this revolver to be reliable in double action. So with the cleaning and spring I am sure I won't have any more problems. The ammo is fine. I have been reloading these shells for a while and never had any problems. I do need to shoot this gun more. It looks like it has hardly been shot at all.

double check you new grips to make sure they are not binding on the spring slowing it down , it does not take much.

Ronnie,

Very good point...I never thought of that. I'll take the grips off and see if there is any sign of contact with the spring. Thanks.

Cap

No. What wears out a spring in the cycling, the compressing and de-compressing. Your main spring should be fine.

Make sure the grips are not contacting the main spring. Also, as mentioned, try some different ammo.

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Centennial Every Day

The new Wolff spring did the trick. The 36 operated flawlessly and was a lot of fun to shoot.

Don't nobody say nothin' bad about J frames...'cause that's when I go off.

Attached Images

S&W36grips 002.jpg (70.9 KB, 26 views)

one also has to ask what kind of ammo some ammo -cci and some european made stuff, also any nontoxic lead free primed ammo,has rather "hard" primers. Glad to hear that the new mainspring solved the problem.