Second Pistol Gets Brief Action Review - 627 from TK Custom

[dwever]

NOTE: This web site went down earlier today, and perhaps as a result, JPG formats for me that easily posted previously are now saying this is not a valid image file type. So, I'll attempt posting the pictures of chamfered charge holes etc. again later.

Well I had another fit, polish and stone job done by TK Custom, this time the work was performed on the Stainless Steel 627 pictured next to the 586 L-Comp. Once again very pleased with the work. They received the weapon last Tuesday via Federal Express, I received it back today (Thursday) via USPS having been shipped Tuesday. Both times I called ahead and kind of reserved my spot on their benches.

For the 627 unlike the 586 L-Comp I also had the charge holes chamfered with this job and find that with moon clips it still loads instantly with round nose ammo such as American Eagle, and you still have to be more intentional with getting it to drop with flat nose or hollow point. So at the moment, I don't see any performance change with chamfering with moon clips. I may change my opinion this coming Saturday after shooting a tactical match with the 627 I am signed up for.

Except for the installation of night sights, which I did not have done with the 627, everything I said in my post-TK Custom review of my 586 L-Comp is true for this weapon as they fire with a surprisingly similar smooth stroke and pull weight, both weapon similarly weighing within a tenth of an oz. of each other both at 37 oz. and change.

These two weapons are Performance Center purchases four and five for me, and it would seem this basic action job will almost be assumed for me in any future purchases except an X-Frame.

This Summer I reported on the purchase of a 586 L-Comp and Subsequent Range Report.

This week I received my 586 L-Comp back from TK Custom, pre-arranging arrival had a quick 12 day turn around. I had the internals fit contact areas, polished, and stoned; and, I had an XS Systems Night Sight installed as the tiny one S&W delivers the weapon with is pretty useless unless you're an owl.

A. NEW SIGHT PICTURE - Took getting used to, but soon found putting the Tritium Dot on top of the back center line effective and fast (sight picture photo below). I was easily as accurate with these sights as the S&W OEM's.

B. IN LOW LIGHT, the V notch can be used to 'cradle' the Tritium dot, and you can easily keep the dot centered by keeping the full dot just visible low in the notch if the light's so dim you can't see the center line. An ingenious system, although I would prefer rear Tritium dots like my duty Glocks.

C. TRITIUM - The XS System Tritium is much nicer than the OEM's Tritium, Trijicon supplied the Tritium element for both, but the stock dot is the size of a pin head. In the last picture you can see the new tritium dot side-by-side to the one it replaced - it is mystifying what S&W would use such a useless size. The new dot is pretty much the same size as the duty Glock set ups, and is actually the smaller of the two dot sizes offered by XS Systems.

D. NEW ACTION - Very VERY smooth, and DA has fallen from almost 13 lbs. to in the neighborhood of 8 to 9 lbs. Double action shooting is a JOY.

i. I do not want the action lighter because at 9 lbs. it will still reliably fire any ammo.

ii. I learned by experience what I first read Larry Vickers say: under stress an eight pound trigger will feel like a two pound trigger. I qualified this weapon with my agency out of the box when the trigger was a pullopotomus at 12 - 13 lbs. Because the qualifying course-of-fire was 50 rounds, timed, included twelve 75' shots, on the move, etc., and I had to perform 7 re-loads of the 7 round moon clips, it must have put some mild stress on me. I wasn't aware of any stress, but when I started shooting the course of fire I immediately notice the trigger pull felt amazingly light, just shockingly light, and the action felt so smooth. And this was just with imperceptible mild stress. Of course next time at the range, it was back to normal. So now the new 8 or 9 lbs. is as light as I would want it anyway, any lighter would only be for competition.

iii. The action is so smooth it is very easy to stage the cylinder, but I won't do that as it is a terrible habit to get in to because it is unreliable to work every time, and you're better off just shooting with that smooth full stroke.

E. DOUBLE ACTION is so nice that I was able to group hotter ammo tightly. Remington Golden Sabre +P used to be about my limit. The Remington is hotter than Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel +P; but lighter than Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel .357 Magnum. Now, groups are very acceptable with seven shots of the .357 fired pretty rapidly. Of course this 586 has a compensated barrel too.

F. ONE BRAG - After another guy fired the 586 L-Comp emptying a full moon clip of +P at the range, he looked at me and goes, "I hate you, firing your weapon just cost me $1,000." Actually if he were to get the same work done I did, it'll be closer to $1,300. Ouch.

So anyway, everything turned out just as I had hoped! At first I thought I would not be a fan of the new sight picture, but it is pretty sweet a few hundred rounds later!

Today I shot 2 Boxes of 50 Federal American Eagle .38, 40 Speer Gold Dot Short Barrel .38+, 50 Remington Golden Saber .38+P, and 14 American Eagle .357 magnums. 204 rounds.

My 627 8-Shot should be back in a couple of weeks. I have to scoot, if I think of anything else I'll update it. Peace.

 

[Printrep]

A quick question about the action work performed by TK Custom. Since these were Performance Center guns, the actions were already tuned from S&W. What was the reasoning for having further action work done by TK Custom. Is it because the Performance Center action work is not as good or did you require more custom action work from TK Custom? I have a non PC revolver going in for an action job and am picking up a new PC revolver and was hoping I would not have to have further action work performed on that one as well. Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[jandr272]

Can't wait to see the pics, sounds awesome.

How far ahead did you have to "reserve" the spot for such a quick turnaround?

 

[Macinaw]

A quick question about the action work performed by TK Custom. Since these were Performance Center guns, the actions were already tuned from S&W. What was the reasoning for having further action work done by TK Custom. Is it because the Performance Center action work is not as good or did you require more custom action work from TK Custom? I have a non PC revolver going in for an action job and am picking up a new PC revolver and was hoping I would not have to have further action work performed on that one as well. Thanks in advance for any insight.

It appears that your perception of what the PC does is overestimated. There have been stories of PC guns having rougher actions than regular production guns. At the present time PC guns are nothing special other than the features or options they offer on a particular model.

 

[dwever]

It appears that your perception of what the PC does is overestimated. There have been stories of PC guns having rougher actions than regular production guns. At the present time PC guns are nothing special other than the features or options they offer on a particular model.

Respectfully, that's an overstatement. The action on all five of my PC weapons, 4 N frames and one L, have been exceptional out of the box, these last two are no exception.

Having said that, there is room to take the action even further which TK Custom has done. Since I'm qualified with my agency with the 586 L-Comp, I want it as smooth as reliably possible, and decided to do the same with my 627 UDR. And, both of my last two have been a bit heavy on the pull.

I can say from experience the PC weapons generally have superior action to regular production; and I have bought production. I am disappointed that two PC weapons that were not mine but dissasembled while having good action showed no signs of contact area polishing.

How far ahead did you have to "reserve" the spot for such a quick turnaround?

I spoke with Avery at their shop a few times and found a time when they weren't stacked up with jobs, let him know when I was thinking about shipping, and both weapons were turned around in a little more than a week. There are times of the year when it gets heavy.

 

[Printrep]

Respectfully, that's an overstatement. The action on all five of my PC weapons, 4 N frames and one L, have been exceptional out of the box, these last two are no exception.

Having said that, there is room to take the action even further which TK Custom has done. Since I'm qualified with my agency with the 586 L-Comp, I want it as smooth as reliably possible, and decided to do the same with my 627 UDR. And, both of my last two have been a bit heavy on the pull.

I can say categorically from experience the PC weapons generally have superior action to regular production; and I have bought production. I am disappointed that two PC weapons that were not mine but dissasembled while having good action showed no signs of contact area polishing.

I'll edit this and specifically speak to the other questions later.

Thanks for the reply and insight. I've never owned or shot a PC gun and was curious about the action work.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Respectfully, that's an overstatement.

It seems clear some PC revolver's actions are better than production revolvers. My PC revolvers haven't been but I'm glad your's were.

.

 

[Macinaw]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gnappi View Post
I have an R8, and it has the best out of the box trigger I ever owned, it rivals custom triggers. These 8 shot lightweights are great revolvers, mas far as looks go, I don't care, they shoot.
I really like mine but out of the box the single action pull was 6 pounds and gritty and my Lyman trigger gauge wouldn't measure the double action pull which means it was something over 11 pounds. For $120 the guy at my LGS brought it down to 2 3/4 & 7 pounds and smooth as silk. I ended up with a really top notch shooter but I was under the impression before I bought it that the Performance Center had already done a trigger job on it.
Reply With Quote

 

[dwever]

Ok, they fixed picture posting: both the pictured weapons (586 L-Comp and 627 UDR) have had TK Custom action jobs, the stainless steel 627 also had charge hole chamfering.

 

[HarrishMasher]

You mention having trouble quickly loading your guns with Hollow Point ammo in the moon clips.

For 357 moon clips try Hornady "Critical Duty" 135gr. (Not "Critical Defense"). Cone shaped bullets with a plastic tip. They drop into the cylinder much faster and easier than the Gold Dots or any other HP. Real slick!

Critical Duty is the fastest 357 round to load with Moon clips. I carry my 357s loaded with 135gr short barrel Gold Dots, but the moon clip in my pocket is the Critical Duty for super fast reloads. Pick up a box and try them. You will be very happy.

Hornady Critical Duty 135gr 357 on an 8 round Moon Clip

 

[dwever]

I know I've already done a review on the work TK Custom did to my 627 UDR (and my 586 L-Comp before that).

However I really needed to thank Avery, Eli, and Tom of TKC after coming back from training this morning. I've been part of a tactical training group for a while on Saturday mornings, and previously my performance lagged the other guys on the occasions I would shoot revolver; and, I did better with my Glock 34.

But with the increased smoothness of the pull after getting the weapon back Thursday and using it today was remarkable. My revolver cycles so well that the inherent disadvantage of the platform is gone even at 8 lbs. pull weight. I was able to go three for three in DA at twenty yards on steel while moving on a 24 round course of fire. The guy running the training formerly of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as Night Stalkers, remarked more than once that the big 627 had stayed right with the other semi-autos.

While I am not an expert by any stretch, and admittedly I shot beyond my ability today, I am reminded of the Thunder Ranch website that says, ". . . the revolver is more than an equal of any other defensive handgun."

Of course compliments as well to S&W for designing and producing this platform.

The other side of the coin is perhaps that because revolver manufacturers are generally not shipping their products out the door with the top shelf action the platform is capable of, the revolver is not respected as it's capabilities remain hidden in it's baser forms of mass production. Maybe the last revolver to go out the door in mass close to peak condition would be the Colt Pythons which Jeff Cooper and others have called the best revolver ever produced.
These really were custom fitted revolvers, but produced on a large scale.