Can any revolver trigger be improved

M

Mike H

New member
I have a new Rossi .38 spl. blue in 4 inch.

It's a nice looking, if cheap revolver, and it shoots very well. It is my house gun of choice, and a gun my wife finds pleasant to shoot.

So it is, that in addition to having the cylinder adjusted (binds occasionally when hot) I want to try and improve the terrible DA trigger, the SA is excellent.

So can the trigger be improved by a decent 'smith, or are there some triggers that just can't be improved at any price.

Thanks

Mike H
 
Maybe--but most gunsmiths, I think, would look askance at that Rossi. Even assuming a particular gunsmith is familiar with them and willing to work on it, he is working on a gun built to a price for which parts may or may not be available. Depending on what he finds, he may or may not be able to make any real improvements, and he may or may not be able to make you any happier with it. Either way he will have time into it that he could spend more profitably otherwise. It doesn't take long to spend more time (i.e., money) on it than the gun is worth... A very good old gunsmith friend of mine had a firm policy of not touching things such as that. It just wasn't worth the trouble.

This is not a 'cheap shot'--but a good used S&W would have had a decent DA in the first place. You might think about trading into one, say a nice Model 15...if your wife likes the Rossi, she would love a Smith!
 
IMO, there's no mass produced machine that can't be improved with some custom fitting, so I say yes.

Finding somebody to do it may be difficult, though.
 
I'd say yes it could almost certainly be improved. The question you have to answer though is, is it worth the price to do so? Trigger jobs on most revolvers (at least in this area) typically run in the $60-$100 range. As this is your house gun and you're trying to make it more shootable for yourself and your wife, by all means find a gunsmith to take care of this for you (as well as the binding, which would worry me even more). If you explain what you need to a good gunsmith, they can often do some basic tuneup without incurring a major time/cost for you. It may not be a showpiece of their capabilities, but it might be 'good enough' to get you along. Not dissing your choice of weapons but at some point it's better to sell a lower quality weapon, unmodified, than to put lots of extra money into it, then turn around and buy a better quality weapon that won't require modifications. (Though some S&W's have horrible triggers too!)
 
Well, even if you got another revolver, I would keep the Rossi for a spare.

What if your primary gun had to go to Doctor Smith?

What if you actually had to use your gun to defend yourself? The police might take it and keep it until the case was resolved. Are you any less likely to have a home invasion tonite just because you had one last night? Probably more likely because some of the BG's friends might come back to even the score.
 
Mike H,

Where are you located?
I have a Rossi .38 special snubbie that I just got back from Tamara's favorite smith here in TN.

I had the trigger action smoothed and lightened including new springs, reliability checked, cylinder timing adjusted, cylinder gap reduced to .003 (or was that .03?), and test fired.

$39.00. That's Three Niner.

Robert Foote--
Depending on what he finds, he may or may not be able to make any real improvements, and he may or may not be able to make you any happier with it. Either way he will have time into it that he could spend more profitably otherwise. It doesn't take long to spend more time (i.e., money) on it than the gun is worth... A very good old gunsmith friend of mine had a firm policy of not touching things such as that. It just wasn't worth the trouble.
This is not a 'cheap shot'--but a good used S&W would have had a decent DA in the first place. You might think about trading into one, say a nice Model 15...if your wife likes the Rossi, she would love a Smith!
Click to expand...
Umm...a couple of contentious points, there, friend. First, how many Rossi's do you own? Have you shot? How many have you worked on?

I consider Rossi revolvers to be comparable to a Sistema 1911.
Both are copied and built from the original Mfr's specs (S&W in Rossi's case, Colt in Sistema's).

My Rossi is 100% after 2500 rounds. Not much to some, I know...but I got it used and have no idea how many more were shot before I got it. It's a tough little pit bull.

Also, Smith And Wesson STILL hasn't renounced their Klinton sell-out agreement. I will continue to encourage ALL gun owners to buy ONLY used Smiths until the company decides they want to restore their heritage and with it, their reputation.

Keep your Rossi, Mike H.
 
I'm in Maryland regrettably.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I hope to take the Rossi along with a Makarov for repair this weekend.

I'll let you know if the 'smith takes on the job and if so how it turns out. Unfortunately his waiting time is 4 weeks, so it may be a while.

Mike H
 
I'd say you can't improve a trigger beyond perfect. I've not seen that coming from a factory though.

All my triggers improved on their own with a bit of patience and a couple are near perfect without gunsmithing. When I get a new gun I dry fire the crap out of it (a couple thousand cycles over serveral days) . Smooths up the double action trigger pull considerably. This'll also lighten the single action drop weight (especially if you press against the rear of the hammer with your thumb during release a few times) butt it won't lighten up the weight of the double action pull. That would be springs. You could store it cocked and maybe lighten the springs enough to be noticable? Now we're talking real patience though... A smith would be quicker.
 
My local smith (Scotts Gunsmithing, Glen Burnie) just refused to work on the Rossi, understandable maybe, but it's my dime after all.

The search for a smith who is prepared to degrade himself goes on ;)

Mike H
 
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