Trigger Job tricks

[minnesota1]

I have done a few trigger jobs--but I've mainly followed Jerry Miculeks video. I know many of you have little tricks and small things you do to achieve a smooth, reliable pull, like rounding this and that, etc. If you would be so willing to share some of your tried and tested "tricks of the trade" with a guy who is trying to climb the ropes in revolver shooting I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Bob

[old shooter]

Hey Bob,

While I haven't seen Jerry's video, it is probably a standard trigger treatment. One thing that you shouldn't overlook is a good polishing of the mainspring. Assuming you are talking about a S&W. I like to give it a good polishing and round all of the square edges of the spring. It makes it flex a little more smoothly, in my opinion.

Mike

[dajarrel]

Bob,

My first trigger job was done after watching the video and reading what fellow BE'er Patrick Sweeney had in his book. One thing I couldn't get satisfied with was the fit of the rebound block were it bears against the revolver frame. You can't get a stone down there and I could just feel the slight roughness with my finger. My resolution to the problem is to take automotive rubbing compound (the red kind made by Dupont) and put a pea size glob on the rebound block and set in place without the spring. I take a dowel and just start rubbing it back and forth for several hundred cycles and clean it up and see if it is smooth. If it needs more, repeat. This actually gets four surfaces at once and just laps them together until they are just smooth enough. Be sure to clean the residue with mineral spirits or alcohol to be sure there is no residual grit. Lube it up with slide glide and shoot away.

I personally use Federal primers and back my strain screw out until I get mis-fires and turn it back in 1/2 turn. I lock-tited this position for a month or so until I was happy with it and then removed that amount of material off of the end of the screw so I could seat it on the shoulder. I'm happy.

Miculek noted it his video that a trigger job was a way to accelerate the process that shooting several thousand round would do anyway. I guess I'm impatient.

One caution. My reading indicates that the hardening on the parts are only a couple of thousanths thick. You are supposed to polish, not remove metal.

Hope this helps,

YMMV

dj

[bountyhunter]

Here's a secret: about 95% of the improvement in smoothness between "stock" and "glass smooth" is in the rebound slide surfaces and the frame it rides agains. Take the RB slide out and look at the gouge marks in the frame under it near the front. The "strut" coming out of the trigger which mates with the little cup in the RB slide directs a strong force rearward and downWard, causing the block to dig into the frame.

1) Polish the RB slide faces that touch the frame. lay down some 600# paper and apply light oil. Hand sand the blck faces forward and backward on the paper, working the two sides that need to be smoothed. This will take a while to get very smooth.

Remove ALL sharp edges and corners from the RB slide on the two contact faces. Tip the block at an angle to bevel the outer edges. The front most/bottom face is the most critical, that's the one that chews up the frame.

2) Polish the frame surfaces. How? I found a good tool: cut off the end of a popsicle stick straight across. Wrap a piece of 600 paper over the end and tape down to the stick. Apply oil, and use this tool to work the inner frame where the RB slide runs against. This can take a while to get smooth.

Before final assembly, LOAD up the RB slide faces and frame surfaces with slide glide or a very good grease.

[phara]

Bountyhunter,

Do you totally remove the black from the rebound slide?

[bountyhunter]

Bountyhunter,

Do you totally remove the black from the rebound slide?

On most of my guns, the RB slides were not black (they were just stainless steel) The new one I bought this year had a black RB slide. When I polished it, I ignored the black... didn't try to strip it and didn't care if it did. I think most of the black was removed from the two polished faces, but not in the groove on the bottom. I am not sure why that part is black unless they have stopped using stainless for the piece parts? Maybe the new MIM parts are not stainless, I don't know. I know the slide I polished was pretty soft and not surface hardened so don't use anything coarser than about 600# paper and oil to polish with.

[jcmios]

In addition to bountyhunters well described procedure for polishing the rebound slide and frame, don't forget to polish the spring hole in the rebound slide. I have found a number with small burs and machine marks in them. To polish these take a small metal rod and tape and wrap 600 or 800 grit wet/dry paper to it until it is a snug fit, then add a couple of drops of honing oil and rotate the in and out as you polish and remove any burs or machine marks away. This allows the slide to move freely with the lightest of springs.

Jim