Happy New Year everyone!

A year or so ago I picked up a Smith 686 Plus with a 3” barrel. I have only had it out to the range a few times, mostly due to the fact that the trigger is abysmal. It stacks, feels hitchy, and is almost twelve pounds according to my trigger gauge.

I don’t want to spend a small fortune sending it out to a smith for work. Do you guys have any suggestions for not only lightening the trigger but also providing a smoother press? I’m not looking for a competition trigger, just for the range and self defense.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Dry firing and a good detail clean will help -some- with the smoothness.

I put Wilson Combat springs in most of my range guns, along with the strongest rebound springs in the kit. I’d want quite a few rounds after install to prove reliability, if it was my SD gun.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

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- Post No Bills -

Take a close look at the machining around the star. I had a recent manufacture 686+ about a year ago, and the machining of the star was abysmally bad... which left it with the kind of trigger you describe as the hand needed to grind its way through all the **** on every trigger pull.

I ended up trading it off before fixing it, but a trip to the Mother Ship would probably have been the best solution. It would have been expensive to have a good gunsmith clean it up.

Yea leave it alone and run it, I have a 686 .3-5-7 series 3inch has that gritty kina felt like something was wrong feel.... so I chambered 7 empty cases and just clicked it around the house dry firing at light bulbs the toaster door knobs.... after a weekend of doing that and 1500 rds later shes smooth....

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This is the way....

Both my 3-5-7s were bone dry from the factory. Any new firearm gets broken down, cleaned, and lubricated. Revolvers will also get a spring kit and maybe a bit of polishing in a couple select areas. It's a smith, doesn't take much to smooth them up. If something is wrong after that, there's more going on which most likely will require someone beyond my skill level to fix.

Yup, keep working it. I've found that, after broken in, the initial pull (double action) is stout but as I continue the pull it gets noticeably smoother and quicker until the hammer falls...

If you are handy and don't mind taking your gun apart and working on it, get Jerry Miculek's video "Trigger Job" and follow along with your revolver. He presents most of the answers to smoothing and lightening the trigger press. Then read https://tinyurl.com/y5om6p6c to further adjust the pull weight.

Stu

Guys, thank you for all the advice. I really appreciate it. I will weigh my options and see what makes the most sense. I am not really comfortable performing a complete detail strip so I will likely go with the Wilson Combat spring kit and do lots of dry firing.

Have a 686+ 3". Installed a 13lb. rebound spring from Wolff Gunsprings. Went from a 12lb D/A pull to a smooth 8 1/2lb pull. And, 100% reliable. hth

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M&P M2.0 Com M2.0 5 FDE 686SSR

I know you said you don't want to send it to a smith but..

I sent my 629 to SW for a master action revolver package.

Came back amazing.

I have added wilson combat spring kits to all of my revolvers with great results. The only one it didn't work for is my 617. I highly recommend them. Best bang for your buck imo.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

+1 on the Wilson Combat Spring Kit.

My 686+ trigger pull was over 12 pounds. After I installed the kit it is incredibly smooth with no light strikes.

I have a 686 no dash my late dad bought new in 1981. He had it go back for the "M" modification but after a short time he decided to have a better/smoother action job with a polished trigger.

That gun has tens of thousands of both .357 and .38 rounds through it now and the action job has held as well as being the finest double action I've ever experienced on a Smith. He had Frank Glenn do the work and since I inherited it in 1992 I appreciate the fact that he had it done.