I recently looked at a couple of different revolvers at my LGS. I compared a 989 vs 986 and a 686 plus vs a 686. In both cases, the revolver with the extra round capacity had a much heavier double-action trigger pull. Logically, I would have guessed the opposite to be true, namely a shorter cylinder rotation should equate to a lighter DA trigger. Since I only compared one of each, I thought I would inquire whether anyone else had this same experience. I'm sure all of these would benefit from a trigger job, but have any of you had the same experience with stock triggers? Thanks for your responses.

I don't find the double action trigger of my 627 Pro any heavier than my model 27's. Of course it has had a few thousand rounds through it too, so it is well broken in.

After shooting 1,000 rounds or so, a proper de-burring (if needed), cleaning and lubrication, the action should smooth out somewhat. Not necessarily lighten all that much - but smooth out. If you want it lighter there are options such as drop in spring kits, action jobs, etc. that can be done.

Given your small sample size, I think it's probably just the normal variability in trigger pulls that can happen between guns. You could have two 686s, one made right after the other, and they could have noticeably different trigger pulls.

Yes and it will be heavier yet when you load the cylinder and then begin to cycle it! who could have guessed that six was a "magic mixture"??

LOL, it does make a certain amount of sense, since the six shooter has a certain "natural rhythm" to the double action trigger pull, and since we are in sync with that rhythm, any other is slightly "off key"!

With very few exceptions... I find the emboldened in red to be the absolute best trigger smoothing/lightening option. After 500+ trigger pulls things start to sync and mesh nicely together. After a mix of 1K dry and live fires the contact points have become almost honed. And best yet, you have full power trigger and hammer springs that detonate all ammo primers. This has been my experience with 9 out of 10 revolvers that had less than stellar double action pulls out of the box. YMMV...

Every gun is an individual, due to all the variables in part tolerances, fitting of all the parts as a unit, and spring variables. They can all be worked to a much finer level with more uniform, lighter pull across different guns. Still, no 2 will be exactly the same even then. I don't find that cylinder capacity has much bearing on trigger pull. YMMV.

I have a new 686+ that has a lighter trigger than my 686-3, 6 shot. The 686+ is factory new.

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Mike, AmVets Member, Navy Vet

I think the OP's theory is correct; that more holes in the cylinder means a shorter movement from shot to shot, and that translates to lighter double action pull for the higher capacity revolver. Of course individual guns may differ. I once had the chance to compare a 10 round 617 to a 6 round 617, and I found the 10 round model to have a much easier, nicer double action pull.

Except...

The length of travel for all but the cylinder rotation remain the same. Trigger, hammer..

I think the 7-shot guns have a smaller diameter ratchet don't they? If so that may be the reason the trigger pull is heavier. The smaller diameter gives the hand a shorter "lever" (equal to the radius of the ratchet) to push against when rotating the cylinder. Doing the same work with shorter lever takes more effort due to the reduced mechanical advantage.

Choices to smooth out a trigger,

By running the action the clean it and lube it with moly.
Or apply the simi chrome polish to the action to speed up the breakin Time.

My ruger s police service six in 357 feels like a trigger job was done on it with Just moly.

bigggbbruce said: "The length of travel for all but the cylinder rotation remain the same. Trigger, hammer.. "

But the amount of cylinder rotation is less; hence, it takes less work to move the cylinder from one shot to the next for cylinders that can hold more shots.

This is interesting to me because I have a 686 PC with the heaviest trigger I've yet found in a S&W revolver. I swapped the springs for a Wilson Spring set and it got a bit better, but not as light as the same springs in my M10. I hadn't considered that there might be some mechanical disadvantage to the 7 shot cylinder.

I will add that my Taurus 617 (7 shot 357 snubbie) does not have any heavier of a trigger pull than you'd expect. Maybe the 617's geometry is less affected by the transition to 7 shots, or maybe the mechanical disadvantage theory doesn't hold water.

My 686 7-shot has an excellent smooth, light trigger pull, both single and double action. It came from the factory that way. I have not had a chance to compare it to any other 686.

The ratchet diameter is the same on K,L and N frames. Any differences are due to the interaction of all the moving parts. Some parts on some guns fit more freely than on other guns. This is just minute manufacturing tolerances on a precision mechanism. A good revo smith can free up and smooth out any of them. Just because something came from the factory a certain way doesn't mean it has to stay that way or can never be changed.

How a certain gun feels to any particular person is a matter of perspective. To someone who's only shot 12 to 14 pound factory guns, a 9 pound trigger can feel pretty amazing. To someone who's shot highly tuned competition guns in the 5 to 6 pound range, 9 pounds is pretty klunky.

I WOULD TEND TO AGREE WITH THIS EXPLANATION.....

IMHO, IT WOULD BE COUNTERINTUITIVE, TO EXPECT THAT IT WOULD TAKE MORE EFFORT TO ROTATE A 7 SHOT CYLINDER, TO THE NEXT CHAMBER, THAN A 6 SHOT CYLINDER, THAT HAS TO ROTATE A LONGER DISTANCE.....

OF COURSE, I AM NOT A 'SMITH.....

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

The mainspring and trigger return spring have a much larger effect on the trigger pull. The effort to rotate the cylinder is a small portion of the trigger pull. The difference between a 6 shot and 7 shot is not going to be noticeable. You can take the whole cylinder out of gun and the trigger pull barely changes.

Different guns have slightly different trigger pulls depending on how well the parts all fit together.

I appreciate the explanation by reddog and others, but I still think that if all other parts were identical, it would take less work to rotate the cylinder with a double action trigger pull on a revolver that has more shots in a cylinder of the same size.

Of course I have not figured the weight difference. When you have a cylinder with 6 holes filled with 6 cartridges, does that weigh more or less than a cylinder with 7 holes and 7 cartridges. And does rotating a different weight translate to a different trigger feel?

Darn it all, it's easy to test n not guess! Either use a luggage scale to pull the action through, or a purpose built gadget for the same purpose. Surely gunsmiths have these as a matter of course and I'll bet they've been around longer than you've been alive :-).

Guessing's more fun for us, but why not find out empirically? Keep us posted.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

It was interesting reading everyone's theories in this thread, but I have to say Toolguy got it spot on.

That's also pretty accurate, but just want to point out the underlined part, one should be able to take the cylinder out of gun and have the pulls remain the same. As long as everything is built proper.