Trigger Shoe on Model 28

[sophie]

And you can do that with a wider target trigger (S&W #5843, .500 wide, grooved, case color) if a wider trigger is what you want.

Good looking 4” Highway Patrolman. Congratulations on the purchase.
If in fact you decide on a wider trigger, there was also an option from S&W in those years for a .400” smooth face, case hardened trigger. I believe the SCSW called it a semi-target trigger. Pictured is my 6” Model 28 with the smooth face .400” trigger as it came in 1969. I really like this smooth face wider trigger.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I've got the smooth .400 trigger on my 28-0. I really like it and the action job. I haven't lettered it but I suspect it went back to S&W and got the trigger, an action job, and a white front sight insert. To me it's the perfect set up. I've still got three pieces with trigger shoes. One was my deceased wife's mod 15. She was killed in the line of duty on 12/31/84. It will remain unchanged and will go to my son when my dirt nap comes. I have a couple of others with trigger shoes, one a model 60 I bought for my wife around 1971. She like them. I once would put target hammer and trigger on new S&W's if they didn't already have it. Several years ago I picked up a zip lock bag with about 20 trigger shoes in it for $10.00. Can't leave something like that laying around. I think I might still have around six of them...if I can remember where I put them. I had a lot of trigger shoes on my LEO revolvers before I retired. I seem to shoot better with a wider trigger.

 

[CajunBass]

The only real experience I've had with a trigger shoe was on a Kel-Tec P-11 back in the day, and it worked just as advertised. It seemingly reduced the trigger pull, but more importantly protected my finger from the narrow, sharp trigger the KT had. It never came loose, it never interfered with holstering. No idea if it left a mark or not. It was still on the gun when I sold it, but it was a Kel-Tec. I wouldn't have cared it I noticed it. I think mine was from Uncle Mikes, but it was a long time ago.

 

[muzzlestuffer2012]

I recently picked up a 1968 4" Model 28 that I intend to use as a walkaround gun in the woods, since it is in "used but not abused" condition. Very smooth action on this old N Frame. It came with some sort of a shoe on the trigger to make the standard trigger as wide (or wider maybe) as the standard target trigger. I am assuming that this was an aftermarket company that made these things. Feels like it is constructed from steel instead of aluminum. I actually liked the feel of it on the gun, but I took it off for now. What is the info on these things? Were they really popular at one time? It seems very well made. Obligatory pics of gun in question from GB. I haven't taken any other pics of it yet.

Nice one ! If you want to part with the trigger shoe let me know I'll buy it from you.

 

[Retired W4]

A good friend of mine has a Clark Pin Master (1911) with a wide trigger. The difference being Clark, the elder, milled the frame in the rear of the trigger guard to accommodate the wide trigger. It actually feel very good shooting it, with no worries about anything coming loose.

 

[squid8286]

Good looking 4” Highway Patrolman. Congratulations on the purchase.
If in fact you decide on a wider trigger, there was also an option from S&W in those years for a .400” smooth face, case hardened trigger. I believe the SCSW called it a semi-target trigger. Pictured is my 6” Model 28 with the smooth face .400” trigger as it came in 1969. I really like this smooth face wider trigger.

Thank you. I think that would be just about perfect.

 

[squid8286]

I've got the smooth .400 trigger on my 28-0. I really like it and the action job. I haven't lettered it but I suspect it went back to S&W and got the trigger, an action job, and a white front sight insert. To me it's the perfect set up. I've still got three pieces with trigger shoes. One was my deceased wife's mod 15. She was killed in the line of duty on 12/31/84. It will remain unchanged and will go to my son when my dirt nap comes. I have a couple of others with trigger shoes, one a model 60 I bought for my wife around 1971. She like them. I once would put target hammer and trigger on new S&W's if they didn't already have it. Several years ago I picked up a zip lock bag with about 20 trigger shoes in it for $10.00. Can't leave something like that laying around. I think I might still have around six of them...if I can remember where I put them. I had a lot of trigger shoes on my LEO revolvers before I retired. I seem to shoot better with a wider trigger.

I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your wife.

 

[squid8286]

Would the best place to find one of the smooth target triggers be here? I bet S&W doesn't sell them any more!

 

[Yendor357]

Heaven help you if you ever happen to have to defend yourself with a trigger shoe equipped gun. I’m afraid that’d be a Million Dollar Mistake if you wound up in court with a civil suit over the scum bag junky you were forced to shoot. The Oposition’s lawyer would make a mountain out of the trigger shoe mole hill. And the liberal judge would probably agree.

I seriously doubt that the outcome of a Pistol Match was altered because one Shooter had a trigger shoe and another didn’t.

I never saw the point in a trigger shoe. Change springs, or have a professional gunsmith rectify any deficiencies in that your gun.

Those trigger shoes are a relic of the past like cigarette machines, riding on the back of pick-up trucks, and those chronographs we used to put down range.

 

[gwpercle]

Yes in the 1960's Trigger Shoe's were popular .
They were our drop in trigger jobs .
If you wanted a wide target trigger ... it was easy and inexpensive to do .
Remember no internet , no you-tube , no drop-in anything back then .
All of my Revolvers and even a few 1911's got the easy trigger job .
The model 58 in my Avatar still wears one ... inatalled in the 1970's .
Gary

 

[mm93]

I own a number of handguns equipped with trigger shoes and a lot of people see them and get all worked up about things like "they'll leave marks on your trigger" or "it's going to slip and cause your trigger to bind up".
After decades of having them on guns I bought used with who knows how many years of use, and decades more by me, I've never had an issue with one slipping, and any I removed temporarily showed no damage to the triggers that was noticeable. One of my old handguns was owned by a member of the Navy shooting team at Camp Perry in the 1950's and later, and he had the trigger shoe on it. I figured if he felt confident it wouldn't fail in major matches, it must be OK.

 

[ameridaddy]

Good looking 4” Highway Patrolman. Congratulations on the purchase.
If in fact you decide on a wider trigger, there was also an option from S&W in those years for a .400” smooth face, case hardened trigger. I believe the SCSW called it a semi-target trigger. Pictured is my 6” Model 28 with the smooth face .400” trigger as it came in 1969. I really like this smooth face wider trigger.

I have one of those on my 17-3 and like it very much, maybe more than the wide grooved one, but I didn't mention it because I could not find a part number for it.
I might also mention that K, L, and N frames have the same trigger part numbers. It's the hammers that vary from one to another.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Trigger shoes were popular in the mid-1960s, as they seemed to lighten the trigger pull, and if adjusted carefully, could double as a trigger stop to prevent overtravel. These two 28s belonged to my father and myself - my 6" and his 4". I never saw fit to take the trigger shoes off either.

John

 

[S-W4EVER]

And you can do that with a wider target trigger (S&W #5843, .500 wide, grooved, case color) if a wider trigger is what you want.

Exactly. If you want a fat trigger this is the way to go. FWIW, I went the other way when I bought my M-19 Combat Magnum, I had a stock width smooth trigger installed. It’s perfect for me.

 

[ruger 22]

I did not know they were a big thing on handguns but in the 60's-70's they were very popular on trap shotguns.
For those of you who shot trap in those days you know that we would try any gimmick for that extra bird out of 100.

 

[series guy]

Two of these .357 Magnums came to me with trigger shoes. I added one to the third one for consistency.

 

[Kinman]

First time I ran across one it came on a SAO S&W Target Masterpiece I traded into. I liked it, it was never holstered. The only person that complained was by buddy Mike that only shoots double action. I waited for it, he pulled the trigger...looked at me, checked the cylinder, reset pulled the trigger, nothing again and I finally lost it and told him it was SAO. He files all of his serrated triggers smooth.

 

[RetCapt]

Heaven help you if you ever happen to have to defend yourself with a trigger shoe equipped gun. I’m afraid that’d be a Million Dollar Mistake if you wound up in court with a civil suit over the scum bag junky you were forced to shoot. The Oposition’s lawyer would make a mountain out of the trigger shoe mole hill. And the liberal judge would probably agree.

I seriously doubt that the outcome of a Pistol Match was altered because one Shooter had a trigger shoe and another didn’t.

I never saw the point in a trigger shoe. Change springs, or have a professional gunsmith rectify any deficiencies in that your gun.

Those trigger shoes are a relic of the past like cigarette machines, riding on the back of pick-up trucks, and those chronographs we used to put down range.

Is this claim of liability speculation or do you have factual back up?

For years there have been admonitions against using revolvers with modified actions as legally this could impugn the intent of an otherwise innocent shooter. Finally Massad Ayoob called bs on this and put out a prize if anyone could actually produce a case where an otherwise lawful shooting went against the shooter because it was established that the shooter's handgun had a modified action. No one, in all these years, has come forward to contest Ayoob.

So the question is whether the presence of a trigger shoe ever had any affect on a use of force case.

Since you brought it up, the burden of proof is on you.

Speculation is not proof and carries no weight.

 

[BC38]

You can barely see the marks, and the metal isn't dented at all. I must have gotten lucky. There was a pile of crud under it, though.

If the marks are that small, a cold blue pen might make them disappear completely.
The trigger shoe that was on my Model of 1950 when I bought it was mounted with cup-pointed set screws and left the previously mentioned "circles" on the trigger. Just one touch on the circle blemishes with a Birchwood Casey Permablue touch up pen solved the problem.

And you would have to look REALLY closely, AND also know they were there to start with, to even see them.

That worked for me but YMMV.

 

[squid8286]

If the marks are that small, a cold blue pen might make them disappear completely.
The trigger shoe that was on my Model of 1950 when I bought it was mounted with cup-pointed set screws and left the previously mentioned "circles" on the trigger. Just one touch on the circle blemishes with a Birchwood Casey Permablue touch up pen solved the problem.

And you would have to look REALLY closely, AND also know they were there to start with, to even see them.

That worked for me but YMMV.

The revolver isn't pristine. That being the case, I think I will just leave it alone. You have to really look for them to see anything.