trigger job done on 642 smith

[arjacobson]

I cannot believe how much of a difference there is with a good trigger job.... I got my airweight back from a guy I went to high school with.. Turns out he got into gunsmithing years ago and only lives 30 miles away. Fantastic work..I didn't want the trigger lightened just smoothed up.. I have always heard the terms"just like butter"" breaks like a glass rod" I now know what all the fuss is about.. First trigger job I ever had done but it will not be the last....!!

[fecmech]

No disrespect to your friend but before you depend on that airwieght for serious social purposes run at least 50 rds through it double action and make sure all 50 fire with the primer you're using or the ammo you are carrying. The hammer fall is shorter in DA than SA and a gun that will fire 100% of the time SA may not do it DA. "J" frame Smith's can be problematic in this regard.

[rintinglen]

642 is DA only, still, always test firing your carry gun(s) with the ammo you tend to carry is never a bad idea. 50 is good, but 3 times that is better.
unless the guy working on it was a boob, he left the main spring intact, polished the rebound slide, replaced the rebound slide spring, checked the frame for high point rubs from trigger, hand or hammer, removed burrs on contact surfaces and maybe put in washers on the hammer pin and trigger pin to reduce friction. Clean it all out, and apply a good, quality lube,and the trigger pull is 10-20% lighter and feels even better.

[arjacobson]

It will be test fired but the springs were not lightened or changed. It was just polished up on the inside. The guy who did it was Mike Heffron from Heffron firearms classics. He knows what he is doing........

[arjacobson]

642 is DA only, still, always test firing your carry gun(s) with the ammo you tend to carry is never a bad idea. 50 is good, but 3 times that is better.
unless the guy working on it was a boob, he left the main spring intact, polished the rebound slide, replaced the rebound slide spring, checked the frame for high point rubs from trigger, hand or hammer, removed burrs on contact surfaces and maybe put in washers on the hammer pin and trigger pin to reduce friction. Clean it all out, and apply a good, quality lube,and the trigger pull is 10-20% lighter and feels even better.

Exactly!! Feels butter smooth-I didn't want it lightened as it is my back up carry gun.. Feels much better than stock even after all the dry firing!!

[MtGun44]

You are on the right track if you made sure that the original springs were not lightened
for a carry gun. Proper smoothing and polishing can do a lot to make it much more
useable.

Some gunsmiths and amateurs will unscrew/shorten the tension spring on K, L and
N frame Smiths, but the J has a coil spring, so it needs to be replaced with a lighter
one or cut to lighten the spring. This is fine for target shooting (not what a 642 is
all about) but is a bad idea for self defense. Some lightening is possible and still
have the gun be reliable, but there is always the possibility of cold lube or a bit of
dirt making it misfire even though it works in testing with lighter springs.

Bill

[arjacobson]

Yeah he didn't lighten anything up other than what the fine stoning of the internals did. I was pretty adamant about keeping the springs and such stock though. You could just about imagine what a lawyer would say in court if I had to defend myself with a "gun designed to kill with a hair trigger" I am really looking forward to finding an older colt officers revolver or k frame smith and have him do a full target trigger job....Should be a heck of a shooter