Going to investigate a trigger job for my Astra snub.

[HighValleyRanch]

^^^^^

 

[Pond James Pond]

No, but a lot of people think they can forego the former by simply spending the money for the latter, and will be a better shooter because of it.

Well, that is not an inaccurate assumption.
A given shooter will probably shoot a given gun better once it has had improvements to the trigger.

I have never made any changes to any of my handgun triggers, beyond cleaning and lubing. My CZ I shoot DA-SA in competitions. My Redhawk is DA in competitions.

The point is, I don't think I rely on a better trigger to shoot. If others do, that's their problem.

I don't see why I should keep my EDC trigger in a state that is not as easy to shoot.

Particularly as the likelihood of my needing to shoot it in a high stress situation far out strips the likelihood of my having to shoot a completely alien-to-me gun in a high stress situation.

If that is not the case in the US; if people are are swapping guns left, right and centre, then I think it's a relevant point. But not in my case. I have two comp guns. I only shoot them in comps. I have one EDC. I only carry that. I shoot all three when I can.

And, once more, I don't see that one (better trigger) excludes the other (practice).

 

[Ricklin]

Really good

There are people that are really good, in spite of their equipment.

There are people that are really bad, despite having excellent equipment.

Typically those that are highly skilled (really good) have both an excellent skill set, and excellent equipment.

The equipment is secondary.

 

[Don P]

By bearing surfaces, do you mean the points where the mechanism is immobilised within the frame

Where surfaces touch each other and where they make contact with the frame. As Bill stated leave the sear alone

 

[Safestuffer]

I wouldn't let a person who wasn't intimately familiar with a revolver internals do any work on a gun that was no longer produced and had no easy availability to spare parts.

However, there likely is no need to indulge in such nonsense due to a rather ingenious design element of at least some if not all of the Astra revolvers. One that I'm surprised no other revolver manufacturer has copied.

If you take the grips off of your Astra, is there a round wheel near the bottom of the grip frame with holes inletted to different depths, inside one of which the main spring rests? If so you are in luck, the trigger weight on the Astra I have is adjustable by rotating that wheel so the main spring rests in whichever hole you choose...the deeper the inlet of the hole, the less compressed the main spring is, and the lighter the trigger pull.

 

[Pond James Pond]

Where surfaces touch each other and where they make contact with the frame. As Bill stated leave the sear alone

I've only smoothed out "vertical surfaces". I left the sear and all springs well alone but where stuff runs against the frame, I polished it. It is much smoother, if not much lighter.

If so you are in luck, the trigger weight on the Astra I have is adjustable by rotating that wheel so the main spring rests in whichever hole you choose...

I do have that and had already set my spring to the lightest setting. The logic being if the spring ever got tired, I could take up some of the pre-load with the next recess. It's still not a light trigger pull though. I don't mind the weight as much as the "stackiness" of it and the polishing helped a lot!

Do you own any Astras and if so, which?

 

[Radny97]

I own several NC-6s. They are great. There’s nothing else on the market that gives you a six shot j-frame with a four inch barrel. The way the forcing cone is embedded in the frame makes them exceptionally strong for their size. I’ve run the hottest buffalo bore loads through them without a problem.
This may not be the case in Europe but parts for astras are exceptionally hard to find in the US. Astra closed its doors in 1997, so there’s going to be a limited supply. Also, having done my own work on several Astras, i learned that many of the internal parts are not interchangeable. These guns were hand fitted, so frequently the replacement parts have to be hand fitted. I wouldn’t do too much more than you’ve already done. Don’t cut off any spring coils, don’t touch the sear. Better to dry fire the crap out of it. See if you can get to 20,000 trigger pulls and it should smooth out nicely.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Safestuffer]

I've only smoothed out "vertical surfaces". I left the sear and all springs well alone but where stuff runs against the frame, I polished it. It is much smoother, if not much lighter.




I do have that and had already set my spring to the lightest setting. The logic being if the spring ever got tired, I could take up some of the pre-load with the next recess. It's still not a light trigger pull though. I don't mind the weight as much as the "stackiness" of it and the polishing helped a lot!

Do you own any Astras and if so, which?

Astra terminator in 44 mag

 

[Pond James Pond]

Astra terminator in 44 mag

The jealousy is actually now a physical pain....

And not least because you have decent grips!

I had tiny wooden ones before, and after it renewed the skin of the web of my thumb on my right hand for the 70th time, I replaced them with more contoured wooden grips, but they still jump in my hand with the recoil...

I own several NC-6s. They are great. There’s nothing else on the market that gives you a six shot j-frame with a four inch barrel.

If I wasn't restricted at the point with what I can buy, I'd probably have jumped on it as it really does look like a nice revolver. But, on reflection, I think the snub fulfils its role better than the NC-6 would.