About 2015 I was walking through a local pawn shop when I saw a nice four inch 19-3 three for sale. Price was right. Just didn't have the money. It sat there in the shadow of plastic guns most of that Summer. Then, one Saturday, my wife up and bought it for me! Cool!!!
Shot the hound out of it with any and all .38 Special ammo I could buy at WalMart. Then, life happened. Trigger show a slight tendency to push off.
Hand had three pins. One broke off. Started looking for a replacement. Not cheap. Oh well. Had to just set it aside.
Early this year, got 2nd dose of Covid. This time ... really tough. Still got some respiratory problems. Bored. Decided to fix the pistol! Found and purchased a as new hand from one of our board members. As well one of our board members contacted me offering a nice trigger/hammer that was needed. End result ... got myself busy fixing the revolver!
Got myself some screwdrivers which I fitted to the screws and off came the sideplate. I fiddled around with all the parts gently removing/reinstalling each so that I became familiar with how they fit and functioned. First, installed the hand. All seemed fine. Hold the gun level or muzzle down ... worked as expected. Hold the gun muzzle up, no function. Could not figure out what was wrong.
Trigger and hammer arrived this past week. Happy! Happy! Happy! Dropped right into place. Functioned perfectly. No push off or anything else remotely problematic. Still ... could not figure out how why the new hand didn't seem to work. Thought about it real hard yesterday afternoon. Sick as a dog so couldn't do much. Had plenty of time on my hands. Watched lots of YouTube videos. One fellow said something about not fiddling more than necessary w/ a hand when installing a trigger, said there was a little spring that was aggravating to get in place. Got to looking at the old trigger and new trigger. Vola! I found my problem. Of course most of you already know what I had just learned.
Aggravating could have been the word to use. I prefer ... a learning experience. Fiddled around with a nice little screwdriver to get the spring out of the way for the pin on the hand. Got it together! Happy! Installed in the frame and presto!!! Everything works beautifully! Thrilled!
So ... what is the outcome? First timing is spot on target. In DA the bolt, etc. locks up before the trigger breaks. In SA, everything locks up before the hammer is in cock. Cylinder has virtually no movement either side to side or forward to rear (which was never an issue).
Now all I have to do is replace the rear sight blade (bent) and get a decent set of Pachmayr grips since the ones that came on the revolver are just to slick to be of real use.
Best of all, I can now sit here on the couch and rest while fiddling with this 19-3 and a four inch 66-2 that I bought in better times when trading and such stuff was easier done.
Hope and pray this has not been boring for everyone. Just been a while since felt like anything. Very happy to have this revolver fixed. My wife has just handed me biscuit and bacon for breakfast. Coffee will be ready shortly. Sincerely. bruce.
Shot the hound out of it with any and all .38 Special ammo I could buy at WalMart. Then, life happened. Trigger show a slight tendency to push off.
Hand had three pins. One broke off. Started looking for a replacement. Not cheap. Oh well. Had to just set it aside.
Early this year, got 2nd dose of Covid. This time ... really tough. Still got some respiratory problems. Bored. Decided to fix the pistol! Found and purchased a as new hand from one of our board members. As well one of our board members contacted me offering a nice trigger/hammer that was needed. End result ... got myself busy fixing the revolver!
Got myself some screwdrivers which I fitted to the screws and off came the sideplate. I fiddled around with all the parts gently removing/reinstalling each so that I became familiar with how they fit and functioned. First, installed the hand. All seemed fine. Hold the gun level or muzzle down ... worked as expected. Hold the gun muzzle up, no function. Could not figure out what was wrong.
Trigger and hammer arrived this past week. Happy! Happy! Happy! Dropped right into place. Functioned perfectly. No push off or anything else remotely problematic. Still ... could not figure out how why the new hand didn't seem to work. Thought about it real hard yesterday afternoon. Sick as a dog so couldn't do much. Had plenty of time on my hands. Watched lots of YouTube videos. One fellow said something about not fiddling more than necessary w/ a hand when installing a trigger, said there was a little spring that was aggravating to get in place. Got to looking at the old trigger and new trigger. Vola! I found my problem. Of course most of you already know what I had just learned.
Aggravating could have been the word to use. I prefer ... a learning experience. Fiddled around with a nice little screwdriver to get the spring out of the way for the pin on the hand. Got it together! Happy! Installed in the frame and presto!!! Everything works beautifully! Thrilled!
So ... what is the outcome? First timing is spot on target. In DA the bolt, etc. locks up before the trigger breaks. In SA, everything locks up before the hammer is in cock. Cylinder has virtually no movement either side to side or forward to rear (which was never an issue).
Now all I have to do is replace the rear sight blade (bent) and get a decent set of Pachmayr grips since the ones that came on the revolver are just to slick to be of real use.
Best of all, I can now sit here on the couch and rest while fiddling with this 19-3 and a four inch 66-2 that I bought in better times when trading and such stuff was easier done.
Hope and pray this has not been boring for everyone. Just been a while since felt like anything. Very happy to have this revolver fixed. My wife has just handed me biscuit and bacon for breakfast. Coffee will be ready shortly. Sincerely. bruce.
One of my favorites was way beyond my ability and it seemed “worth it” to get the work done professionally, by a real master that knows what he is doing. The finished product turned out beautifully. Of course it wasn’t worth it, when judged just by the numbers. The numbers would say I should have just returned the gun and took the loss of the shipping money, but it was worth it to me. 
