What does S&W do in an action job that I can't get done by my friendly local gunsmith?

Thanks.

***GRJ***

YODA,
If your local Smith is reputable and you have trust in his abilities you will probably be good to go with his service. Many places a good gun smith is nearly impossible to find local. I feel that if shipping is involved I might as well ship to the Factory versus somewhere else.

I've had several guns done with the MAJ but all had other issues that required a trip back home. Extremely satisfied with all of them. They were like new guns upon return. Right now about a 4 month wait.

Depends who your local friendly gunsmith is. There are many out there who can perform a good action job. If its a rare gun I would feel more comfortable with the manufacturer doing it.

Buy a Wolff spring kit, change the rebound to the 14lb rebound spring, sand the swirl marks out of the side plate and the contact points with a very light grit sand paper, clean, oil and you'll drop trigger pull by a 1/3 easy. Just an FYI. Just around $20.

I hate to sound negative about this, but in the 40 years I have been doing this I never ever found an honest, high quality, reputable GS and that was the reason I started doing my own Smithing. Not saying they don't exist, but they sure do a good job of hiding!

Unless the revolver needed other specialized work, I would do a trigger job myself.
Jerry Miculek's excellent DVD will guide you through the process and - most important - show you what NOT to do.
I sent one revolver that needed refinish to S&W and had them do the action job. Was surprised to see, upon inspection, that they had installed a Wolff spring kit.

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Anyone can can (and lots do) hang out a "gunsmith" shingle, wihout ant training, skills, or credentials to back it up. I learned that the hard way years ago. I would talk to prior customers and/or shoot an example of any local gunsmith's work before handing over my piece.
Yoda, are you the one who put together the "yoda trigger job" youtube video?

Yoda trigger job - NO!!! EEK!!! Not I!



Guys, I will attach new stocks to my guns, I'll attach Tyler T-grips to my guns, and that's it. I'm lucky if I'm handy enough to change a light bulb. So, do my own gunsmithing, change springs by myself? Not a chance. I envy anyone who is handy enough but I'm really careful to avoid messing with things like hand tools. I won't say I've never done it but, to quote Clint/Dirty Harry, a man's got to know his limitations. Little things around the house? Yes I can. Mess with a gun? I wouldn't dare.

FYI, in Dallas, Texas there are several good gunsmiths. My LGS, McClelland's, has at least three, if not four.

Sidebar story - back about 2001 I sent my CS-45 to the Performance Shop for an action job. I won't say anything negative about it because they did a good job but under Massachusetts law they were prohibited from lightening the trigger to what I wanted. It wasn't terribly expensive but it was pointless. So McClelland's got it done for me.

Thus, my original inquiry above.

***GRJ***

If you go to the master smith who did the work on my Model 15 (and left it with the sweetest trigger I've ever experienced in a handgun, including a tuned Python), you won't have a four-month wait.

The good ones are out there.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I've sent a 642 and a 15 to S&W for trigger action work. I'm very happy with the work. I don't dispute that S&W won't lighten the trigger, but it sure smoothed the DAO trigger pull of the 642 enough to make me think it did. In hyper-litigious California I don't want the plaintiff's attorney to tell the jury I had a "hair trigger" installed and am therefore criminally negligent. Stay with the factory, it knows what it's doing.

__________________
"Liberty or Death"

The "yoda trigger job" video shows a gunsmith doing a trigger job on a j-frame smith. You should google it up and watch it. If nothing else you'd learn how to take apart & reassemble your S&W revolver.
I'm not gonna say it's foolproof, there's no such thing if the fool is sufficiently determined, but it's a pretty simple job to change out the springs and lightly polish the rebound slide & adjacent surfaces. I've done this to all my j-frames and they all have nice smooth reliable DA now. I don't mess with the sear etc.