Ive got a hitch in my 66-8 trigger thats driving me mad. SOLVED!

[chase45]

I bought this 66 new a few years ago. I feel like I faintly remember it also having this little catch but thought it would work itself out. The catch in particular is in the area of timing of the first 1/8th of the trigger pull. It feels like the gun is having a hard time popping over and clearing the cylinder stop. When going really slow it feels like you are coming up against a wall until enough pressure builds that it finally releases into a smooth trigger pull the rest of the way. If you work the double action quickly you dont feel it so much. Manually cocking the hammer I do not feel it at all.

Few years later and several thousands of rounds and many more dry fires and its still present.

First time I popped it open to have a look I noticed that the trigger had cut a spot into the cylinder stop where it pops over. Figured this was for sure what I was feeling.

Replaced the cylinder stop. Still no joy and I still have the little catch.

I then polished a few spots like the trigger slide and its contact areas.

The catch remains.

I have now replaced the trigger( as I thought it maybe out of spec since it wore a hole in the originally cylinder stop), the hand, another cylinder stop, the mainspring and the cylinder stop spring

This catch is still there.

I have some hammer shims showing up today as I did note some heavy wear on the top side of the hammer where it would rub against the frame. It does have a little side to side play.

If the shims dont fix this then Im honestly at a loss. Nothing is sticking out as the obvious issue.

I probably have 6 or 7 smiths now and this is the only one that has this little catch in the trigger pull. All the rest are smooth the entire way through.

Any ideas?

 

[Protocall_Design]

It might be that the DA sear on the hammer is not sliding smoothly across the top of the trigger at the beginning. It's hard to say without seeing the gun.

 

[wproct]

Could it be a timing issue where the cylinder pawl is starting to try to rotate the cylinder before the cylinder locking bolt has been pulled down to free the cylinder up?

 

[Nightowl]

Slide a credit card under the cylinder holding the cylinder stop down and cycle the same way you are getting the hitch. If no hitch, it is the cylinder stop. If your hitch is still there, you know its not the cylinder stop.

Next, open the cylinder, hold the thumbpiece back, and cycle the internals. If no hitch in either, it is something between the hand and the cylinder. If it is the hand, ratchet interface, for me that is the hardest to fix. I'd be interested in what you find!

 

[chase45]

Could it be a timing issue where the cylinder pawl is starting to try to rotate the cylinder before the cylinder locking bolt has been pulled down to free the cylinder up?

I dont believe so

The timing seems right and it drops/unlocks before the hitch comes about

Now I feel like Ive been chasing my tail around but I feel its either hammer drag or something to do with the trigger popping clear of the cylinder stop

With one of the older cylinder stops I actually filed down that little ledge to see if it would help clean up the pull. It did a little but not a lot so Im leaning towards hammer drag now hence the shims.

But I wont be surprised if I put it all together tonight and the hitch is still present.

I will also grab some pics of the internals

Here are some old pics of it from when I was trying to diagnose months ago

This is right where I encounter the wall in the trigger to sort of help show the timing of everything. The cylinder stop has dropped and everything is starting to spin and then I hit the hitch. Its enough of one that itll throw the sights a little once you finally give it enough pressure to push past. But if running the trigger fast you dont notice it too much

The other pics is the gun stripped of parts but the cylinder stop. This is when I discovered the trigger eating a hole in the cylinder stop

Im fairly mechanically inclined and this thing has me stumped

 

[Dave686]

Replaced the cylinder stop. I then polished a few spots like the trigger slide and its contact areas. I have now replaced the trigger, the hand, another cylinder stop, the mainspring and the cylinder stop spring

Is the "catch" there when you operate the trigger with the side plate off?

 

[chase45]

Is the "catch" there when you operate the trigger with the side plate off?

I do not notice it so much with the plate off and no mainspring tension

At one point I did polish the areas where the trigger sort of come into contact with the side plate. No love

I think one of the previous replies asked about working the trigger with the cylinder out and it does still present itself when under full spring pressure from memory but I will give it another look

I even threw a new mainspring at it just in case the original had something wonky going on but nothing. Checked the slide for internal burrs, notta.

The new trigger displays a little wear on the frame side but not a lot. The hammer does display a good little bit of wear on its frame side as well but its been there the life of the gun.

 

[chase45]

Played with the shims a bit. Putting two on the frame side of the hammer seems to alleviate a lot of the hitch. Putting a single one there and another on the other side still left the hitch.

It's not 100% gone but boy it's way more manageable now

So I guess that means it is dragging somewhere along the frame side of the hammer

The wear appears it would be from maybe the locking bolt. I pulled that out and polished it a bit too

Feels a lot better and I think this is the true issue point

 

[ken158]

Im thinking hand contact on the ratchet may be your issue

 

[Nightowl]

Here is another thought that I have encountered, since you have eliminated the cylinder stop. Check for an interface between the hammer and trigger where the foot of the hammer enters the u shaped are of the trigger just as the seer finishes its contact.

I have a 627-2 that had a small hitch in the trigger pull like you described that I had the devils own time trying to find. Not sure I ever did, actually, but I changed hammer and trigger until it went away. The gun is out of my reach at the moment, so I can't go check to see if I actually completely fixed it.

 

[Pisgah]

Either your mainspring tension screw is backed out, or a previous owner has shortened it to "improve" the trigger pull.

 

[chief38]

One of the suggestions above might be the ticket, however like Protocol Design states above, without the gun sitting in front if me I will not guess on this one. Too many possibilities.

 

[chase45]

The hammer shims do seem to help. I have two sitting on the frame side of the hammer now and it has alleviated a lot of the hitch.

I yanked the locking bolt and polished it

Worked the action awhile and I believe I can see where the hammer is rubbing

I relieved the bolt a little bit with a file and then polished it back up.

Also polished the hammer where it seems to be rubbing. There is a flat spot on the top of the frame side hammer like the hammer is canting and rubbing. Manually cocking the gun I dont feel anything rubbing. But I have to wonder if its canting a tiny bit under the double action pull

The trigger feels much better but its still not 100%. I would say it has improved as much as 60-70% though.

Heres a pic with the side cover off

And another of the hammer wear. Note the flat spot on the top back right most part of the hammer

 

[chase45]

Im thinking hand contact on the ratchet may be your issue

I dont believe so

The hitch is still present with the cylinder rolled out

It only seems to rear itself when the hammer is installed and the mainspring at tension

 

[chase45]

Either your mainspring tension screw is backed out, or a previous owner has shortened it to "improve" the trigger pull.

I am the only owner of this gun

The tension screw is not backing out nor has it been shortened

 

[pokey074]

Did you try taking the lock out?

 

[SG-688]

As suggested above, the red circle indicates a possible point of interference causing the hitch.

The picture shows a slightly older revolver.

 

[chase45]

I put this gun down for a little bit to make sure I wasnt obsessing. The trigger pull is vastly improved by the shims. I did some playing around and it seems like 2 on the frame side of the hammer works the best. I do feel the hitch to a much lessened degree every now and again.

I popped it open to check the above post but it looks good to go there. Im not seeing anymore rubbing anywhere that I have polished to indicate that something is touching.

When I feel the little hitch trying to rear its head I can apply pressure to the trigger and hammer as if trying to push them to one side. They dont seem to move but it will make the rearing of this hitch disappear for a handful of trigger pulls

Even when present now it is much lessened

I think I may try some trigger shims at this point.

But honestly I could accept how this thing has turned out as Im not sure the regular person would notice it. I think part of my problem is I know exactly where it is to be extremely critical of it.

With all the polishing and such its honestly a pretty nice pull now

 

[Vtgw938]

That looks like a lot of wear on the hammer since there should only be contact with the bosses around the stud. I've only messed with vintage revolvers but I assume it is the same. I've played with trigger & hammer shims but have found that if the bosses haven't been messed with the gun will bind up when the side plate screws are tightened down.

 

[scruffy]

I had this exact problem with a 629 I bought new. Read through this post. It fixed my problem perfectly without needing any further cleaning, polishing, etc. Post #5 was the right answer for me. Good luck. M629 Hitch in S/A Pull update FIXED

 

[chase45]

It must still be contacting somewhere on the hammer. The good news is a little fresh lube on the backside of hammer and the little hitch feels virtually eliminated for a good while. With all the polishing its buttery smooth. I simply dont see any marring from rubbing currently

I think I might just call it good enough. Its much better than before.

Might still throw some trigger shims at it down the road with the next order from midway or the like though.

 

[SWFan27]

Send it back to Smith and Wesson. They will fix it. I bought a new Model 617 that had two charging holes out of time. The trigger would catch like that. S&W replaced the extractor because two of the ratchets were causing carry up issues. It is one of my favorite shooters now.

The trigger on my Model 66-8 is fantastic. I have shot thousands of rounds through it and love the thing. The trigger on my twenty year old Model 686+-6 is a hair better or smoother. The 66 is from 2020.

 

[chase45]

I dove back into this the other night

There is one part of the frame that the trigger rubs and I hit that with some sand paper and got the marks gone. Smoothed it out

Helped a little bit still the little hitch would present itself every now and again.

I pulled it all down again later and popped out the cylinder stop to check for any irregular wear. Notta

Reinstalled but was more conscious about the cylinder stop spring and pushed it square with a little screw driver

The hitch now has now practically disappeared. I have to wonder if what Im feeling is mostly the spring binding here and there. Or whats the chances I have a oversprung spring?

I thought I had replaced it at one point but after looking at some receipts Im not sure I did

 

[oldrookey617]

I am not a gunsmith, something you might try, I purchased a new 617, bad catch in the center of the double action, pulled the side plate, worked on it for hours, took a small piece of wet dry 600 grit sandpaper, placed it between the hammer & trigger sear, no more catch in the trigger pull, I did not know how to fix it, called Smith, they emailed me a return shipping label, took it to FedEx, got it back in 5 weeks, smooth like my other 5 Smith revolvers, no charge, wished I knew what they done to it, I think they replaced the hammer sear with one just a little longer, good luck, Clifford..

 

[chase45]

As suggested above, the red circle indicates a possible point of interference causing the hitch.

The picture shows a slightly older revolver.

Boy you called this. I think since it was slightly differently I didn't quite see it.

It's 100% gone. The trigger is pretty butter smooth thanks to all the extra polishing everywhere but the problem

I stripped it down again tonight and with the mainspring removed and adding forward tension to the hammer while working the trigger I kept hearing a slight pop but it wasn't from the cylinder stop

Upong really close examination with the tension added I could watch the DA fly in the hammer slightly pop backwards while it engaged the trigger

I hit the fly with some polishing agent on a dremel and also stoned the hammer in another that comes has to do with the double action engagement

Reinstalled and the hitch is FINALLY gone.

Boy talk about a guessing game. I looked it over for irregular wear and didn't notice anything weird. It wasn't until seeing it sorta pop when working the trigger with tension added did I finally see it

 

[schutz5]

Great follow up! Did you end up removing the shims??

 

[chase45]

Great follow up! Did you end up removing the shims??

I do currently

May try putting a few back in to see how it feels later as this one definitely has way more side to side play in the slot than my others

I think I noticed the most improvement with the shims as it helped keep it more consistent with the fly now that I think about it

Really stumped me. But I'm glad I kept at it

 

[swincolo]

Also solved

First of All, Thanks Everyone for all your valuable contributions on this topic and especially to this forum.

I also had this trigger hitch on my 2.75" 66-8 that I got back in 2022. I thought it would break-in after 2k rounds, but it didn't go away.

The hitch on mine was only on the DA. The SA was fine.
To make a long story short, the culprit is the trigger sear when it contacts the DA sear on the hammer and starts to push it up.

The top of the trigger sear has a corner that first contacts the hammer DA sear, this small corner is what's causing the hitch.
I was able to smooth out this corner by hand with a small cutting disc that was about 500 grit, and now the hitch is GONE!

Important - the very end of the trigger sear that sits on the hammer "notch sear" for "single action" was not touched at all and is highly recommended by others also to not be altered in any way or form.

I can't believe it took me 2 years to get this stupid trigger hitch out.

Again, Thanks All and stay Safe

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

I do currently

May try putting a few back in to see how it feels later as this one definitely has way more side to side play in the slot than my others

I think I noticed the most improvement with the shims as it helped keep it more consistent with the fly now that I think about it

Really stumped me. But I'm glad I kept at it

Its been two months so how many rounds down range?

Pictures of Target?

 

[SLT223]

Does the cylinder drop in place just before the target and hand stop moving?