Following my recent article about snubnose revolvers, I've had a few readers ask whether the long double-action trigger pull of most such weapons can be lightened and/or smoothed, to make it easier to shoot them accurately.
A competent gunsmith can do what's called an "action job" on them, which involves stoning the mating surfaces until they're as smooth and slick as possible, and perhaps adjusting spring tension (lopping a couple of coils off a factory spring, or installing a new spring kit from a company such as Wolff Gunsprings - you can also install the latter on your own gun at home, if you know what you're doing). However, you can expect to pay at least $150 for a good action job, and possibly double that, depending on the expertise and reputation of the gunsmith involved.
There's a quicker, simpler, easier way that isn't necessarily as good, but can be surprisingly effective. It's known as the "toothpaste action job", or words to that effect. Toothpaste is a very mild abrasive: it has to be, to clean gunk off your teeth when you brush them. That makes it suitable for delicate surface smoothing on things like trigger mechanisms. You can also use actual abrasive solutions such as valve grinding compound, but they're usually far too abrasive to use safely unless you're a qualified gunsmith and/or mechanic and really know what you're doing. I do not recommend them.
How does a "toothpaste action job" work? Obviously, you need to know your way around the innards of your firearm. If you don't, ask a knowledgeable friend or your local gunsmith to show you how to disassemble your gun to the level required (and make sure your friend[s] really are knowledgeable - they may not be as good as they think they are, which can lead to very expensive damage to your gun!). For a quick visual introduction to how the trigger mechanism looks, see this short video on how to improve a Smith & Wesson revolver's trigger pull. Even if yours doesn't look quite the same, the way it works will be basically similar.
Take off the sideplate of your snubnose revolver (or, if yours doesn't have a removable sideplate, do whatever yours needs to expose the trigger and hammer mechanism), and smear toothpaste over and well into all the moving parts (i.e. the mating surfaces, that move over and/or against each other when the trigger is pulled) of the trigger and hammer. Reassemble the gun, and (making sure it's not loaded - use snap-caps if the owner's manual recommends them) dry-fire it several hundred times; then disassemble it again and clean it very thoroughly, probably using hot water and a toothbrush to make sure all the toothpaste is removed from the moving parts. Dry the gun thoroughly, and before reassembling it, give the moving parts a good spritz with WD-40 to ensure that all water has been removed. Oil or lube as normal, then reassemble the gun and test it. You should find that the action is smoother, although not necessarily lighter unless you've worked on the springs as well.
You can read more about the "toothpaste trigger job" on firearms forums: an online search will reveal several links. Here are three representative discussions:
Action slick up with toothpaste
Toothpaste or valve grinding compound???
That should give you enough information to understand how this works. I've done it to several of my revolvers, and found a noticeable improvement in trigger smoothness. If you're still not happy about trying it yourself, there's always a professional trigger job by a gunsmith to make things even better.
Peter
21 comments:
WD-40 is junk and I'd rather not spray it on the innards of my pistole. it will gunk it up horribly. Instead, dry as thoroughly as possible, them borrow the wife's hair dryer and blow hot air over the moving parts for 10 minutes or so. Then lubricate with the correct oil.
Also, Wolff springs. Great product, I've installed several of their spring kits and you will notice a slight to moderate improvement for not much cost. Really improved my stock AR-15 trigger.
Keep in mind that the internal parts on many pistols are case hardened. Over use of an abrasive will remove the hardened surface exposing the "softer" steel underneath.
This has the added benefit of preventing plaque buildup.
I have a pistol that had a heavy - 13-ish pounds - pull. I found by polishing the parts that were sliding against each other with Flitz on an old piece of denim did wonders. Still had a heavy trigger, but, it was much smoother and did actually reduce the pull by 2 - 3 pounds. Before one goes lopping coils off springs or swapping out springs, polish the rough bits first. Some primers are harder than others and the extra force MAY be needed for reliable operation. Secondly, you aren't using this thing for a pistol match, in a life and death situation, you likely aren't going to notice the trigger at all.
Haven't dealt with firearm nor other mechanicals, but have done some optical work, with the set of course to fine to very fine abrasives. It both amuses and concerns me that nowadays one or two the of grades of really, really fine aluminum oxide I have (and have used) would get a big [NANOPARTICLE HAZARD] label.
It'll go a little quicker if you use valve-lapping compound. But in both cases, you have to be certain you completely clean it.
I put Wolff Springs in all my pistols.
Good stuff.
I did an "Italian Trigger Job" on my SP101 in .357.
Whenever you find yourself sitting for periods of time, you repeatedly pull the trigger.
Great gun, but the last time I shot it, I went to eject the spent cartridges and the cylinder started pushing off the crane.
I had to pry the brass out.
I still don't know why that happened, but I won't carry a gun that can do that.
IMO, trigger work / replacement trigger assemblies are almost a necessity with modern factory guns, especially DA / SA revolvers.
Overrated after release I have found most detrimental to accuracy, with excess weight the next problem.
The best work I have had was from machinist who became gunsmiths, blueprinting triggers and firearms to work exactly as intended.
My favored gunsmith is such a man, Saltzman Gun Works, in Tipton, IN. They do excellent work on triggers, 1911s, and match / target rifles.
Quality is never cheap, but they are worth it. That said, they charged a friend less than $1,000, plus parts, to build him a 0.25" @100 yds 6.5 Creedmore target rifle. Sweet rifle on a Remington short action. (Done years ago). I paid retail for any work they may have done for me. /JCS.
John in Indy
I have a 686-4 that I replaced the stock springs with Wolff springs. Double action was beautiful. Single action was so light as to be almost scary. I eventually re-replaced the springs. It's still pretty nice but I'm not worried that a hard look will make it go bang.
I had my 586 tuned by the gunsmith I spent a couple years apprenticing under, many moons ago. I asked him to make it smooth, rather than light, and was extremely pleased with the result. It cost me a BBQ lunch from Goode Co. to get him to do it for me.
30 years later, when my wife wanted a better trigger on her Ruger SP 101 357 mag, I sent it to Clark's Custom Guns. That was quite a bit more expensive but the work was superb.
Learning to run a DA revolver is time well spent for anyone who carries a firearm.... any firearm, imo.
Lalo
If I may.....rather than "lopping off coils" on springs, try reducing the diameter of the spring. Shortening springs often has unpleasant results; reducing the diameter reduces the spring rate - the poundage of the spring - without shortening it.
To reduce the diameter, slide the spring over a close-fitting rod and very gently introduce the spring to a fine or very fine moving grinding wheel while rotating the spring around the mandrel (that's the close fitting rod on which you have slid the spring). I happen to have a Tormek sharpener for woodworking tools, Tormeks come with a 600 grit water bath stone and stones of 1000, 2000 and 4000 grit are available. A hand gouge sharpened with a 2000 grit water bath stone will make a scalpel hide itself in shame, and let's not talk about that 4000 grit edge.... A "fine" (which really isn't) grinding wheel will remove material quickly (we're all impatient) but there's advantage in doing it sloooowly. It's helpful to use a micrometer to measure diameter reduction, and a Pro Tip here - have one or two spare springs because you will go too far the first time.
Search AlGore's Intertubes for "spring rate measuring tool" to learn how to measure the spring rate of random springs, and you can build a data sheet on springs.
Flitz and a Q-tip works well to polish contact parts in the trigger assembly. A different angle on a transfer bar can change the trigger pull. And the springs which can affect the pull and break points. At all cost never use a dremel on gun parts.
WD-40 is a water displacement (hence the WD) for electronics. Not good for firearms. There is a shellac in the compound that when dried it leaves a layer of gunk. If you don't believe me spray a pane of glass with it. come back in a day or so and you can scrape it off with a razor blade. I use electrical contact cleaner to blast carbon and grease out of guns.
Back in 1986 I was detailed to the Border Patrol Academy as a firearms instructor. The Patrol had started issuing Ruger Security Six stainless steel revolvers in .357 magnum. I checked one out as my daily revolver so I could instruct the trainees with the same firearm they had. We found the Rugers to have really rough trigger pulls. Not all that heavy but gritty.
We bought tubes of Flitz polishing compound and at the beginning of each day we would fill the action with Flitz. Each afternoon at the end of the training day we would thoroughly clean the weapon and insert more Flitz. Within a short period of time the action smoothed up. Mind you we were shooting alot.
(Uncle Sugar's ammo, too.)
So try it.
Something to be aware of: If you ever do fire your sidearm in self defense, there will instantly be three law firms involved--one representing your gun manufacturer, on representing your ammo manufacturer, and one representing you. If the other side gets even a whiff that you have modified your sidearm, you are on your own, and they will paint you as a homicidal maniac.
Now, that said, "It is better to be tried by twelve than carried by six". Do what you gotta do.
I agree with the WD-40 flush above. The WD stands for Water Displacement. It is also true that if left to sit, it will dry out and become gummy. I would follow it with brake cleaner, allow everything to dry, the finish with CRC Powerlube. It is a foaming lube that will migrate into every nook and cranny to prevent rust.
Learn how to stage the hammer with the trigger. Action jobs are perilous to reliability. Also dry fire thousands of times with the fingers of both hands.
For those with bad hands due to age, a good .32 H&R LCR wll do all thats needful, six rounds ra!her than five, and a .22 LR version makes a great trainer/understudy for the carry gun... and it WORKS, cuz nobody wants to leak!
I have a snubby Taurus 357 Magnum that is my coffee table pistola. I did purchase some short barrel ammo to reduce the muzzle flash. I have fired it but not in decades. I have been using Gunzilla for over 20 years now. Terrific CLP. It works. Heck I just used it on the gears of my sliding garage door;-)
I had the acquaintance of an Olympic-level world champion shooter, whose speed and accuracy still defy comparison. He was literally shooting not in the top 1/10th of a percent, but literally in the top three, period, out of tens of thousands of shooters.
His secret to an action job on a matched pair of revolvers was to load the workings with toothpaste (ordinary Crest was his preference), then watch his favorite gunslinging westerns and action flicks, shooting along with the good guys at the bad guys on the video monitor, with snap caps loaded instead of live rounds.
IIRC, about two weekend movie marathons was enough to take all the roughness out of the innards, accomplishing via fun what people used to pay Colt's Custom Shop to do. Figure a couple of thousand cycles per pistol.
Then he'd wash out all the toothpaste, dry the insides out with a blow dryer, then oil and/or grease as appropriate to manufacturer's recommendations.
I couldn't argue with a guy who regularly shot courses of fire in 1/2 to 1/4 the time of what most competitors were doing (still does, when last I looked), with no misses, at least insofar as taking all the roughness out, and leaving nothing but butter-smooth in its place.
Dad once met a S&W factory gunsmith. One of the things he learned was at the factory they had a frame hooked up to a motor linked to pull a trigger. Clean and lube a revolver, lock it in place, and turn it on. However many hours it was, things had smoothed up enough internally to really help the action.
Also said the big spring to worry about was the trigger slide return spring, in standard revolvers it was much heavier than necessary to be CERTAIN that when dirty and maybe unlubed it would always return the trigger. This was before you could order from Wolff one of their spring sets, he had a 'never cut more than 'x' coils off the spring' rule.
On polishing it was just polish the high points where the parts actually wore against each other; if you tried to polish everything perfectly flat you could wind up with a sloppy fit.
Change your ammunition first.
Cases stick in chambers due to rough chamber walls and/or high ammunition pressure forcing the brass into the minute irregularities of the chamber wall.
If this occured suddenly, I'd check the ammo first for any signs of over pressure (protruding primers, flattened primers, distortions in the cases, scratch marks on the sides of the cases from removal).
The chambers won't suddenly become rough, so if the problem suddenly appeared, check the ammo first.
Was the ammo handloaded?
Inspect the chamber walls with a bright light and/or bore scope.
Have you been shooting .38 Spl in it?
The shorter cases can allow a carbon/powder residue ring to build up which may act to impede removal of the longer and higher pressure magnum loads.
Take it to a professional for evaluation.
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