sticking trigger, dan wesson 357

[mike in co]

guys,
i bought a 6" 357 dan wesson today with one small( i hope) issue.
after firing(dry), the trigger does not return forward. a simple tap will move it forward. trying to cock it will not reset it.
i opened it up, and it was dry no lube. i put a little kroil on lots of pivot points. things were a little smoother, but still the trigger stays back when pulled..
there are some rub marks on the left side plate where the trigger touches( the trigger has a raised semi circle rib on it..i assume this minimizes ang tilting of the trgger when pulled.


help
mike in co

[MtGun44]

Need a little grease on the appropriate parts, sounds like. OTOH, if it has a
rebound slide like a S&W, likely some yahoo cut the spring too short trying to
lighten the dbl action pull. I'd start with a grease dab and order a new spring.

Bill

[jhrosier]

Mike,
The pins that the trigger pivots on are pretty much too soft on the early models and bend easily.
The only cure is a trip back to the factory, if they still have parts.
I sold mine after the third time this happened.

Jack

[leftiye]

Sounds like the hand might be a little tight between the frame and the extractor star.

[dubber123]

Sounds like the hand might be a little tight between the frame and the extractor star.

This is possible, as are some of the other explainations. If the hand won't drop down, the trigger won't return. Not enough clearance between the hand and the star will do it, if the star has been peened. My brother and I just fixed ....a 6" DW .357 yesterday that had this problem. Sounds pretty common.

[Jon K]

Ditto dubber & leftiye, give it a good cleaning, reset the cylinder-barrel gap and see if that clears it.

Jon

[BD]

I'm going by memory here, but I'm thinking that the small spring, (hand spring?) can cause this issue if the hammer falls with the spring installed incorrectly. It gets kinked and then will pinch hanging up the hammer.

A few years ago I did a fluff and buff trigger job on both of my DW triggers. The basics of which involved stoning all of those surfaces which slide past each other, and replacing the springs. Worked wonders. The Monson gun in particular had a lot of high machining marks on the frame that the hammer rode against.

When I bought that Moson 15-2 you could barely thumb back the hammer and it would not fall on it's own. It was totally gummed up with coagulated oil, had a 6" barrel on it ruined by cleaning from the muzzle, and had the kinked hand spring. My theory is that the hammer was dragging so the owner just kept putting the oil to it. He died and left it to his son who put it in the closet for 10 years. For $150 and a little work I got a Beautiful gun. It has some of the nicest blueing I've ever seen and will shoot way better than I can hold.

BD

[Doc Highwall]

Here is a Dan Wesson that I fixed a short while ago, the spring that holds the hand against the ratchet kept slipping off the transfer bar. a small spot of weld extended it so it can not fall off the transfer bar. If you look you can see the spring out of position.

[mike in co]

gentlemen,
if you look at the pic above, you will see a small allen screw at the back of the trigger, at the top of its curve.
i'm not sure of its actual intent, but guessing an over travel set screw.

in use it has put a small dent in the frame at full stroke. there was a burr there that i removed....that was not the issue.
tried several adjustments, but in the end backing the screw out was the correction.
the small dent in the frame was allowing the trigger to over travel putting some part "over center", which prevented the springs from returning the trigger forward. added a drop of loctite and all is well.
it took less than a 1/4 turn to go from fully functional to a stuck trigger.

thanks
mike

[lead Foot]

I had the same problem and I worked it out the hard way before I read this thread. dubber, leftye, Bd and Doc are right. The over travel screw is interesting I will have to look out for that one. Any way I thought while it was apart I should polish all moving parts. I was amazed it was 75% smother and the double action feels heaps lighter. The only problem is the ramp is a bit gritty now I must have gone through the case hardening. Jhrosier is right the parts are a bit soft.
Lead foot;

[leftiye]

Mike, On a Smith, that is just what you get when you have a tight hand. The hand pushes into the gap too far and sticks, Not letting it overtravel (older smiths had no provision to adjust this) stops the problem. You must have a nice tight hand.

[MtGun44]

Wow, the guts of the DW are NOTHING like a S&W! Sorry for the advice based
on the assumption (oops) that it would be similar inside to the S&W, like a Taurus
is a LOT like a S&W inside. Clearly DW started with a clean sheet of paper.

Bill

[RoyRogers]

FWIW - regular old kroil will gum up over time and really slow up the works inside intricate revolver actions, including the DW - resulting in a sluggish action and light FP hits - among other problems. It is good for freeing things up but should be blown out and a good lube used after using the kroil. You can make new pins from drill rod to replace soft ones - a lathe helps but is not necessary. CZ may even have new replacement pins.