Lightening the trigger pull

[Exmilcop]

I recently acquired an antique S&W 1st. Mod.DA in .44 Russian. The trigger pull is brutal in double action and requires a lot of force to haul the hammer back for single action. I believe this pistol was gunsmithed at some point and maybe a new mainspring was installed. Would it be possible to carefully abrade several thou off the mainspring to lighten the pull? I was thinking to carefully hone the spring on my diamond stones and when the pull was lighter, to polish and reblue the spring. Your thoughts?

 

[scooter123]

A better way to modify the mainspring is to grind some material off the SIDES of the spring. Then use a scotchbrite wheel or 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper to remove the grinding scratches and then finally re-polish the sides of the mainspring. As for re-bluing, as long as it's cold blue that is ok, hot bluing is not. Note the re-polishing is needed to remove the Stress Risers from the scratches which could lead to a spring failure.

Finally I will note that Primers in the late 19th century were much less sensitive than primers made today, so that heavy mainspring may have been a factory original.

 

[Exmilcop]

A better way to modify the mainspring is to grind some material off the SIDES of the spring. Then use a scotchbrite wheel or 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper to remove the grinding scratches and then finally re-polish the sides of the mainspring. As for re-bluing, as long as it's cold blue that is ok, hot bluing is not. Note the re-polishing is needed to remove the Stress Risers from the scratches which could lead to a spring failure.

Finally I will note that Primers in the late 19th century were much less sensitive than primers made today, so that heavy mainspring may have been a factory original.

Thank you! Very good point about the stress risers. I've had about 5 of these pistols pass through my hands and this is the heaviest pull I've ever encountered. Given how tight the overall action is, I think it's a good be that the pistol has seen a re-working. For a pistol of this early a manufacturing date, one should reasonably expect a little more ease of operation.

 

[chief38]

I obviously don't know (from here) if the Main Spring is the original Factory one. Because of that I would choose to replace the spring and if necessary "operate" on that one.

I would also think that getting another strain screw and shortening that one to lighten the spring pressure would be a better option, but again, without the gun in my hands I can't be positive. I dislike modifying original parts if at all possible.

 

[Exmilcop]

I obviously don't know (from here) if the Main Spring is the original Factory one. Because of that I would choose to replace the spring and if necessary "operate" on that one.

I would also think that getting another strain screw and shortening that one to lighten the spring pressure would be a better option, but again, without the gun in my hands I can't be positive. I dislike modifying original parts if at all possible.

Like you, I hate non reversible modifications. Loosening the strain screw didn't do anything appreciable to lighten the trigger pull. I'm going to contact a very good gunsmith regarding the possibility of picking up another spring before I start mucking about with this one.