The quest for a lighter trigger pull on a 625

[Steve in Allentown PA]

I've read every post multiple times about cutting hammers to allow for lighter trigger pulls while still maintaining reliable primer ignition. I was inspired by 4mike's work on his hammers and decided to let my Dremel loose. How difficult could it be, right? Famous last words.

I added an SDM .250" fiber optic front sight and a Weigand rear sight blade to the revolver. The JM grips were replaced by a set of Hogues from which I had to remove the lower finger ridge since it did not comport well with my wife's hand.

I also substituted in a Wolff Type 2 - Reduced power Power Rib mainspring and an 11 lb rebound spring after I'd spent several days smoothing everything I could find in the action that rubbed against anything else in the action. As an aside, I knew a gunsmith in Austin in the early 80's who told me he smoothed revolver actions by filling the mechanism full of toothpaste, puttng the sideplate back on, setting the gun in a home built fixture that allowed the trigger to be pulled repeatedly by a small motor, then letting the motor run for however long.

Finally, the dreaded Dremel made its appearance. I began slicing and dicing the hammer like a man possessed. My enthusiasm began to wane after a few days of this nonsense but I persevered. After two weeks I'd done all I could do and finally laid down the by now nearly burned out Dremel.

I knew from my reading here that I had to reduce the weight of the hammer by half in order to achieve nirvana. Needless to say, since the Dremel was impatient to begin, I failed to weigh the hammer prior to beginning surgery. Luckily, I had also read that the final weight of the hammer should be between 250 and 260 grains.

When I'd finished, the hammer by itself weighed in at just a smidge under 300 grains. Not good enough! But where else was there material that could be removed? I wanted to maintain the funtionality of the external safety lock and I didn't want the hammer slot in the frame to be a gaping hole. So, I fired up the Dremel and ripped through the top of the hammer. When I threw in the towel the hammer was down to 268.8 grains as measured on my Dillon beam scale.

The only other place I could find that I would be comfortable removing metal would be under the hammer from about 7 o'clock to 8 o'clock in the picture below. But I lack the proper tools to get into this area. The measured trigger pull for the fully assembled revolver on all six cylinders was between 5.5 and 6lbs. A far cry from the factory pull.

Today was the maiden voyage of the revolver with its newly skeletonized hammer to the range. I was not confident that things would go well. Afterall, I'd bent the reduced power Wolff mainspring a bit to make it even lighter. Oh, ye of little faith. I put 50 rounds of my favorite 1911 reloads (Federal primers, 200gr HG68, 5.4gr 231) through the 625 with nary a problem Every round went bang, the trigger returned without a hitch, and flawless became the word of the day. The sky opened, the sun streamed down, trumpets blared, and angels sang.

Until . . . I ran some factory Remington Golden Saber and Winchester PDX1 ammo through it. The Golden Saber was cranking right along until one round failed to ignite. The Winchester was worse. Four out of six rounds failed to ignite.

I must be close on the mainspring weight. Just a bit more should do it. At this point I think I'll pick up another Wolff mainspring, probably the normal power one, and play around with bending it to see if I can achieve reliable primer ignition with the factory ammo. That will mean I'll need a heavier rebound spring also but that's okay. I'll have one set of springs for play and one set of springs for work.

Overall, I am pleased with the results.

Edited July 8, 2012 by Steve in Allentown PA

[Greg in VA]

Very nice work....I like the way you cut it out in the middle.

Greg

[twister]

That hammer is a work of art,very nice revolver.

[Patrick1981]

Awesome job, congratulations !

[RePete]

Nice!

Now all you have to do is wait for a critque from the Dremology Master - Mike Carmoney.

[Jim Watson]

I have never minded loading Federal primers for limber spring target revolvers.

The belly guns and bureau drawer specials get full strength springs for factory hollowpoints and reloads with assorted primers on hand.

[Carmoney]

Nice!

Now all you have to do is wait for a critque from the Dremology Master - Mike Carmoney.

Looks beautiful--great Dremel work!

On the other hand, I think before investing that kind of time, I'd just chop the hammer Carmonize-style. (Hell, even doing that takes some time, if you want to make it look right!) If for some reason I wanted to retain the IL parts, I'd simply order up a Randy Hammer from Apex.

But, regardless of all that practical stuff--it's an absolute jewel of a hammer now! With no nasty spur to ugly it up.

[tcurrin]

Had my 625 done by Mike 2 years ago and it is fantastic! If yours shoots as nice as it looks then you are right up there with the master. Good job!

Edited July 18, 2012 by tcurrin