So your decock doesn't work anymore...Now what?

Yes, only the "foot" of the sear release lever is filed or stoned to effect proper decock timing.

Often, the new sear release lever will need some material removed from the "foot" before the top of the lever will clear the slide.

John

Thanks. I had marked the new sear with sharpie where the old one overlapped it. I took a significant amount of that off, and was able to get the gun together. Though it still required pushing down on the lever with a punch and pushing the slide back fairly hard. It now decocks with a 0.122" punch in the way of the safety, so time to buy the pin gauges.
 
So, I have a 5906. Purchased used from GunBroker, so I don't know when or why the decocker isn't working. But looking at your tutorial, was the bad park broken? wrong part to begin with? Someone tried to improve the function, or did it just wear out with use? If you have it handy, could you show used part and fitted part side by side?
Thanks,
rr
 
No the bad part was not broken merely worn out or improperly fitted. A picture of a fitted part compared to used part won't do you any good. Two reasons, the difference is minuscule measured in thousandths of an inch and you wont be able to discern that in a picture and secondly these are individually fitted parts unique to each gun. The pic closest to what you ask for is up in the first post where the bad part is stacked atop a new unfitted replacement to illustrate the difference.

To your 5906... I can't say why your gun is misbehaving without examining it firsthand. There are a number of things that can contribute to or cause this malfunction among them: a lot of wear in the slide/frame fit resulting in excessive vertical play at the rear, Improper polishing or modification of the decocker body, wear or damage to the sear, and wear or improper fitment of the sear release lever, or even a combination of more than one of those. Could even be your sear release lever is missing:eek:

I don't how long ago you got the thing but...Did the seller on Gunbroker note in the listing the the gun was broken?

Anyway I'd suspect your sear release lever is the culprit assuming of course nothing else is out of order with the weapon. It's a relatively easy fix with the proper tools albeit rather tedious. And of course you need to know what you're doing;)

Cheers
Bill

So, I have a 5906. Purchased used from GunBroker, so I don't know when or why the decocker isn't working. But looking at your tutorial, was the bad park broken? wrong part to begin with? Someone tried to improve the function, or did it just wear out with use? If you have it handy, could you show used part and fitted part side by side?
Thanks,
rr
 
>I don't how long ago you got the thing but...Did the seller on >Gunbroker note in the listing the the gun was broken?

Gun was listed in like new condition, when I contacted the seller and explained the problem in detail, I never heard back, left a bad review.

As a side rant, I'm done with the broker, last 4 guns I got from there where listed as in good condition. All of them had easy to see issues, unable to unable to extract, unable to feed, decoker not work, unable to cycle.

My 4509 problem seems fairly "common" won't decock, decock if top and bottom squeezed together. Right decocker will, left decocker won't. It's at my smith's shop, I'll make sure to show him this article also...

Thanks
 
... problem seems fairly "common" won't decock, decock if top and bottom squeezed together. Right decocker will, left decocker won't. It's at my smith's shop, I'll make sure to show him this article also...

Thanks

Those comments make it seem rather as if the sear release lever has become too worn and needs to be replaced - or - someone has replaced the manual safety assembly in that gun (for whatever reason) and the sear release lever is no longer within proper spec for the "new" safety assembly.

From my experience and what I've encountered, the reason the right side lever will still decock, but not the left side lever, is because the sear release lever is on the right side of the frame, under the right end of the manual safety body, and the right lever has more mechanical advantage to fully depress the lever that's become worn down. (There's a little bit of normal clearance between the manual safety body and the slide, and pushing down on the right side lever (and therefore the right end of the safety body's cylinder) might be just enough to still let the safety body push down against a worn sear release lever.)

The reason "squeezing" the slide down onto the frame will work is also often indicative of a worn sear release lever, including one whose top surface has become worn over time. Pushing the slide down in effect lowers the manual safety body closer to the frame, against the top of the sear release lever. It might help compensate for a lever whose top has become worn down. (The top of the lever is not an adjustment spot, nor ought it to be filed. Only the bottom of the lever's "foot" is filed to fit the needs of the particular gun.)
 
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smith & wesson sear release lever 915

just fixed my 915 ..wanted to thank you so much for the help and photos and detailed how to..
 
S&W should make you an authorized armorer and continue to produce a modest amount of parts. Let you train a few of their admirers and keep these weapons maintained. Even with your excellent pictures and explanations I know is screw up anything other than the most basic maintenance.
 
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