S&W 686 springs.

S

Sling Shot

New member
Hello all. This is whats on the table. I have a S&W 686 7-shot revolver. I have been reading and studying the Jerry Kuhnhausen shop manual. I think I am capable of removing the side plate, and I think I could change the mainspring, rebound spring, and trigger return spring, and maybe even polish the rebound slide, but I am not ready to go beyond this. Would changing the above mentioned springs with a Wolff set help smooth and lighten the trigger with a correct choice of spring weight, and still be able to maintain proper ignition of all factory primers? I have looked at the Brownell's catalog, and they have the Wolff springs that I need. They come in different spring weights such as 13, 14, and 15 pound. What spring weights would you suggest that I use on my project to lighten and smoothe the DA pull to a certain degree, and still be able to maintain reliable ignition of all factory primers? Your help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Sling Shot
 
I would order all three and test each to see what works best. Most spring kits I have used have been shipped with
all the diffrent wts.
 
S&W 24, that is exactly what I wanted to avoid, changing all the different spring weights until I found a combination that was reliable, but I may have to resort to that. I was just hoping that somebody has tried the different weight springs, and has come up with a reliable combination of spring weights. Or maybe I could be fooling myself into whether or not changing springs at all would do anything good. Sling Shot
 
Sling Shot,

Each gun is a little different, with varying amounts of friction the springs need to overcome. That why it's kinda hard to give you a difinitive answer up front.

Having said that, my usual routine is to replace the maispring with the reduced power version, and install the 13# rebound spring. In the last several (7?) Smiths I've done, that combination has worked just fine. On one, I did end up putting the 15# rebound spring in.

Good Luck...

Joe
 
You're going to have to try it with all three.

In some guns, unless you do a thorough polishing of the action parts, the 13-lb. rebound slide spring (which IS the trigger return spring, by the way) won't return the trigger reliably because there's too much interference.

The same is true of ignition with the lighter mainspring.

I have a friend's revolver apart on my bench right now. It's got a couple of problems, both spring related and non-spring related, that I've got to get sorted out for him.

He was having ignition reliability problems with the Wolff main spring, but I really think something else was going on. I'll see if an action job cures it, but I'm thinking that part of it is actually a hammer alignment problem that's going to require shims.
 
Joe and Mike, thanks for your thoughts. I understand that all revolvers will be slightly different due to machining tolerances and fitting. I was just trying to get a roundabout combination to try. I figured I would have to experiment a little, especially with the rebound springs.

Joe, have you ever measured the DA trigger pull of your Smith with the reduced power mainspring and the 15 lb. rebound spring, or any other of your Smith's with the reduced power mainspring and 13 lb. rebound spring?
 
I have wolff springs in my 686. I have the reduced power mainspring and it can be picky with what primers I use in my reloads, when I use federal no problem. When I use others I might get a light hit 1 or two times out of a hundred. If you want to stay reliable I would stay with the standard weight hammer spring. On the trigger spring I think wolff sells them in packs of three different weights at their website. I had my trigger spring a tad to light for returning properly, pulled it out and stretched it now it works fine.
 
I have the new 11 lb rebound spring in my 686, and the trigger works just fine. I also have the new Wolff main spring. I works just fine too (but I have to tighten it down much harder than my 19 with the firing pin in the hammer.)
 
http://www.brownells.com

Has a new 10-pack of Wolff 11 lb. rebound slide springs. These are perfect in all my Smiths. The catalog number is:

969-000-033

It works out to about a buck a spring, it's even easier than clipping the factory spring.

I run factory hammer, or mainsprings, with out a problem.

I shorten the strain screw a bit, .010"-.020". If you go too short on the strain screw primers may misfire, then a new longer screw will have to be installed.

Polish the surfaces and knock off the sharp edges on the rebound slide. These things will smooth up an action a lot.
 
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