Hey, I am now an official member of the S&W club. Just picked up a new Airweight. My first wheel gun in 30 yrs. The trigger pull on this thing is terrible. Have only dry fired yet, but my finger is already aching. Suggestions? I realize it is a DA, but golly. My last Smith was a .41 Magnum, and it was smooth as silk even in DA.
New 642 trigger pull
- Thread starter oldnfat
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
Diablo982
Member
Welcome to the wheelgun club! Unfortunately a heavy trigger pull is standard with the J-frame revolvers. You can dry fire it some and that will help to a degree. You can also change out the springs, but at the risk of reduced reliability. Not an issue if its a target gun, but most 642's are mainly for self-defense, so I leave in the heavy factory originals. Don't be discouraged by the crappy trigger. The K, L, and N frames all still have the trigger you remember on your old 41 mag.
Look at the Wolff Spring website. My wife had trouble pulling the trigger, so I reduced my 642 pull by about 1/3.
My write-up here:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-re...st-weight-rebound-spring-j.html#post136175934
then scroll down for a brief report from the range test.
My write-up here:
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-re...st-weight-rebound-spring-j.html#post136175934
then scroll down for a brief report from the range test.
Welcome to new Smiths. I understand your issue. Unless you do your own trigger work my suggestion would be to find a really good gunsmith to clean up the action. Coming from your reference point I doubt that simple spring kits are going to get you to where you want to be. A good smith should be able get it down to a clean and reliable 9#....a seriously good smith, lower.
Invictus357
Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2012
- Messages
- 567
- Reaction score
- 515
I think I'd like a snub CCW to have quite a heavy trigger pull.
I had an LCR which had a great trigger but my finger was about dead after 50 rounds.
If it really bugs you I'd go see a good gunsmith to lighten it a little.
I had an LCR which had a great trigger but my finger was about dead after 50 rounds.
If it really bugs you I'd go see a good gunsmith to lighten it a little.
dentkimterry
Member
My new 642 trigger was kind of heavy too. Took the sideplate off and looked inside. Not a sniff of any kind of lubrication anywhere. Put a little gun oil in all the spots I could see that where rubbing and dry fired it a few hundred times. Put it back together and now I think it is perfect for a carry pistol.
eazyrhino
Member
642 and 442 pro series come with really nice triggers as part of the package $430. Oh yea their also cut for moon clips,the 442 is also all stainless just black coated. Anyway congrats on your new 642 they are just great little guns.
Why would that be?
If you purchased the gun for self defense & CCW my advise is leave it alone and learn to shoot it as is. Contrary to what others have said you risk reliability when changing things on these guns. They are very accurate once you become adjusted to them.
Is your life really worth a few pounds of trigger pull?
Is your life really worth a few pounds of trigger pull?
I have a new 642 as well. There is a lot of information on the main and rebound springs on the J frames available here. In fact, that's how I found the forum.
My experience is that I used the Wolff kit with the 13 pound rebound spring and 8 pound main spring. I also put some grease (I forget the brand) on the rebound slide itself. The result is a better trigger pull and no reliability issues. I put over 100 rounds of ammo through mine with no problem.
Of course how much work, if any, you feel comfortable doing only you know. Other people have done work with stones to smooth the frame and rebound spring, but I'm too chicken to do that.
My experience is that I used the Wolff kit with the 13 pound rebound spring and 8 pound main spring. I also put some grease (I forget the brand) on the rebound slide itself. The result is a better trigger pull and no reliability issues. I put over 100 rounds of ammo through mine with no problem.
Of course how much work, if any, you feel comfortable doing only you know. Other people have done work with stones to smooth the frame and rebound spring, but I'm too chicken to do that.
eazyrhino
Member
I have a 642 with il & a classic 36 il and my newest purchase is a 442 pro series. The trigger on the pro was so much better than on the other two that it prompted me to call Smith & Wesson. They told me that my 442 has a smoother trigger, meaning there was work involved in it. The barrel and cylinder are also stainless steel. Cylinder cut to accept moon clips. And no lock.
Edmo
US Veteran
The Wilson Combat springs in my 642 lightened it up a bit, however it is still a trigger that must be practiced with. Combine a very light handgun with a long and heavy trigger and it is not the best combo for accuracy unless you give it some dedicated practice.
The trigger parts will smooth up after quite a few cycles, but the spring kit will make it lighter.
Make sure you run enough ammo through it after any trigger/spring work to establish reliability. Some of the hammer springs are too light to ignite heavy primers consistently.
Edmo
The trigger parts will smooth up after quite a few cycles, but the spring kit will make it lighter.
Make sure you run enough ammo through it after any trigger/spring work to establish reliability. Some of the hammer springs are too light to ignite heavy primers consistently.
Edmo
jtpur
Member
I just bought a 642 yesterday. Yes the pull is heavy, heavier than on our 638 which after two months of searching I could not find another locally, so went with the 642 to take to our place in Florida and leave it there so I dont have to check my gun every time I fly..
I am no lawyer but know a bit about shooting/s (self defense kind) I would suggest you deal with the factory trigger pull or buy a different gun. If you are involved in a shooting, the gun will be put into evidence. A ballistics expert will fire the gun, measure the trigger pull etc.. If your gun is altered, it may convice a DA to charge you, or say the wrong thing and you might wind up with a negligent discharge lodged against you. Modifying guns and getting into shootings is not a good thing. We had acop once who had a higly modified shotgun and he shot another officer accidentially. The wounded officer sued the gun maker and lost because of the modifications. He had to go out on disability at 2/3 of his salary and he was crippled for life. It ain't worth it folks..
I am no lawyer but know a bit about shooting/s (self defense kind) I would suggest you deal with the factory trigger pull or buy a different gun. If you are involved in a shooting, the gun will be put into evidence. A ballistics expert will fire the gun, measure the trigger pull etc.. If your gun is altered, it may convice a DA to charge you, or say the wrong thing and you might wind up with a negligent discharge lodged against you. Modifying guns and getting into shootings is not a good thing. We had acop once who had a higly modified shotgun and he shot another officer accidentially. The wounded officer sued the gun maker and lost because of the modifications. He had to go out on disability at 2/3 of his salary and he was crippled for life. It ain't worth it folks..
That would be my point. That's why I professionally lighten and smooth my carry revolvers. So I can reliably hit stuff with airweights...and even K-Frames.
My other point is that back in the day it wasn't all that necessary to gunsmith duty weapons to get rid of rough and unnecessarily heavy (lawyer) trigger pull.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2010
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 5
I was told by a gunsmith who did a triger job for me, that Blaser ammo would probaly not be reliable because of its hard CCI primer. Blazer uses aircraft-grade aluminum that's heat-treated to make an economical cartridge case and is cost less, but is not a SD bullet. It is great for testing trigger jobs.
If the weapon fires 90 to 95% of the time, factury ammo should not be a problem.
If the weapon fires 90 to 95% of the time, factury ammo should not be a problem.
Last edited:
riverrat38
US Veteran
After a couple thousand dry firings and several hundred live rounds down range, my 442 has smoothed up and the trigger is lighter. Trigger pull is the sum of spring force and friction force. If the action is smoothed out some, the pull will be mostly due to the spring force.
I think that dry firing prior to lubing the internals would speed up the smoothing effect.
As far as having work done on the action goes, if the gun was purchased used, it might be that the work was done by a former owner. If this was the case, I think it would be hard for a prosecutor to accuse the current owner of being worse than "Jack the Ripper"!
rat
I think that dry firing prior to lubing the internals would speed up the smoothing effect.
As far as having work done on the action goes, if the gun was purchased used, it might be that the work was done by a former owner. If this was the case, I think it would be hard for a prosecutor to accuse the current owner of being worse than "Jack the Ripper"!
rat
Edmo
US Veteran
Not to discount your friend's experience, however I would suggest having a J frame trigger professionally tweaked down to 6-8ish pounds of smooth pull will not automatically put you at any legal risk.
I have seen this notion of " the altered gun resulted in conviction" floating around the internet for years without any case evidence cited to back it up.
Yes, it could be considered negligent to carry a gun after having a "hack job" alteration to the point of the gun being unsafe. For example a gun which could discharge if dropped, etc... This would be similar to driving a car with known faulty brakes and causing an accident. However, I would not consider a professionally done trigger job on a J frame to be risky from a legal standpoint.
The only challenge is to test it with your carry ammo to insure the hammer spring still has enough umph to strike the primer effectively. YMMV...
Edmo
Last edited:
Anton Chigurh
Member
I bought a 340 PD that came with a very rough pull. Tried the dry-fire-through-it approach, but after a day still had a stout pull and a blister.
So, I stripped it. Had done this many times, many years ago (Skeeter Skelton used to write articles about how to slick up a Smith, back in the days when they they were already pretty slick, and it was not yet a legal issue at any of the many levels it is today), so it was like riding the bike you rode 30 or more years ago. Did nothing but polish here and there
The kicker was that the mainspring strut was a real ****. Seemed to be a stamped out part, that wasn't all that flat, and had a burr on the end that mated with the internal hammer. A bit more aggressive approach with that strut resulted in a reassembled gun that was now more than acceptable.
Not going down Skeeter's road, but search how to strip and polish. Just changing springs is not likely enough.
So, I stripped it. Had done this many times, many years ago (Skeeter Skelton used to write articles about how to slick up a Smith, back in the days when they they were already pretty slick, and it was not yet a legal issue at any of the many levels it is today), so it was like riding the bike you rode 30 or more years ago. Did nothing but polish here and there
The kicker was that the mainspring strut was a real ****. Seemed to be a stamped out part, that wasn't all that flat, and had a burr on the end that mated with the internal hammer. A bit more aggressive approach with that strut resulted in a reassembled gun that was now more than acceptable.
Not going down Skeeter's road, but search how to strip and polish. Just changing springs is not likely enough.
