2206 trigger creep--UPDATED

[jc2721]

I recently bought a 6" 2206 (cheap!) I flushed it out with carburetor cleaner, scrubbed as best I could with a brush and oiled every joint I could get to with CLP but the trigger has noticeable creep in it, unlike the shorter 4.5" 2206 I've owned for years. Anyone have any experience in working with these guns, specifically in removing trigger creep?

FWIW there aren't any professional pistol smiths here in Honolulu so I would rather tackle the job myself if possible. I know how to field strip it for general cleaning but the various small springs, c-clip and multiple interconnected small parts are of concern, particularly as I have not found a GOOD video that shows how to detail strip and reassemble the piece.

Any help is much appreciated, thanks.

UPDATE:

I found skjos' sticky on disassembling/reassembling the 422 series pistols so without much to lose (lol! more on that later) I tore my pistol apart and polished the sear, hammer and whatever surfaces rubbed together.

Even though I used a couple of magnetic parts bowls I still managed to drop the trigger pin several times as well as the small coil springs but I found them fairly quickly using the magnetic base of the parts bowl (knock wood).

Reassembly took 5 or 6 tries and the better part of 4 hours (!)--the hammer pin and side plate proved to be the hardest parts to
realign/reinstall correctly.

Anyway, the first couple dozen dry-fires (with #2 wall anchors) were disappointing to say the least--the creep was still there but it was intermittent and "lighter." A couple dozen more dry-fires and the creep is now gone; success at last (again, knock wood)! I guess it just took a while for the sear/hammer engagement to "mesh."

Here's why I didn't have "much to lose:"


When I first saw it the trigger wasn't working. After closely examining the pistol I bought it, and after paying for it I backed off the trigger over travel screw--voila! The trigger worked!

After I got it home I found out that one of the side plate screws was also missing but my pal might have a spare screw.

Range report to follow.

 

[jc2721]

UPDATE: Well, when this pistol decides to work it shoots nicely, a bonus is that it shoots pretty well with Federal AutoMatch (the cheapest stuff in town).

The bad news is that the hammer will sometimes drop to half-cock instead of firing--ejecting the round shows no firing pin indentation on the cartridge rim (and no, the firing pin isn't broken or burred, the spring is a new factory replacement from Numrich).

Fully disassembling the pistol shows some nasty scrape/drag marks on the face of the sear and on the back of the sear (closest to the hammer) but no corresponding marks on the hammer (that I can see).

I did polish the sear with a hard Arkansas stone but I still get an occasional misfire--one round in perhaps every 100 shots.

I replaced the sear spring, sear pin, trigger pin, disconnector and hammer pin with new parts from Numrich. I've narrowed down my magazines to the two that function most reliably (dry firing with wall anchors, I culled the magazines with which I had repeated misfires).

CCI mini-mags don't seem to make any difference in functioning.

I recently bought a replacement 2206 slide (complete, with fixed rear sight) including some extra parts--trigger assembly, sear, pin, hammer, springs, etc. The sear from that parts kit also showed the same kind of damage as my original did from dropping to half-cock.

Buying that slide was fortuitous, in a way, because this morning when I started to take apart my 2206 I noticed that the adjustable rear sight was all cattywampus--disassembling it showed that the "rear sight elevation click plug" was broken in half. Now I'm on the hunt for that part, but at least I have the replacement stainless fixed sight slide in the meantime.

I've searched Numrich, Jack First and GB for that click plug but no one seems to have it--I'll try S&W on Monday.

So, has anyone else had the same sort of misfires with the 422/622/2206 series? Any suggestions?

Also--does anyone have a 2206 adjustable "rear sight elevation click plug" that they can spare? Or a source for that part?

Thank you all for reading this post--it wasn't meant to be a rant or sad story--I DID want a summertime project--lol, be careful of what you wish for...

 

[WR Moore]

How about some pixs of the sear and the drag marks? Check the trigger stop adjustment. May need a wee dab of loc-tite once it's in the right place. If that doesn't cure it, maybe a trip to the factory.

 

[.38SuperMan]

I bought a new 2206 when they first came out and unfortunately it was the biggest dog I ever owned. Matter of fact it was the only gun I ever bought that gave trouble from day one and after multiple trips back to Smith and an independent gunsmith, it never did get running. I tried multiple magazines, ammo, replaced springs, extractor and scrubbing and oiling it would jam every third round, fail to feed or fail to extract and feed a second round in the chamber. I finally gave up and traded it for a beautiful Winchester 62a.

My point, the 2206 falls after Smith went to a lifetime warranty. You might contact Smith and see if they’ll send a shipping label and get them to work on it. It shouldn’t cost anything.

 

[jc2721]

Pictures and range report

WR Moore--here are some pictures of a 2206 sear that came with the parts kit I recently bought. The original sear wasn't as bad as this one, and I was able to remove the burrs and polish the surfaces on the original sear with a hard Arkansas stone. As you can see, the really bad burrs and scratching/gouging occurs on the "inside" face of the sear:




When I bought the pistol as a parts gun the first thing I did was to back off the trigger stop screw--I later flushed it out and used some blue loc tite, which has held up so far.


After the pistol started to malfunction I replaced the sear spring, sear pin, hammer pin, disconnector, trigger pin and magazine release with new factory parts from Numrich.

After I got the parts kit I replaced the original trigger assembly along with the stainless slide.


I ran 120 rounds through the pistol this afternoon--I was shooting from a rest but not trying for groups and this is what I got:


Needless to say, I'm pretty satisfied with the fixed sights.

If you've never taken off the adjustable sight on the 422/622/2206 pistols this is what it looks like underneath



those two little half moons in the last picture is the part I'm looking for--
the "rear sight elevation click plug" (obviously the one I have is broken in two). Numrich and Jack First do not have the part so I'm calling S&W tomorrow morning. If I can't find the replacement part it's not a big deal since the replacement slide works for me.

Although there were no malfunctions during today's test fire (knock wood) I won't be confident with the "repair" until I've run at least a full cube of Auto Match through the pistol.

Ideally I would have replaced and tested one part at a time to fully diagnose the problem but I don't have the time or patience for that--I just wanted the thing to work, lol.

 

[WR Moore]

Don't see the pix, but a point on the set screw, my apologies if you've done this. While setting the screw, you have to use your thumb on the hammer and move the hammer in and out (while holding the trigger back) and providing a wee bit of sideways movement to make sure there's no sear/hammer contact. A tad more overtravel than absolutely necessary isn't a bad thing.

I lost count of the number of 1911s I worked on where guys didn't do this. I always returned them with "DON'T MESS WITH THE TRIGGER STOP SCREW" instructions. One guy was a repeat offender, damaging parts, and I finally used red loc-tite on his. [He later had the nerve to complain that he couldn't adjust the screw. Even after I told him he was the one who caused the problems.]

 

[jc2721]

No apologies necessary--thank you for the tip on adjusting the 1911 trigger stop screw--I normally leave these alone once they're set but I didn't know about moving the hammer while adjusting the trigger screw. If I ever have to make adjustments I will follow your advise, thanks again.

I called S&W just a moment ago and after waiting a few minutes the CS rep found the "rear sight elevation click plug" in stock and they're sending it gratis. Even he sounded a little surprised that they had that part in stock.