Too many people swap out springs in search of the perfect trigger feel. While many mistakenly believe the goal is a lighter trigger the truth is they want a smoother trigger action. A change in springs doesn't necessarily provide that plus it could also make the gun less reliable.
A S&W is pretty easy to smooth out the trigger pull...a little judicious filing and stoning of a few key components is all that's necessary. I learned that at S&W Armorer's School.
This kinda like performance auto parts...Edelbrock, Holley and others make quality performance parts but they aren't always needed depending on what you're trying to accomplish. You can buy and install their products but you may only be lightening your wallet and getting a nice decal to show the world what parts you have.
I'm not saying Wolff or Wilson Combat springs aren't good quality...they certainly are. But marketing being what is it...they're about selling product with their name on it. You can usually accomplish just as much with the stock springs in place. Pick up a copy of Jerry Kuhnhausen's S&W manual and it explains how to do things properly.
+100 on studying Kuhnhausen’s book on S&W revolvers. Same for understanding what your goals are for the firearm. However, springs are quite inexpensive and allow fine tuning a pistol after you have stoned key contact surfaces (
NOT the trigger sear contact, hammer strut, or single action sear contact on the hammer).
I recently purchased a 25-10 on this forum. After agreeing on the sale, the seller disclosed that a prior owner had “done an action job” on the revolver. I knew something about that prior owner and felt confident that I could get the gun where I wanted it. The action was
very smooth and the single action trigger was only 2 pounds 0 oz. That was just too light for me, so I replaced the rebound spring with a 13 lb Wolff spring and got the single action pull up to 2 pounds 12 ounces. It still feels very light because it’s so smooth. The prior owner had cut 4-6 coils off the rebound spring rather than getting a lower power spring, so my replacement probably improved function and reliability. However, the double action trigger pull went from 8 lbs. 4 oz. To 9 lbs. 10 oz. That’s a little heavy for my taste. A Wolff reduced power mainspring took it right back to 8 lbs. 4 oz.
Another low cost item that I rarely see mentioned are trigger and hammer shims. I’ve had several S&W revolvers where you could clearly see that either the hammer, trigger, or both rubbed in the frame on one side. A properly sized shim fixes that right up 99% of the time.
My point is that replacing springs isn’t like putting an $80+ replacement trigger in a Glock which may or may not impact the safe operation of the gun. And no one is getting wicked rich off of replacement springs.
