j-frame hand too thick?

[folkenheath]

Hello gents. I am about to do a mild trigger job on a j-frame. Have done them before on rifles, single action, and S&W double action(based on the Miculek video, pretty simple) but this one has a new issue that he doesn't really cover. It's a 5 shot 38. On about 2 of the 5 cylinders, right after the cylinder locks in, the trigger pull gets a little stiff. If I open the cylinder and pull back the latch and dry fire it with the cylinder open, this bind at the end does not exist. This is not a huge bind, didn't even notice it right away, but now I want to get rid of it. I was looking at the ratchett, and I see where it lets the hand slide further after it locks in. So in order to get rid of this, which do I need to do to improve this correctly...?
A file/stone that vertical flat spot a tiny amount at a time on only the tight cylinders until they are free
B file the hand thinner on the tip (on the inside surface?)
C get a new hand
D none of the above

Thanks in advance...

 

[folkenheath]

Hello gents. I am about to do a mild trigger job on a j-frame. Have done them before on rifles, single action, and S&W double action(based on the Miculek video, pretty simple) but this one has a new issue that he doesn't really cover. It's a 5 shot 38. On about 2 of the 5 cylinders, right after the cylinder locks in, the trigger pull gets a little stiff. If I open the cylinder and pull back the latch and dry fire it with the cylinder open, this bind at the end does not exist. This is not a huge bind, didn't even notice it right away, but now I want to get rid of it. I was looking at the ratchett, and I see where it lets the hand slide further after it locks in. So in order to get rid of this, which do I need to do to improve this correctly...?
A file/stone that vertical flat spot a tiny amount at a time on only the tight cylinders until they are free
B file the hand thinner on the tip (on the inside surface?)
C get a new hand
D none of the above

Thanks in advance...

 

[tomcatt51]

A.

I think Jerry's trigger job mentions this (very) briefly. Or just dry fire it a while and see if it wears in. You'll notice stuff playing with the gun while sitting in your living room you'll never notice shooting it.

 

[folkenheath]

I think you are correct. I was looking at it a little more last night and I found there are very tiny burrs that I can't see but I can feel with a point that are catching on some of the cylinders. I guess I need to mark those cylinders and clean it up a little with a tiny file/stone. I remember him mentioning that now too but he didn't have to do anything to the gun he was using in the demo. Thank you.

 

[wheelgun1958]

Just go easy with the stone.

 

[folkenheath]

Thanks for the tip. But don't worry, I'm kind of a stickler for perfection and I will just try to barely knock the roughness off until I can't feel it anymore in the trigger. I realize if I take too much off then the cylinder might not lock in before the hammer falls and that would be a very bad thing.

I like this saying..."if you don't have time to do it right the first time how will you have time to do it again?"

 

[folkenheath]

I have the ratchet working perfectly, just some very minor touch ups with the stone took care of it.

But I am bringing this back because I have another question on the rebound slide spring for the same job. This gun will be used for CCW. My wife was having trouble with the factory trigger pill, she's small. I have polished all trigger pull and rebound contact surfaces. It is very smooth. I put the 12 lb rebound spring in and it worked perfectly. Normally I would say that is good enough, but since this is a CCW gun I went another step up and put in the 13 lb spring for a safety factor. Still worked perfectly. Do you think this is too light, or agree with my reasoning? Thoughts? Thank you.

 

[tomcatt51]

The lighter rebound spring will help the DA pull. It also slows the trigger return leaving less margin for dirt etc. My competition guns have 11 lb springs. If I let someone else shoot them the first thing they do is short stroke the trigger because the rebound spring isn't pushing your finger forward as hard. You have to learn to get off the trigger. Look at the ramps on the rebound slide and hammer. Putting more bevel on the edges that first engage as the rebound slide comes forward and the hammer moves back off the frame will help the trigger return also, allowing a lighter spring to work better. You don't cut them so much the hammer block hangs up. Watch what it's doing with the sideplate off AND the springs removed. I don't think a 13 lb spring is unreasonable.

 

[bountyhunter]

As long as the trigger returns smartly, you can use whatever rebound spring feels right.

 

[folkenheath]

Thanks guys, I think I will stick with the 13 lbs then and just make sure to do a lot of practice in hot and cold to make sure the trigger always returns as it should.

 

[bountyhunter]

Originally posted by folkenheath:
Thanks guys, I think I will stick with the 13 lbs then and just make sure to do a lot of practice in hot and cold to make sure the trigger always returns as it should.

Believe it or not, the worst case test to see if the trigger will hang up on return is to pull it all the way back and then release it as slowly as you possibly can. The point in the trigger return where it has to "set the hammer back" is where it will hang if it's going to. A trigger can hang with a super slow return, but come forward under normal shooting because the trigger gets some momentum (inertia) coming forward and can slip past but hang if you hold it at the snag point.

 

[folkenheath]

Thanks bounty, that makes sense, kind of like trying to gently set it in the "stuck" position. I have reassembled the whole thing. It is very smooth now. The pull force actually isn't a lot less though, went from 12 - 13 lbs to just under 11 lbs. But it is a LOT smoother, and I will not change the hammer spring since it is a CCW revolver. The new sear was a drop in, I thought I was going to have to stone fit the end of it, since the factory one had metal removed from the tip (that wasn't straight). But the new one fit perfectly, so I just smoothed and polished the contact surfaces and dropped it in. I am happy with the results.