Mike Irwin
Staff
I just spent the better part of the last 4 hours recutting the single-action sear seat on the HAMMER on a friend's 29-3.
The $#(*#)(*&% bonehead (wasn't my friend, he bought this used for a good price, I wonder why...) who had decided to "lighten" his trigger pull took a file to the top-shelf face in order to reduce the depth of the notch, reducing its depth to WAY below what could be considered normal, safe, or prudent.
He also rounded off the sear face, which even further reduced sear engagement.
As you can imagine, the hammer would push off. It would push off so easily, in fact, that I was hit with a violent allergy sneeze while I had the hammer back and the gun held in both hands, and the hammer dropped.
So, as I said, I just spent the better part of 4 hours recutting the sear seat, making it deeper. Of course, now that I've done that, the case hardening is gone, so the next step is to recase the area using Casenit and a blow torch, and hope that my heat sinks are up to the challenge.
Then I get to recut the proper angle on the trigger sear itself, which will also require a little Casenit love to make it all nice and right again.
For those of you who know S&W revolvers, you'll know that cutting on the HAMMER is absolutely the WORST way of trying to lighten the trigger pull. The case hardening is very thin, and once you're through it, you've either A) ruined the hammer, or B) need to take the proper steps to unruin the hammer, which means recasing the parts.
Word to those own S&W revolvers (or any handgun, for that matter) who THINK they know what they're doing and want to work on their own guns...
CHANCES ARE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!
If you really want to work on your own guns, there are shop manuals out there, the best for an S&W revolver is by Jerry Khunhausen.
Buy one, and read the ENTIRE manual before you even think about starting.
Then, if you still want to give it a try, invest in the proper tools. Brownell's sells them.
Last, GO SLOWLY, have the shop manual open in front of you, and refer to it often.
The job that I'm doing for my friend, if taken to a gunsmith for repair, would likely result in a new hammer being fitted ($50 or so), possibly a new trigger (another $50), and the 'smith's time, at least another $50 to $100.
And oh yeah, if you're doing trigger work, PUT THE DREMEL DOWN!
The $#(*#)(*&% bonehead (wasn't my friend, he bought this used for a good price, I wonder why...) who had decided to "lighten" his trigger pull took a file to the top-shelf face in order to reduce the depth of the notch, reducing its depth to WAY below what could be considered normal, safe, or prudent.
He also rounded off the sear face, which even further reduced sear engagement.
As you can imagine, the hammer would push off. It would push off so easily, in fact, that I was hit with a violent allergy sneeze while I had the hammer back and the gun held in both hands, and the hammer dropped.
So, as I said, I just spent the better part of 4 hours recutting the sear seat, making it deeper. Of course, now that I've done that, the case hardening is gone, so the next step is to recase the area using Casenit and a blow torch, and hope that my heat sinks are up to the challenge.
Then I get to recut the proper angle on the trigger sear itself, which will also require a little Casenit love to make it all nice and right again.
For those of you who know S&W revolvers, you'll know that cutting on the HAMMER is absolutely the WORST way of trying to lighten the trigger pull. The case hardening is very thin, and once you're through it, you've either A) ruined the hammer, or B) need to take the proper steps to unruin the hammer, which means recasing the parts.
Word to those own S&W revolvers (or any handgun, for that matter) who THINK they know what they're doing and want to work on their own guns...
CHANCES ARE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!
If you really want to work on your own guns, there are shop manuals out there, the best for an S&W revolver is by Jerry Khunhausen.
Buy one, and read the ENTIRE manual before you even think about starting.
Then, if you still want to give it a try, invest in the proper tools. Brownell's sells them.
Last, GO SLOWLY, have the shop manual open in front of you, and refer to it often.
The job that I'm doing for my friend, if taken to a gunsmith for repair, would likely result in a new hammer being fitted ($50 or so), possibly a new trigger (another $50), and the 'smith's time, at least another $50 to $100.
And oh yeah, if you're doing trigger work, PUT THE DREMEL DOWN!