I'm sorry if this has been posted before. I did a search and found nothing.
I gave my wife my 442 for CCW, and she's found the trigger pull too hard for her (she's tiny). Can someone tell me where to find info on adjusting the trigger pull on this model? Where could I go for parts? What spring options are there for lightening? I'd rather just swap springs is that's all it takes (instead of snipping coils off like I've seen in some suggestions).
Thanks ahead.
I've had the same problem. My ex was 5'2" and weighed 94# dripping wet and with her pockets full of rocks.
Resist the temptation to think that swapping in the lightest available springs will give you what you want. If it were that easy, the S&W engineers wouldn't be making guns with the factory springs in them. The factory springs are spec'd at their current strength for good reason. Of course those reasons are a complex set of compromises, so with a proper understanding of the mechanics of the gun, and a little work, things can be done to improve things a bit. But don't expect to get a DA trigger pull of less than 8# or so and still have 100% reliability at all times and under all circumstances. I've seen some boasts of really light triggers, and perhaps some people do get lucky. Or, maybe some people are just willing to accept a higher probability of a malfunction, IDK, but my comfort level and experience says that a reliable 8# - 8.5# trigger on a J frame is about as good as I can reasonably expect. You state this is for CCW and not a range toy, so keep that in mind when selecting your course of action and your criteria.
With that said...
While you can get by with just swapping springs, you will get a much better end result, and possibly better reliability with doing more than just that. If you are intent on doing the work yourself then I'd recommend that you purchase Jerry Miculek's excellent video on trigger jobs:
Gun Video Trigger Job: Complete Action Tuning Smith Wesson Revolvers
Then you will need a decent set of gunsmithing screwdrivers, a fine india stone and some gun oil. Getting the action slickened up will not only help lighten the trigger pull slightly by removing some friction, but it will also help your wife with trigger control, increasing her accuracy. It's much easier to keep the sights on target if the trigger pull is smooth and consistent throughout its entire stoke. Notchiness or a gritty trigger pull is difficult for even the experienced shooter to use well. Not only that, but when you start lightening springs you are affecting the ability of the springs to overcome internal friction. One of the biggies is trigger reset. If you reduce the rebound spring too much it can create a situation where the trigger reset is sluggish, or even fails to reset altogether. Either situation can result in a locked up gun that can't shoot a follow-up shot. By reducing sources of internal friction, such as on the rebound slide, and its hammer block bump, among others, you can get by with a slightly lighter spring without negatively affecting trigger reset. And then there is the mainspring. It powers the hammer and is responsible for doing the work that actually fires the gun. Go too light on it and you may find that the gun may function just fine mechanically during dry fire, but may not fire the cartridge 100% of the time. Again, on the range you may accept the possibility of the occasional misfire... for self defense you can't! I recently took one of my range guns out for a little fun. I probably shoot around 100 rounds through that gun that day and I did have one misfire. The ammo was all my own reloads, so it could have been just a high primer, but the trigger is light on that gun so I can't say that it is 100% reliable. It isn't used for SD though so I'm not worried about it unless it continues to be an issue or gets worse.
For all of the above reasons, I retain the factory mainspring in all of the CCW guns, and will not go lighter than 13# on the rebound spring. Others have had success with lighter springs but I had misfires on one of my j frames with a lighter 8# mainspring (stock is 8.5#) but it worked 100% with the original put back in. I've also experienced slightly sluggish reset with a 13# rebound spring in one j frame. I ended up with a 14# in that gun and it works fine. Perhaps a little more fine tuning could help, but I'm happy with it as is. Another works fine with the 13# rebound spring and still has a snappy trigger reset. But this experience told me that I may be pushing the hairy edge as far as reliability goes. If a clean as a whistle gun JUST BARELY functions at 100%, then what can I expect if it gets dirty or fouled in some way? For a range gun I don't worry so much, but if I'm carrying a gun CCW then I must be willing to bet my life that it will always work. Always! I like to have a little margin in my CCW weapons, and if it takes a little bit heavier trigger to get it then so be it. Smooth does feel lighter though.
My recommendation would be to study up a bit more before doing anything, or paying a professional, respected pistolsmith to do the work for you. Pretty significant improvements can be made on these little guns, but for CCW it must be done in an educated manner. IMHO, just throwing a set of light springs in it isn't really the best answer.
Snubbyfan has really light springs in his gun, but as he noted, he has done other internal work as well as a good bit of function testing to ensure reliability. His obviously works with his set-up, but don't count on his combination to work for you. I know it wouldn't in my 640. Every gun is different and you really have to test yours to make sure that any mods you make will still give you a 100% reliable gun.
One other thing to keep in mind. The trigger is just part of the equation. If your wife isn't used to firearms in general, or DA revolvers in particular, then her finger muscles aren't as strong as they can be with a bit of practice. Once you get the trigger work done, you should encourage her to consistently do some dry fire practice each day. This will help smooth the gun's action, but more importantly it will help her strengthen the required muscles, as well as teach her trigger control. In fact, dry fire practice is, IMO, more important (and a lot cheaper) than live fire practice at the range. Especially for a new shooter.
