Model 19-3 sear question

G

greenhorng

Inactive
My model 19-3 shoots fine in both double and single action. The problem I have is when decocking from single action, the trigger will sometimes hang on the point of the sear. If I just touch the trigger and then thumb the hammer down it works fine or if I hold the trigger until the hammer is almost half way down it's fine. Some point in between those two and the sear and trigger bind, leaving the hammer about half-cocked. Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
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I've had revolvers that do that. It's just the nature of the close tolerances if you let off the trigger before the hammer has fallen through the sear release point.
 
Both of my Smith and Wessons do it. I think it's pretty common. When you bump it it shoots.

I know of a guy who shot himself in the leg because of it. Lowered the hammer, it got hung up on the trigger, and he put it in his holster without noticing. It got bumped and went off.
 
This was one of those "heard it from a friend" stories, but I trust the source. The gun could have been an older one because the story supposedly took place decades ago.

As far as my guns, I just checked them with a pencil and you are right. The hammer falls but no pencil bounce
 
S&W never designed the gun to be half-cocked, but in some guns, tolerances are such that it's possible to get it into a faux half-cock if everything's just so. It's not good for the gun, though, and even worse for it if you simply pull the trigger to get it out of half-cock. Just recock the hammer and start over. The pics below show what's going on inside.

Normal hammer start position:
HammerStart.jpg


Normal hammer lowering (3). A faux half cock can be achieved if the DA sear is a wee bit too long, in which case, the trigger nose gets jammed behind the DA sear as the hammer's lowered (4).
HammerLowering.jpg


Faux half cock can also happen if the trigger cam rests on the SA sear. Compare close-ups of pics 2 & 5:
Halfcock.jpg


As you figured, hold the trigger fully rearward, or let it fully forward as you let the hammer down. In between is where trouble arises.
 
If it takes work to get the gun to do that, I wouldn't worry about it. If the trigger is interfering with the tip of the DA sear and it happens routinely, the DA sear might be a bit too long or be protruding too far, the result of wear or a being a bit off at the top. I wonder if you have had trigger work done on the gun.

Jim
 
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