.015 solved Governor light primer strikes issue

[scooter123]

IMO Snap Caps should be used for any Dry Fire practice. While the manual may not recommend Snap Caps S&W hasn't taken into account that some people with snap their trigger thousands of times in just a week. Doing that WILL cause damage at some point.

I will also note that the C&S firing pins are not longer in length, they are machined so that they have a LONGER LENGTH OF TRAVEL. BTW, I have used these firing pins in my 620, 610, and 625 revolvers. With a lightened trigger they function perfectly however with a factory weighted trigger they will leave microcracking in the dimples in the primer and some will show evidence of leakage.

 

[moto17]

got the gun back, finally, and after causing such a ruckus with S&W about how long it takes on a brand spanking new gun. they replaced the firing pin, "repaired" the yoke and replaced the strain screws(didn't know there is more than one). I talked to a rep there and asked if they did find a problem with the gun and she could not tell me, but that they wouldn't have done work on it if it was "within spec." I lubricated the pin and cleaned the gun using CLP and will try it out tomorrow.

 

[Muss Muggins]

You oughta see how many times they get dry fired during the assembly process . . .

IMO Snap Caps should be used for any Dry Fire practice. While the manual may not recommend Snap Caps S&W hasn't taken into account that some people with snap their trigger thousands of times in just a week. Doing that WILL cause damage at some point.

 

[moto17]

You oughta see how many times they get dry fired during the assembly process . . .

Agreed. Obviously not to be standard practice and to do thousands of times, but any quality gun should be capable of many many times dry fired without any problems....imo.

 

[moto17]

The Governor is amazing! Over 100 rds with Remington, Winchester and federal 410 shells along with some 45 LC and 45 acp without any FTFs. Was an f-ing pain in the a**, but i guess worth it as the gun is literally perfect now. After being the 4th s&w purchase this year was never thinking of EVER buying another product from them; i have now thought of reconsideration. Hands down, the gun is awesome and such a joy to shoot. But just such a headache and over 5wks since original purchase to finally have the gun that i wanted and purchased for over $800. Truly a sweet firearm!

 

[muddocktor]

Glad to hear that they got it fixed for you, moto17. Now go out and have some more fun with it.

 

[JFoster48386]

Sorry for the slow reply. Being that our pistol is literally brand new I don't want to mess with it. But I've never needed to send any firearm in for service so I'm going to be paranoid about sending it in, if it's required. I'll get on the phone with S&W next week if possible.

Jon.

 

[LongRifle]

While and older thread I think this is important as Smith's problems continue.

My buddies and I were quail hunting in Georgia and we ordered Governors one evening after a hunt and a few glasses of Scotch. 4 governors.

Of the 4.

One worked
One had serious, serious problems with case bulging (Smith replaced the cylinder and yoke)

Two of them had the light Strike problem. 50% light strikes. When I called Smith they said tighten the Strain Screw. It was not loose, tight as can be.

So, I had an older Governor that I bought right around the time they came out. I grabbed a feeler gauge. Here is what I found

Old Governor
.020 gauge would pass between the firing pin and cylinder face with the hammer down and trigger pulled.

New Governors?
.032 gauge would pass. .035 came close to passing...

This is a significant issue, and makes the gun completely unreliable.

Once this COVID thing is over I will call Smith and have another discussion with them.

 

[Sparks]

Long Rifle is the first here to use common sense on this issue. Arguing semantics does not move the discussion forward. Call it what you like, the firing pin does not strike the primer hard enough or fast enough to ignite the primer. It IS most likely that all the strikes are the same - a bit wimpy - but, the question is why?

All of you Smith nuts should by now understand that the strain screw is not intended to be a convenient way to adjust your trigger pull. Do some research if you want to become revolver gunsmiths. Backing it off does lower the pull but it also reduces the energy at the firing pin.

Long Rifle does the first obvious thing and that is to measure the rear gauge. If the cylinder is too far away from the firing pin, no amount of force will ignite the primer. In his case, excess forward/rear cylinder slop (end shake) places the primer too far away from the firing pin. I'm pretty sure that's what causes the OP's problem, and why some of the repairs involve replacing the yoke and the cylinder or the whole gun.

I won't belabor the point, but why would S&W customers pay big bucks for this kind of sloppy workmanship? Its your call.

Sparks

 

[JFoster48386]

I think I'm just going to break down and order the C&S firing pin. I've made several attempts to get help from S&W with no resolution for over a year. If the new pin fixes the problem, great.

This is my first new S&W firearm and at this point, it will be my last.

Jon.

 

[Protocall_Design]

The factory firing pins vary in length. Strain screws vary in length. The counterbore in the frame varies in depth. The mainsprings vary in strength. It goes on and on, so every gun is different than every other gun.

Having the strain screw tight is meaningless. In order to know what's happening, and why, you have to quantify the firing pin length, how far it sticks out from the recoil shield, how much force the mainspring is actually imaparting to the hammer, and in turn, the firing pin, etc. In other words, you have to measure these things on your individual gun. Assuming that all gun parts are exactly alike is to not understand mass (mess) production, or how things are in the real world. Headspace, endshake, primer seating depth, rim thickness, and a host of other things come into play as well in the reasons a gun misfires. Every gun has a different combination of variables that are in play. When all these factors are actually measured, accounted for, and corrected if necessary, it's fairly easy to have a reliable revolver with a reasonable DA trigger pull.

The shortest firing pin length I've found that works reliably is .495". That is also the longest factory firing pin I've ever seen. Most are somewhat shorter. It takes a much heavier blow of the hammer to get a short firing pin to set off primers reliably, if it even will.

The extended length firing pins by Power Custom, Apex, and Cylinder and Slide help make up the difference in the variations of the other parts. Probably the optimum firing pin length is .505 to .510. You will notice I didn't give just one number. Everything has a range of plus or minus tolerance. The extended firing pin is just one of the variables, but it can sometimes make up the difference for some of the others.

 

[Sparks]

Installing a slightly longer firing pin MIGHT make the gun work, but unless your firing pin is actually faulty (chipped, broken, melted, bent, etc.) then you are using a band-aid which does not actually fix a problem.

If the cylinder can move too far forward, due to wear, factory misadjustment, etc, the primers will be too far away from the firing pin and the firing pin will not have enough energy to ignite the primer. That should be the first thing to investigate. But, it won't hurt anything to put in the C&S firing pin. Depends on how far you want to go with it.

-S

 

[Protocall_Design]

Yes - the firing pin is only one element of a complex mechanism. For the gun to work properly, all the parts need to be brought in to spec.

A longer firing pin will help if the original is too short , but in and of itself won't fix other problems.