627-5 V-Comp Trigger Job

7/15/2017
Bought a new 627-5 V-Comp PC last week. Beautiful handgun with handsome looks, perfect fit & finish, and great balance Checking the details, cylinder timing seems right on with gap of .005 and just over .001 end-play. Cylinder shows no run-out with the gap varying consistently less than .001 under all chambers. Trigger pull details were less than stellar with quite a bit of grit and unevenness. DA pull was off my scale at over 10+ lbs and SA broke right at 5 lbs though it did break very crisp.

Next step was to dry fire the gun around 250 times to get some visible wear marks on the parts. Then I took it to the range putting about 300 of my various loads down the pipe. At the 50 yard line the weapon was showing better accuracy than I could hold or shoot with the trigger as it was.

Friday I opened it for a inspection and initial action tune. Not sure what a "Performance Center" level of build is supposed to include but here is what I found.
No evidence of any smoothing of parts, the only marks on moving parts were the limited normal wear marks I had introduced.
A interesting bit about the mainspring, it has a rib on it and very much appears to be a Wolff Power Rib part. Maybe that's what S&W calls a PC trigger job?
Also I noticed when removing the mainspring strain screw, it appeared to be a bit longer than normal? I keep a stash of S&W factory screws around and sure enough the guns screw was .390 and a normal screw is around .360? Strange?
After doing my normal full trigger job on the gun I put in a 12lb rebound spring to test. I decided for this first test to leave the factories ribbed mainspring in, but instead of the "from the factory" long screw, to use one of the shorter factory stock screws I had on the shelf.
LUCKY ME, The DA pull came in at 8.5 lbs with the SA near dead on at 3 lbs, a creep free, glass rod breaking feel. Trigger returns as fast a I can shoot and seems to have no lag or drag in the least.
I anticipate no light strike issues using my custom Federal primed ammo but ya never know. I already tested the gun with the long screw installed and the DA pull jumps back to the stock 10+ lbs but still cycles and returns fine so a quick adjustment of strike power can be adjusted easily at the range.
I'll be sure to update this thread if I have any issues or decide to make any changes for some reason.

Extremely pleased with this revolver and I'm sure it will be a keeper and a very often occupant of my range bag.

One last rant, the supplied gun cases are get cheaper and cheaper. Plastic is near as thin as the latest water bottles you get now-a-days. Come on S&W, don't you think that a $1600 Performance Center handgun deserves something a little more upscale than this?

The longer strain screw is required with the Wolff Power Rib spring because the tip of the screw goes into the rib depression. The regular S&W spring is flat, so it needs a shorter spring to make the same tension.
I suspect you will enjoy this one for years to come!

Toolguy said:

The longer strain screw is required with the Wolff Power Rib spring because the tip of the screw goes into the rib depression. The regular S&W spring is flat, so it needs a shorter spring to make the same tension.
I suspect you will enjoy this one for years to come!

Click to expand...

I can see logic in what your saying, but I believe the difference is taken into consideration in the springs designed tension. Wolff designs them to be used with stock screws.
IE Type 1's will give factory like hammer power using the stock screw, and the Type 2's give a reduced effort, again using a stock screw. Wolff has never discussed using anything other than stock screws AFAIK.
It seems as if S&W has installed a T2 reduced effort spring and then used a longer than stock screw to jack the power back to stock like power. Doesn't make sense, why not just use a T1 to begin with?
A very strange approach.

I've never seen any action work done on my Performance Center Revolvers. They all had to be tuned afterwards with some stoning. I run an 11 lb rebound spring and lighten the main spring a few turns. I then Loctite it in place so it doesn't move.

I like my triggers to run in the 6 lb range. I never shoot single action.

Get Jerry Miculeks video on trigger jobs and you will see a number of things that need to be adjusted or tweeked beyond the norm.

Sal1950 said:

It seems as if S&W has installed a T2 reduced effort spring and then used a longer than stock screw to jack the power back to stock like power. Doesn't make sense, why not just use a T1 to begin with?
A very strange approach.

Click to expand...

I do not know whether S&W has a longer strain screw for use with the Wolff reduced power springs, but I can see reasons why a reduced power spring with a long screw has advantages over a full power spring with a standard screw. With a standard length strain screw, you cannot shorten the screw very much before it causes problems like the spring becoming too straight. With a reduced power spring and a longer screw, there is much more room for a gunsmith to make adjustments without having functional problems.

AzShooter said:

I've never seen any action work done on my Performance Center Revolvers. They all had to be tuned afterwards with some stoning. I run an 11 lb rebound spring and lighten the main spring a few turns. I then Loctite it in place so it doesn't move.

I like my triggers to run in the 6 lb range. I never shoot single action.

Get Jerry Miculeks video on trigger jobs and you will see a number of things that need to be adjusted or tweeked beyond the norm.

Click to expand...

6 lbs DA, I'm impressed, must be very ammo temperamental?

Watched Jerry's video years ago, my work go's a good bit beyond what he covers. Not my first rodeo.

lefty_jake said:

I do not know whether S&W has a longer strain screw for use with the Wolff reduced power springs, but I can see reasons why a reduced power spring with a long screw has advantages over a full power spring with a standard screw. With a standard length strain screw, you cannot shorten the screw very much before it causes problems like the spring becoming too straight. With a reduced power spring and a longer screw, there is much more room for a gunsmith to make adjustments without having functional problems.

Click to expand...

There is that. Also if you buy into Wolff's claim of the ribbed design offering a more linear pressure curve, you could potentially have a better DA pull. The pressure curve rise could be measured but I've never seen Wolff post the results of such?

PC Tuned Action

AzShooter said:

I've never seen any action work done on my Performance Center Revolvers. They all had to be tuned afterwards with some stoning.

Click to expand...

Bingo!

People keep saying the PCs have a hand tuned actions. Not in any of the new ones I've bought in last couple years either.

I like the OPs observation: "...appears to be a Wolff Power Rib part. Maybe that's what S&W calls a PC trigger job?" I believe you are correct. I've never noticed anything else different.

.

Sal1950 said:

6 lbs DA, I'm impressed, must be very ammo temperamental?

Watched Jerry's video years ago, my work go's a good bit beyond what he covers. Not my first rodeo.

Click to expand...

Yes, I must use Federal primers or they won't go off. And it helps to seat them deep .005 below flush.

I have one gunsmith that I've used in the past that can get the trigger under 4.5 lbs with 100 % reliability. I've gotten "good enough" to do my own trigger jobs and I save a few hundred bucks.

AzShooter said:

I have one gunsmith that I've used in the past that can get the trigger under 4.5 lbs with 100 % reliability.
I've gotten "good enough" to do my own trigger jobs and I save a few hundred bucks.

Click to expand...

That would be an interesting piece to shoot, a DA pull in the same neighborhood of what's considered a good factory SA yank.

Amen to that, been back yard smithing for close to 50 years now. If you have the talents to do it, there is great satisfaction in a DIY job "well done". That's why I've enjoyed sharing my paths with different guns here and elsewhere. I don't post here a lot, usually mainly to put up something like this or dig for helpful info.

With a S&W PC gun the only thing you are getting over a regular one is a different shaped barrel. There is NO hand fitting, action job or anything else. Even if you send it back to them for an action job, it won't amount to much. A lot of people on this forum and around the country can do a much better action than the factory.

I have just invented a drop in kit that the action gets lighter as you pull the trigger. The prototype one starts at 5 pounds DA and goes down to 3 lbs. just before the hammer falls. This is 100% on firmly seated Federal primers. You can dial it up heavier to do Winchester or other primers and it will go down 2 lbs. from wherever it starts out. As far as I know, this is a first in revolver history.

Due to finances and logistics it will probably be sometime next year before anything is commercially available.

Toolguy said:

With a S&W PC gun the only thing you are getting over a regular one is a different shaped barrel. There is NO hand fitting, action job or anything else.

I have just invented a drop in kit that the action gets lighter as you pull the trigger. Due to finances and logistics it will probably be sometime next year before anything is commercially available.

Click to expand...

Yes it appears that is true, all I see PC about my V-Comp is the custom finish, barrel compensator and PC roll mark. (Maybe that mainspring?). Don't mean to slam the piece, I am in love with it now that I've given it a tune-up but I did expect a bit more from this marketing spin.
"From hand-cutting and fitting to fine tuning for precision, these firearms are top performers. Products from the Performance Center are the ultimate expression of old-world craftsmanship blended with modern technology. "

Good luck with the launching of your trigger kit.

All the Smith revos are a good starting point but none come race ready out of the box. A little TLC will make them a top performer though.

Thanks for the kind words and support.

I am saddened to hear about the current quality of Performance Center offerings. I have recently had the opportunity to handle two excellent condition Performance Center revolvers that were made between fifteen and twenty years ago. Both had excellent triggers that demonstrated considerable internal polishing. On each of them I could not feel any bumps, glitches, or roughness in the double action trigger pull. I would be happy to shoot either one just as it was delivered, and that is something I very rarely say about revolvers.

It is too bad this quality is no longer available from the factory. But as others have pointed out, a good smith can still make the current guns perform very nicely.

Spent another enjoyable day at the range today with the V-Comp and thought I'd do a quick update of my thread here. Handgun now has somewhere in the range of 2500 rounds thru it. Only changes I've made since the OP was to install a C&S extended firing pin in it to relieve the occasional light strike. I also installed a couple of shims on the hammer and trigger from Michigan Center. Only required one .003 on the left side of the hammer and .003 on the left side of the trigger. Not very much a change but hey, every little bit helps to improve a consistent feel. Getting a extremely nice smooth DA pull now after the work and all the rounds shot..
Gun is now in the top 3 of all the handguns in my safe for enjoyable shooting. The balance of the gun along with a very effective compensator really works to tame recoil very nicely. I can shoot moderate to warm loads all afternoon without discomfort.
Thanks S&W for a great gun!