I have a Smith M&P 38 Spl that when the hammer is pulled and locked it can be pushed off without much effort. I think someone messed with it. What do I look for when I take the side plate off? Help is appreciated.

The SA sear face on the trigger nose has likely been stoned, and the SA cocking notch on the hammer may have been. I have seen some info on how to "restore" the sear and trigger to proper angles by stoning them back to original. The problem is, SW triggers and hammers are surface hardened about .006" deep. If that has been stoned through, the newly cut faces will not be very durable with usage. They would need to be rehardened. In cases where there is bad push off, SW generally replaces the trigger and hammer.

You may want to invest in the Kuhnhausen SW Revolver Shop Manual (try Brownells) if you want to work on the gun. It's worth it's weight in gold. Page 82 covers the sear face angle and how it affects SA trigger pull.

delta-419:

You stated that "someone more than likely messed with it". If you can confirm this (by inspecting hammer & trigger) more than likely you will wind up replacing the hammer & trigger. You might be able to temporarily fix the problem by stoning the notch a hair deeper, but by doing this you are removing the hardened layer even more, so after a while, the metal will wear and you will have to replace the parts anyway. Once you stone surface case hardening, you are basically removing that hardening, leaving the part to wear more rapidly.

Unfortunately, there are too many "novices" that take a stone to vital revolver parts that have no business doing so. I have seen many a Smith & Wesson "butchered" from backyard Gunsmiths. I suppose you could try to repair the problem (if you have never done this before - bring it to a GOOD Smith), but don't be surprised if you wind up replacing both the parts eventually.

IF BY ANY CHANCE the gun was NOT "messed with" you might have a shot at letting the Factory do a free repair job if your revolver falls into their lifetime warranty policy.

Good luck.

Regards,
chief38

Thanks Bountyhunter and Chief 38 I think this might warrent a trip back to the factory. I have been looking for a copy of the Kuhnhausen Manuel at gun shows but will go to the internet. Pushoff is not good and at times there is a light strike in SA which caused me to check for "push off".
The gun is a '60 vintage 38 M10.

ebay has several of the kuhnhausen manual's on line now

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