Mine cycles smoothly over the hammer, in fact it just cycles pretty smooth period. It has since the start. Honestly, for the price I feel the finish on the barrel could be much better, and the wood finish could be much tougher, other than that I'm reasonably happy with both my Henry's. Compared to the prices on used Marlins in .357 and .41 they are a bargain and while for me fit has been great and finish could be better I would bet performance wise both of mine would go toe to toe with the Marlins for a lot less money. It's too bad that your experience has been so sucky, and even though given enough time I'm sure it would get sorted out under their warranty, it's a real PITA to keep sending something back and forth when you'd just plain rather be enjoying using it. Heck, since your sending it back again anyway, I'd still take it out and shoot it one more time, maybe it will be right this time. As for any polishing I just smoothed up the trigger and sear with a little red rouge and my dremel using a small buffing wheel. Made for a much smoother trigger with a nice crisp let off. Without using a trigger gauge I would guess the trigger pull is in the 4.5-5.5 lb range which doesn't bother me too bad as long as it's clean and smooth.