Hey all, I purchased a spring kit from MidwayUSA for my Model 66, and it comes with 3 different springs.. A 12#, 13#, and 14#.. What are your thoughts on which one to use? I want the best feeling trigger, but reliability is top dog.. Thanks for your opinions! Mick

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Mick

Hey all, I purchased a spring kit from MidwayUSA for my Model 66, and it comes with 3 different springs.. A 12#, 13#, and 14#.. What are your thoughts on which one to use? I want the best feeling trigger, but reliability is top dog.. Thanks for your opinions! Mick

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Mick

If reliability is the main goal, stick with the factory springs. The internal and passive safety features are designed to operate safely with factory springs. I this is a self defense carry gun stick with factory. If it's a range only gun you can change springs. Be sure to do the safety checks afterward to make sure your spring changes didn't mess up any of the built in safety features.

Agree with the range gun part. I usually start with the 13# rebound spring. If the trigger return is acceptable, it stays in. If not I try the 14# spring. A little careful smoothing of burs does wonders too.

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SWCA # 2294

My defense gun is a 686 and it has all stock springs for the simple reason I will never allow some DA to claim that the lighter springs made the gun have a "hair trigger" and showed I was reckless.

Anything under 14# makes it feel sluggish in rapid fire double action to me, and that assumes it is slicked up.

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Science plus Art

Ok thanks! I was hoping maybe there was a unanimous "perfered" spring everyone used.. Guess it more of a presonal prefrence thing.. Since I only have 3 hand guns at the moment, I cant be sure this one wont be used as a SD gun at some point.. (Here in FL. we can have guns in our cars, boat, home. So it could possibly see action in any of those scenarios.) Thanks for the replies!!

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Mick

The main spring is the primary worry about not hitting the primer hard enough. I used a 16 pound rebound spring and reduced power wolf main spring in my 686 SSR, it now has a 7 pound 1 oz, double action trigger pull. I also lightly polished the internals. I believe the wilson main springs are a little stronger than Wolf's. I don't like to use too light of rebound as I enjoy speed shooting the revolver and it won't reset as fast as I can pull the trigger. I would caution you to be very careful with a carry gun, do plenty of testing as the range. I have yet to have a failure to fire on my 686, however rarely carry it for SD. I was trying to get 8 and half pound to match up with my other two revolvers, but I guess I can live with 7 pound pull.

When you guys polish the "internals" are you using "jigs" of somekind to maintain proper angles and stuff, or just hand polishing? Im assuming your talking about polishing the sear and mating surfaces??

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Mick

All of my revolvers have light Wolff mainsprings and 12-13lb rebounds, whether I use them for range or carry. My guns with frame-mounted pins also wear Apex replacements. I load all my own ammo with Fed primers and have no ignition problems. The light springs, with a little lubrication, are as good as most action jobs. I can't imagine shooting stock S&W revolvers, except for some PC models. I also have a couple of better things to do than stay up nights, worrying about what the various lawyers might or might not say if, by some infinitesimal chance, I'm involved in a shooting.

+ 1 on everything Pinky is saying every stock smith revolver I have handled is way heavy on trigger pull. I have to laugh when someone is concerned about a hair trigger at 7 to 9 pounds. I have not tried any primers other than Federal, so no opinion on that. Just speaking for my self, when I say polish, no metal is being removed. For example I use rubbing compound with a dremel or buffer wheel to make the rebound slide and mating surfaces nice and smooth. Does it help? Doesn't hurt I'm sure. I do inspect internals for burrs and such, luckily haven't found any problems with mine. Smith already has the smoothest trigger in the business, just grab anything else out of the gun store case and compare it. Well just my opinons and experinces, not the gospel!

No, I mean everything EXCEPT the sear mating surfaces because the sear angles are critical to safety.
Little burrs and roughness here and there add up. Polish carefully by hand.

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Science plus Art

I REPLACED MANY WITH 11 LB SPRINGS AND THEY ARE 100% RELIABLE WITH A STOCK MAINSPRING. JUST MAKE SURE THE TRIGGER RETURNS EVERYTIME. I HOLD THE GUN STRAIGHT UP AND SLOWWWWWWLY RELEASE THE TRIGGER. DO THIS A FEW TIMES. THE MORE THE BETTER. IF THERE IS NO INDICATION OF NOT RETURNING YOU ARE OK. OTHERWISE POLISH SOME MORE. I HAVE EVEN CUT THESE SPRINGS WITH 100% RELIABILITY. ABOUT 1/4" OR SO. I THEN ADD A SS BALL BEARING TO INCREASE THE LENGTH. KEEP IT CLEAN AND OILED AND IT WILL BE 100%
THE MAINSPRING IS A DIFFERENT STORY.

I understand Wilson springs are made by Wolff. If that's the case, Wolff's hot line told me to try the strongest of the 3 first.
Just my 2 cents

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