What is the best way to do a trigger job on an N Frame?

__________________
USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

either take it to a knowledgeable gunsmith or put in a wolf spring kit from brownells

There are videos on YouTube that show you how.

__________________
~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I just backed off the tension spring screw and the trigger is really good now on my then new 627-5 pro. People say don't adjust that screw because it can cause light strikes but I have had no problem with my gun since adjusting the screw. Even Miculek shows in his video adjusting the screw. I wasn't impressed with the stock trigger pull because it was a bit heavy in DA. It made a really good improvement in my trigger pull feel.

Jerry Miculek's DVD is well worth the money and you'll learn a lot about your Smith

Skeeter Skelton's way of doing it:clip off between 1 1/2 to 2 coils from trigger return spring.Start at 1 coil,put back in and shoot the gun.Stop as soon as it feels right(...or have a new spring at hand).Shave off some steel from the edges of the main spring,starting from the bottom 1/32'' from each side finishing to nothing at the top(again stop short and try:better to have a spare nearby if you are the heavy hand type).After you'll have shot a few hundred shots,polish off any burrs and/or scratching marks that'll show on the sides of hammer and trigger.
I know that the late Bob Milek used to suggest to stone the contact area between the sear and trigger being carefull not to change the angle between the 2 parts but I've never felt being precise enough to tackle with the job.As far as I know with S&W handguns just shooting the heck out of the gun would be a good enough job of polishing the meeting surface of these 2 parts.
That's the way I've ''modified''my S&Ws and never regretted it.
If your gun is to be used for SD,I'd suggest you'd bring it to a fully qualified gunsmith or,better yet,have it modified by S&W themselves.
Qc

No need to clip return spring now days as aftermarket springs are readily available. Get some from Wolfe and try out a few. But, make sure you get positive trigger return. Shoot or try fire the gun a bunch before you ever stafrt. This will give you some visual clues. Take off the side plate and remove the hammer, trigger and return slide. Check the return slide and if necessary give it a few rubs on a FLAT hard fine stone. Both sides and the bottom. Check the frame and side plate where the return rides. Use a small rectangular stone to polish of any high spots. Just the high spots. Don't get carried away. Look at the sides of the trigger and hammer where the ride on their studs. Might be little circular lines on them. Means a high spot on the "boss" around the stud on frame and side plate. Carefully polish of high spots on bosses. Look higher up on sides of hammer and lower on trigger for marks where it rubs the frame and if any install a thin hammer or trigger shim on that side during re assembly to move the hammer/trigger over a tiny bit. I don't replace or grind the hammer spring. I do adjust the tension screw. I load up a bunch of brass with CCI magnum primers (they have a reputation for being a bit harder to ignite than others), then back the screw out a couple turns and try it looking for misfires due to light strikes. Your gun might drag a bit while cycling while doing this because the primer can back out of the case a bit and has no powder and recoil to slam case against the recoil shield and reset it flush. Ignore this drag as it isn't the point right now. Positive ignition is. Once you have tension screw so it fires every primer without a light strike, tighten it back up while counting the 1/4 turns needed until it is tight. Now, remove it and measure its length with calibers. Every 1/4 turn is .0078 of screw length. Say you have 6 1/4 turns till tight. 6 x .0078 is .0468. Remove a bit less than that from end of screw leaving it just slightly rounded. Reinstall and tighten. Go to the range and fire a box of ammo and it you have a light strike your a bit to short. I would rather be a bit heavy than be borderline and have ANY light strikes.

I don't ever mess with the single action sear, never need to. S&W always have a decent single action pull. If the timing is right and the guts are smooth the same with the double action pull. If the timing is fast and it locks up before the hand is done moving it will kind of bind before it drops the hammer. This is a timing problem NOT a trigger problem. Needs ratchet adjusted. If you install a new hammer/trigger sometimes the foot of the double action toggle will need a bit of adjustment so that it hands off correctly. You need to watch what happens in this area with the side plate off and the hammer spring adjusted light to see just how it works.

Loosing the hammer tension screw and leaving it that way will work for a short while, but the screw WILL slowly unscrew from being worked and recoil and then it Will give light strikes. DON'T to that.



A nice trigger is great. But, it is much better to learn to be a great trigger puller than to have the perfect lightest trigger possible.

I have installed a wolf spring kit in a couple of S&Ws one a k fame and one an N frame I was surprised at the difference .I suggest getting the're shooter kit and try different weights until you get the feel that works best for you .Personaly I would rather pay a skilled gun smith to do any stoning ect on the action rather than taking a chance on ruining my gun or making it unsafe but the spring kit installation is pretty straight forward even with my limited gun smith skills.

Thanks to all who replied. I will the adjusting the spring screw first, since this entails no mods to the gun. Inside the grip is dated 1990.

__________________
USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Once you adjust the strain screw make sure you put some Blue Loctite on it to keep it from backing out during shooting.

Do you want a lighter DA pull or lighter SA pull. The DA pull is very easy and it will also lighten up the SA pull a little. Buy a spring kit, they will give you 3 trigger return springs to play with. If you want the SA pull lightened you need to work a little harder! DO NOT SHORTEN OR BACK OUT the main spring strain screw. This leads to light primer strikes and FTF with some brands of ammo. The kit will also have a new Main spring, try it! After this, you need to buy a trigger pull gauge and alter springs until you get what you are looking for or FTFs and push off occurs, which ever comes first! Remember, you are building the equivalent of a race car, which means you will always be wrenching on it! ! ! !
jcelect