bigdog02

Small update Went to the range - took 5 different varieties of ammo, from hot 158gr factory to my pmc 132, federal 130s. I did everything from 6 round dumps, 1 reload 1, controlled pairs, etc. Not a single light primer. No delayed hammer falls at all. Very well might have been that shim binding the hammer once it became cupped. I seem to be having issues with my trigger pull contributing all this as well. Stock main spring and a 15lb rebound, I need to be more conscious of my trigger pull. All great input from everyone - hopefully all solved.

Bought the SSR brand new from a dealer on GB. Came to my local FFL - I checked the (what I thought) important stuff like timing, the extractor star, barrel straightness before I took posession of it. Looked great. It has the DX front sight, so I wanted to change the red ramp to a fiber. I pulled down on the sight and it sort of popped out like it was supposed to but was stuck. I tapped it with my hand and when it let go......the detent and spring yeeted out into the room and there was a massive puff of yellow/white powder that came out onto the flood and was in the channel that sight was sitting in. The little pin was nowhere to be found, the detent and spring were gone. Never did find the pin and assume it was never there to start with and the sight was cemented or glued somewhere before it got to me. The detent and spring when I found them were coated in this white/yellow crusty dried glue/cement material. The raised sight part of the barrel appears to have taken a hard hit at some point and bent it, the sight was glued in place - assuming since the pin was gone. New pin, cleaned up detent and spring and it was back together fine with an SDM fiber - but you can see the damage that was on the gun.

I have amazingly bad luck - so pure paranoia. I dryfire a couple hundred a night on normal nights and prior to bigger matches, much more. I locked up a 625 a standstill within 50 rounds of coming back from SW after a master revolver package. Same 625 the internal lock was catching and locking the gun up intermittently. Original GP100 I started shooting rev competition with I locked up to dead after I dropped a speedloader on a stage and picked it up and put it in the gun (water/dirt/unknown got under the extractor/chambers) and it ceased to function in less than 6 rounds. This same SSR brand new, my front sight system exploded and had issues with ammo I ran through it (turned out to be a spring issue) but also the hammer was hitting the frame on the frame side of the hammer - hence the shims. Brand new 617 I got a little bit ago has a tremendous heavy hard wall after the cylinder lock up but I am just going to live with it because I am tired of having to pop side plates off after every other visit to the range. In all honesty, I have spare hammers and sears because I had planned to try to bob some hammers to experiment but at this point I am afraid to breathe near any of my SW revolvers for fear of inciting more violence against my shooting happiness.

One thing I have learned in the couple seasons shooting SW revolvers: spare parts are good. I have several spare hammers, sears, sear springs. Going to test with more ammo and see how it goes now that the shim is out. Sear replacement is short list of next items to change out.

I think you are partially correct. Went to the range with a bunch of Federal and PMC ammo to test. Installed the cupped shim on the outside before testing and after 50 or so rounds I was able to mimic the "issue" seen in the video. Now I am not sure entirely how these play together but here goes: I THINK the cupped shim, is somehow impeding the hammer fall but only randomly. If I (user error) pull the trigger fast back to the cylinder locking wall that created the click that is heard on the video and the drag on the hammer makes it feel like the hammer has fallen when it is just on the razor edge of going, so I instinctively stat moving the gun - feeling like the hammer has fallen but it has not quite went or is going. This is all speculation on how things are interacting inside the gun with my finger helping cause the problems. Gun ran perfect last year so when I did my break down and clean after the season - i pinched or bent the outward side shim, which just sat there til the past month when matches started back up again. Long story short: hammer impedance coupled with poor trigger pull through can compound each other and cause problems.

No hitch in the dryfire at all - first gentle click when I start pulling the trigger (unlocking cylinder), 3/4 through the pull is the second click (cylinder locking). That is with the cupped shim removed. Yup, used empty cases in all chambers. After it loosened up the second time, I put a drop of blue on the threads before it went back together using the brownell tool. Has not loosened since. I took the gun apart, put the cupped shim back in - with the cup facing into the hammer. Put the gun back together and there is a notable drag (slight but still noticeable) on the hammer when moving it around. I am really leaning into the shim got pinched at some point at the end of last season when I was cleaning the gun and now it is just enough to drag things a tiny bit.

I thought so at first too until the video. The click is audibly separate from the other shots in the video - it clicks - I have pulled the trigger back but the hammer does not fall immediately, then it goes down and you can see me flinch as I had started moving the gun off the target. I only use factory ammo. This happened with Federal 130grain at a match a couple weeks ago and then also at this match with PMC 132s - which is the "big" match ammo I have been using in this gun and have not had any issues with. I appreciate all the insight from you guys. You all have seen and done a lot more so it is helpful to know what to look for and check. I hope to get out this week with it - with both Federal and PMC factory ammo, factory firing pin installed, and the cupped shim removed to see if I can replicate it again.

Trigger, hammer, and rebound slide studs are all nice and solid - no movement at all. After issues with the storage lock on my 625 catching the hammer early on when I started with revolvers, the storage lock was removed from this almost instantly when I got it. Only thing that looked off was the outward side shim on the hammer was cupped - not totally flat. Attached are a couple zoomed in pics of double action parts. No burrs or catches that I can see - just smoothed/mirrored spots.

This was a thought I had too! No trigger stops here at all - the rod has been removed from the rebound slide and there is not one installed on the trigger itself. Yes the gun ran perfectly with the shims and power custom firing pin/stock firing pin for a bunch of matches last year, several majors, etc. At the end of the season I noticed my ejector rod was loosening so I got the brownells tool and some blue loctite and tightened it up. Other than that - all I did was pop the side plate off, do a deep clean of it after the season and put it up until indoor IDPA started up again. Pulled it apart. I had 1 shim on each side of the hammer to help center it. The shim on the outside of the hammer (cover plate side) is slightly cupped. Nothing else jumping out at me. Here is the shortened video of the delay. First shot on the target array I am coming into after the reload. Turn on your sound and set it to .5 speed - you will hear a click and the hammer does not fall immediately.

Sadly it is a newer (new in early 2023) 686 SSR so all MIM. I will pull the shims and get the magnifier out to get a good look at double action surfaces.

Hey guys, I am throwing myself at the mercy of the S&W revolver powers that be. At the last 2 matches I have had a strange issue pop up that has me - and several other revolver shooters scratching our heads a little bit Used this same gun last year with the same exact ammo - no issues. This year across 2 different types of ammo (Federal 130 and PMC 132) I have been getting a weird delay with my hammer falling in double action. The gun internals are stock aside from a couple hammer shims and a 15lb rebound spring. Happened with a power custom firing pin and stock .4955 firing pin. Internals were polished with 1000 grit and extremely light stoning. Same gun ran lights out last year. Only issue since then was my ejector rod loosened up and I tightened it again, changed nothing else. At a match today I managed to catch it on video. There is an audible click on the video, hammer is back and there is a split second delay before it falls. More than enough time for me to pull the shot completely off target. Where should I be looking for a potential culprit?

I don't spin the cylinder, but once I load the cylinder I click it into place and ensure it is seated by trying to spin it. Slowly put gun down into holster until it clicks into place, then touch the top of my three speedloaders to make sure they are all there.

So far shooting mine I have found most federal bulk packs are good, Remington golden bullets work well (any clicks were bad ammo and not the gun), Winchester bulk packs are pretty good but accuracy seems to be a little more off with them. CCIs are the really good stuff though - runs lights out for serious competition shooting.

This is all pretty much what I figured. I would say I can leave these 625 moons loaded til next season. Great info all the way around guys, thanks!

I did do a quick search and did not see this as having been asked recently. Just curious on something I have been wondering about. What is your personal time limit on how long you leave moonclips loaded? Do you have a time limit? I have found I sort of stick to season limits. Once the season is over, any extras I have loaded up get unloaded and the moon clips get wiped down and put back in their containers.

LPA Sights are fantastic and adjustable. They bolt up nicely, are a really clean sight picture, and the clicks for adjustment are good. I have bought several from a seller on ebay (Fusion Firearms) who has had in stock what I am looking for, but also have bought from TK Custom to get them. I run them on all the competition guns I have. LPA Adjustable Sights for S&W Revolvers - TXT0407F1 | TK Custom Store

Interesting - thanks for the info that you see it in a 325 too. I was just going off of my visual with me pressing down the hammer/trigger and seeing where it was holding extended out. Will give it a try with the next range day. I have a bunch of PMC and S&B that seems to be pretty hard. I will give them a go.

Yeah, at the last match out of the 7 REVs competing, I was the only one not reloading. Power factor on my rounds was 195. Spicy as the chrono guys put it. Reloading is completely out of the question for at least a season or 2 - so it is all factory ammo, all the time. I am not even concerned with the trigger pull weight - knowing I am running factory ammo, I know I will need to keep my trigger pull up at 9-10lbs from talking to other posters here. My main purpose for trying the Apex was to see if I could squeak out even more reliability by lightening the hammer and hitting the firing pin faster and harder. Just seemed odd to me that the Apex did not seem to hit the firing pin as completely as a stock hammer.

Hey guys, Quick Summary: 625JM with stock main spring (wolff 1), internals polished, stock firing pin .4955, stock firing pin spring, 15lb rebound spring, I do not reload so all factory ammo - usually Federal, S&B, PMC, Blazer. I have a 625JM that I wanted to see what an Apex Hammer would do in it. If it helps with some solid hits - great, if not, no loss. It installed easily and the trigger and everything worked perfectly. I installed only the hammer for now - with plans to then test and run it, then see about the other parts of the kit (extended firing pin and spring). Well I noticed an oddity and was not sure if this is intentional or something that needs filed on the Apex: When I release the Apex hammer it does not push the firing pin out as far as the stock hammer. I verified it about a dozen times trying to get a measurement - best I can do is that the stock hammer pushes the stock firing pin out about the thickness of a dime. The Apex pushes the stock firing pin out maybe 70-80% the thickness of a dime. I tested it with the extended firing pin a little bit too and same result - it did not quite push it as far out as the stock hammer. Is this intentional? I am trying to see where it is "hitting" if there is something on the Apex hammer that is hanging up on the revolver frame. Best I can see is that there is a lip on the apex hammer below he big flat part of the hammer that smacks the firing pin. It may be there or it may be at the top of the big flat part of the hammer where it is hitting the frame before it fully depresses the firing pin. Just curious to hear what folks who have directly compared the hammers have seen. I have a couple spare hammers so i could get the dremel and cut down some stock hammers if I really want to test the waters with bobbing or start grinding on the Apex, but figured I would ask around before removing metal.

I am an IDPA guy and only rarely do USPSA stuff but have used it in practice and for me it is pretty smooth. I really appreciate only having to reach for the same exact spot each time. Only downside is that you have to make sure you get them loaded on the rail correctly so you do not have them overlapping where they will not come off.

You have hit a lot of the big ones already. All of those are fantastic options. To add to your dilemma - Midwest Competition Works makes a magnetic post style for the 929 (8 shot 9mm). Much the same as DA magnetics and Speed-E-Rack. I am a big fan of Midwest stuff though, use their single posts/double posts for IDPA with my 625. Revolution Rack - Moonclip Holder (38spc/9mm) — Midwest Competition Works Another fun option is a Moonclip Server which uses a spring and pushes the moonclips to the same location so you are grabbing at your belt at the same spot. The Moon Clip Server - A Speed Steel Shooters Revolver Moonclip Dispenser - Shooting Equipment

Yeah in the video I got the impression it was going to be a 6 shot. Not sure what place an ultralight 9mm fast shooting rev has in competition for me but I would happily give it a home lol.

I thought the same exact thing. If (when) he breaks the record with it, I betcha their inox blows up with people wanting them.

Yup these are both correct. I should not have dicked with it at all aside from polishing and smoothing. I have used this now at a couple matches and it has been fine with all the ammo I have tried in it. I have a nice longish factory firing pin sitting here waiting just in case but right now with the power custom is it working well and I hate to mess with it while it is running so well.

Update for anyone interested in how much bend you can get away with. 625 ran all moonclips perfectly: brand new TK with no bend, brand new RS with no bend, used TK with slight bend on 1 or more tabs, used TK that got stepped on with visible full bend. Sample size was only a couple hundred rounds between all the clips, but that is what I saw. 625 JM, stock firing pin, wolff type 1 main spring. Shot all factory loads - Federal, SB, Blazer, and PMC.