Tough pull especially after 100 range rounds.
Thinking it must be common to have this lightened up?

Found myself pulling the hammer down at the beginning of each round for a break. Seems a bit strong for my taste.

I don't believe we want the trigger pull "lightened" up. Can you imagine
the prosecutor or opposing attorney asking you why you had to have a
"hair trigger" on your gun?

What we want is a smooth trigger pull. 100 rounds is just starting to
smooth it out. I believe it takes more like 1,000 range rounds and/or
dry fires.

The alternative is a trigger/action job. Ask your friends to recommend
a good gunsmith unless you can handle the job yourself. Ask the smith
to write on your work order that you do not want trigger pull to be
light enough to be unsafe, but you do want it to be smoother. Save
your copy in case you ever need it.

If you decide to do it the hard way, with lots of fires & dry fires, it is
a good idea to use one of those gripper exercisers to tone and
strengthen your hands & fingers.

The .38 Spec. J Frame is a great little gun. Happy shooting!

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In Omnia Paratus

I had a similar problem on my then NEW 642, so I had to remove the cover to figure out what was going on. I found a lot of metal shavings from mal-fitting parts. I found the trigger mechanism was carving/abrading the aluminum frame, so I carefully removed everything, cleaned all, carefully stoned the area that was abrading, and reassembled with lube. Well worth the effort. If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself, then find a local GS to do this for you. And yes mine had started locking up on occasion.

FYI, as far as doing 100s or 1000s of dry fires to "break it in"... I would first want to know what is happening INSIDE the gun. Mine was a new gun and had these shavings. On another new S&W627PC (read Performance Center) I had a completely dry mechanism! I had to lube it myself, but after I did, that gun also was a much improved weapon.

Attached Images

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You make a lot of good sense Mike. Unfortunately many do not have
the experience or confidence to take that side plate off and inspect
the innards. But if we do, it's the thing to do.

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In Omnia Paratus

I put an Apex spring kit in both of my j frames. One is a Model 60 and the other is a 637. I need to make the 637 a DAO gun by bobbing the trigger as the single action pull is very light.

The single action pull on the Model 60 isn't as light. On both of the guns the double action pull is between 7 and 8 lbs. and very smooth. I'm not really worried about what a prosecutor might say.

Im not at all confident to pull it apart to inspect it, don't want to or have time. Smoother would be so much better, maybe I put a bunch of rounds thru it before I make a decision, but my inclination is still to at the very least smooth it out. What happens is I start the rounds very accurate and after the first 15, I start anticipating both the hard pull, and the recoil and my accuracy drops considerably. I realize more practice is needed as I'm a newbie and Im sure Ill adapt to the recoil, but I immediately got in the habit of pulling the hammer on the first shot because it was accurate and then started dreading the next 4 a bit because I knew the situation. More analysis needed but Thanks for the link $25 seems more than fair to try something different, you can always put it back to factory stock.

FWIW, I bought the APEX spring kit for my 642, however, after cleaning and lubing I found that it was not needed and have not installed it.

What I am hearing is error from fatigue or fear of "sound"? Are your wearing ear protection? Anticipation is well known to affect accuracy, just saying...

Other than that, I would still recommend taking it to a LGS and pay to have a trigger job done on it. Hell, I did that with my 686 back in 1987, less than a year after purchasing it. Well worth the $$$ spent IMO.

J frames are not easy guns to shoot. Not for me anyway. I've found that better grips help immensely, Pachmayr Compacts for me. I'm also a big fan of Apex's spring kit. Makes a HUGE difference and is easy to install. While you have the sideplate off and internals apart, you can also clean them up.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I dryfire 2000 times, clean and lube. Smooth up all my revolvers that way.

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Two Handguns every day

Like HMIke said;
A)ear protection while practicing is important;reduces flinchitisis and everything else(including trigger pull)seems easier.

B)if you are not comfortable with the idea of doing surgery to the innards of your gun,bringing it to a good GS is a good investment.

I know how you feel:I had to go through 3 J frames until I found one I felt I could live with!But that one is a keeper!
Qc

i recently bought a new 642 (no lock) and the trigger pull was terrible. I decided that I was going to document every time I fired it or used the snap caps in it. It took me a few days but I have over 2300 pulls on the trigger and still seemed tough compared to my 638 I have. I took the side plate off last night and everything appeared to be cleaned and lubed. So I added a small amount of grease to the metal areas that touch each other and put the plate back on.
After doing that it seemed to loosen up and smooth out a bit so I have come to the conclusion that it will need to be broke in some more I guess. Out of the 2300 trigger pulls, 78 were actual firings from the first range session.

Also, any of you that are "afraid" to take the side plate off, don't be. If you can change the oil in your vehicle, you can check the inards of your J frame. Be confident and try it just be carefull with the screws coming out and going back in. If you have questions, PM me and I can get you through it. You can learn allot about your gun by checking it out "inside"..

You might try a different grip. The Hogue grip, for example, gives you a slightly longer reach to the trigger and this reduces how heavy the trigger seems to be.

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"Sacramento" Bruce Conklin

They are made hard to pull for fear of accidental discharges. I don't mind it, but for my wife's gun I wouldn't mind taking off just a few pounds of pull.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

If you are thinking that the mere pulling of the trigger a few hundred/thousand times makes things "smoother", then think again. Here is my "new" 642 with less than 100 rounds through it at the time:

Just "doing" snap caps alone, IS NOT ENOUGH. Take the time to find out what is going on inside your weapon... Just sayin'... And YES, that is a bunch of metal shavings in a new 642.

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642-Internal-Shavings.jpg (160.9 KB, 86 views)

My 442 has around 800 rds through it, plus whatever was shot by the previous owner (didn't appear to be much). Add on another 1000 dry-fires.

My ladyfriend's 642 has around 150 through it, with very little dry-firing (she relegated it to the safe when she got her Glock 19).

The difference in triggers is night and day. I think folks often confuse smoother with lighter. I wouldn't want my trigger lighter, that's why I carry a revolver or DA auto in the first place. A smoother trigger, however, makes a huge difference.

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Because of the metric system?

I just installed an Apex J frame Duty Spring kit. See my post under "my cracked frame story". In short it changed a trigger pull in excess of 11 lbs (max my gauge could measure ) to a 9 1/2 lb pull. Very easy install if you Are able to remove the side plate, remove and reinstall the hammer, rebound slide and firing pin. If not any gunsmith could install it in about 15 minutes.

As soon as I bought my lightly-used, 1990-vintage, no-dash 640, I took it to a good smith who had worked on other revolvers for me.

I asked him to polish the innards, without significantly lightening the trigger pull. The effect was a smooth trigger that was a little lighter--I'd estimate it at nine pounds.

That suits me fine for a pocket-carried (in a holster, of course), up-close self-defense gun. I wouldn't want it lighter for the same reason I prefer a DAO revolver, but smooth is nice.

I also put Pachmayr Compacs on it immediately. I had first encountered them on a Colt DS2 I was considering buying, and fell in love with the feel and controlled grip they gave, including purchase for the little finger.

Lighten the trigger of yours if you like; it's your gun. But for a carry piece, I prefer smooth and not light.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Honestly? it's more ergonomics.

Wise_A Sr has a...well, a nice variety of J-frames that I've been lucky enough to shoot. I've found that the grip style has more to do with how easy the trigger is to work with.

SAC is correct. The smallest, thinnest, most-concealable grips are are very nearly impossible for me to shoot. They tend to place my hand at a poor angle to pull the trigger, magnifying the effort. To make matter worse, they're so small I have to close my trigger finger far more than is comfortable to do.

The same gun, with a more conventional "boot" grip, is dramatically easier.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with a spring kit for your SD gun.

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Now, a couple things.

If you decide to take the sideplate off for a little cleaning and lubing, don't work the trigger with the plate off. That's a great way to bend up the guts.

Other thing is, 100 rounds is a lot! Js aren't recreational guns. They're designed for SD work. And firing 100 rounds of anything accurately is a pretty good workout. Most serious Bullseye shooters that shoot 900s (90-shot course of fire) engage in some kind of physical stamina training, and practice some form of fatigue attenuation.

Get yourself a laserlyte that fits into the barrel and some snap caps
Lube it and dry fire away
Maybe your hands getting tired? Get a grip exerciser.
100 rounds in one slow fire target session with an airweight is too much to me.
Unless youre really practicing some tactical drills. Then the trigger weight is negligible

Ha ha - love the doom and gloom about spending the rest of your life in jail and poverty for having a hair trigger.

J-frames with an external hammer can be easily tuned by a competent smith to around 3 or 4 pounds single action pull. Anything less than that risks push-off and isn't worth trying to obtain, as push-off would definitely qualify as being litigious. What can also be done, is to smooth out the double action pull to a more reasonable level. Changing springs will help, but you really need to have a qualified smith look at it for best and most important, reliable use. Even something as simple as changing springs can result in misfires, and on a carry gun, that's not a desirable quality.

Bottom line (IMHO) is if this is your carry gun and you aren't happy with the trigger, have it worked on by a competent smith. NOTE: I no longer work on other people's guns, nor am I related to, or friends with any smiths, so my recommendation has no self motive. At around $150, it's a worthwhile investment.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!