S&W 642 help?

[Texas by God]

Trying to figure out something here. Long story short this .38 Special S&W 642 has a broken hand. The little pin for the torsion spring is gone.
So, I ordered a replacement hand and spring (from Numrich) and what I got is puzzling me.
To me the hands are different, and the springs definitely are different. The new one has a “foot”.

Is the 642 different from other J frames in regard to these parts?
The top set is the original, bottom the replacement set.


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[Texas by God]

Judging by the crickets here, I sent an email to S&W. We will see.


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[Mk42gunner]

To me, it looks like the old spring broke its foot off, probably when the pin was lost from the hand. If you turn the spring over, it looks very much like the old one, maybe with a touch more bend.

It has been decades since I had a model 36 apart, and I don't remember ever working on one of the concealed hammer J frames.

Robert.

[Texas by God]

Same here, Robert.
Decades since I worked on a m36, but this has me stumped. Even the replacement hand looks a bit different than the original.
Hopefully S&W will get back to me.


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[JDHasty]

Robert,

That is what I thought when I looked at the photo. My inclination is if the holes and pins line up the same it may be the service part.

[Tatume]

Have you tried to fit it to the gun?

[Texas by God]

No I haven’t. I haven’t tried to fit anything yet. The spring has nothing to keep it in place that I can see. That has been the hangup. Also timing the hand worries me.
S&W returned my email; stating that the serial number seems incorrect….
Well okay, I’ll send a pic of the serial number to them (inside crane and on grip frame bottom) to see what’s said.


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[Tatume]

Also, timing the hand worries me.

Why not let S&W do it for you? Despite stories to the contrary, they have always done good work for me, especially on finely fitted operations like this.

[Texas by God]

That’s my plan, Tatume.


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[Texas by God]

I am happy to report that S&W treated me right. They received it on 1-30; it came back to my house today.
There was no charge, and they paid shipping both ways!
It was “as it ought to be.”


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[Tatume]

Good to hear. They have always done right by me as well.

[Mk42gunner]

I have never had to send any firearm back to the manufacturer, I guess I have been lucky. Glad to hear of the quick service and lack of cost.

So how does it shoot after its trip to be fixed?

Robert

[Texas by God]

I will shoot it tomorrow and see.
Wife and I had to babysit a 1 year old, a 4 year old, and an 8 year old this evening.
They wore me out!
I tested it with 125 gr gold dots and 158 gr swchp over 3.5 grs of Red Dot.
It’s a light weight angry little fella but shoots just fine!


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[Mk42gunner]

I might be able to keep up with a one year old, as long as he isn't into moving faster than a slow crawl. Toddling and faster? No way.

Sounds like an enjoyable evening though.

I may have to keep my eyes open for one of the hammerless J frames. They make a lot of sense to me since I very rarely fire my snubbies in single action anyway.

Robert