686 trigger pull problem

[frayluisfan]

Hi everyone! I have a 686 4"bbl purchased approximately 1998. With a few thousand rounds through it, it's a favorite for practice, competition and woods carry. Recently I've had an issue where the  trigger hangs up, requiring considerable extra pressure to complete the trigger stroke. This happens once about every 10-15 trigger pulls, and only with live ammo or spent casings in the cylinder, never when I dry-fire. A local gunsmith was not able to find the problem. Any ideas on what the problem might be? Thanks in advance!

[Waltermitty]

I would check for end shake and minimum barrel to cylinder gap. It would run as you describe if the gap was too small. And there are definitely gunsmiths that don't know about this. I sent a 625 in to S&W because of cylinder notch peening. They replaced the cylinder stop but did not attend to the barrel gap. The cylinder would drag on the barrel with very little dirt or build up on it and my trigger pull would be come very heavy. I had to use shims on the crane to solve the problem.

[alecmc]

What you are describing is excessive end shake. The face of the cylinder is rubbing up on the face of the forcing cone as the metals heat up and expand.

 

Try this, hold your revolver up to a light, look for the light thru the barrel / cylinder gap. Now, pull the cylinder to the rear -  Does the gap of light get bigger? Now - Push the cylinder toward the front, does the gap close completely and make contact with the barrel? 

 

If so, You'll need to install a few shims inside the cylinder.  

 

Purchase here:

 

http://powercustom.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=114

 

You'll also need a set of feeler gauges to properly measure the amount of endshake in the gun and adjust till its in the correct spot. I like somewhere between .002-.003 worth of end shake with an .008 gap.

 

You should also purchase the correct tool for removing the ejection rod from the cylinder ( dont put it in a vice to remove, thats how they get bent ) 

 

Best of luck. 

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by alecmc

[Ben53]

Agree with Waltermitty on this.  Should be an easy check for any 'smith with revolver experience, and an easy fix as well.  There is a tool to properly cut barrel/cylinder gap that any revolversmith would have on hand.

[underlug]

Check the trigger pin in the frame and make sure it is not loose.  That is a back to the factory fix

[PatJones]

9 hours ago, frayluisfan said:

Hi everyone! I have a 686 4"bbl purchased approximately 1998. With a few thousand rounds through it, it's a favorite for practice, competition and woods carry. Recently I've had an issue where the  trigger hangs up, requiring considerable extra pressure to complete the trigger stroke. This happens once about every 10-15 trigger pulls, and only with live ammo or spent casings in the cylinder, never when I dry-fire. A local gunsmith was not able to find the problem. Any ideas on what the problem might be? Thanks in advance!

Handloads? Possibly high primers.

[Badkarma]

Powder under the star?

[M1A4ME]

S&W issues I've seen or experienced.

 

686's had to have the firing pin nose bushing replaced as the hole was too large.  Especially with 125 grain .357 ammo would allow the primer cup metal to flow back into the hole and lock up/make it draggy popping loose.  Back to S&W to have the bushings replaced.  This was an early issue with lots of them.  Could still happen now and then on the new guns.

 

65.  Officer came in saying he could not pull the trigger on his revolver to fire it.  S&W didn't use different grades of SS in their SS pistols on parts that rubbed/rotated against the other parts.  This one had a badly galled crane/cylinder.  Keep them properly lubed and clean.

 

586.  Would begin to drag after about a box of ammo.  Cylinder to barrel gap was 0.015".  Powder residue build up on the front of the cylinder would cause it to drag on the barrel/forcing cone.  If I remember correctly, the gap should be 0.004 to 0.006".

 

Good luck with it.  The 586/686 revolvers are nice.

[pskys2]

14 hours ago, underlug said:

Check the trigger pin in the frame and make sure it is not loose.  That is a back to the factory fix

The trigger or hammer pins can break and will cause weird issues.  But they usually don't happen "only", but consistently.

Note S&W will charge a big amount over $140 to repair.  It can be done by a good Revolver Smith though.  I saw one who did it for under $50, or so, on Facebook?  But I dropped my account, thank god I don't have that frustration anymore.  I think it was at Pinnacle?

[frayluisfan]

Thanks guys. A local smith charged me $50 to not fix it. Grr...It's on its way back to S&W now.

 

[PatJones]

1 hour ago, frayluisfan said:

Thanks guys. A local smith charged me $50 to not fix it. Grr...It's on its way back to S&W now.

 

There may not be any problem with the gun. Are you shooting handloads?

 

You pay for the gunsmiths time, regardless of whether there's anything wrong with the gun.

[Waltermitty]

2 hours ago, frayluisfan said:

Thanks guys. A local smith charged me $50 to not fix it. Grr...It's on its way back to S&W now.

 

 

Just a reminder, I only learned about how to do this because a S&W factory gunsmith messed mine up...

[frayluisfan]

Hi, Pat. Yes, I shoot handloads, but I have the same problem with factory loads too.

 

Walter: Yikes! Keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out. :-/

[Makicjf]

I've had a similar experience with my 610, twice. The first was when the trigger post broke.  The second?  When the hammer post broke.  

Jason

[alecmc]

On 1/26/2021 at 2:50 PM, frayluisfan said:

Thanks guys. A local smith charged me $50 to not fix it. Grr...It's on its way back to S&W now.

 

 

Did you check for end shake like I explained? 

[Carmoney]

On 1/27/2021 at 5:14 PM, alecmc said:

 

Did you check for end shake like I explained? 

 

 

I can't tell you how many times people have posted questions like this.....they get the exact answer to their exact question.....but they completely ignore it.  

 

Why do we bother?  

(It's one of the reasons I tend to disappear from this forum for months at a time.)  

[ysrracer]

36 minutes ago, Carmoney said:

 

 

I can't tell you how many times people have posted questions like this.....they get the exact answer to their exact question.....but they completely ignore it.  

 

Why do we bother?  

(It's one of the reasons I tend to disappear from this forum for months at a time.)  

 

Years ago I was a project manager at Verizon Wireless. I was on a conference call with with a woman that didn't want me to show her how smart I was, she just wanted me to validate how smart she was.

 

She asked me my opinion of something, and I took the next 10 minutes sharing my opinion. Then she took the next 15 minutes and told us why my opinion was wrong

 

I finally broke in and said, I have a medical emergency and need to drop off...

 

...and went out to lunch.

[Miranda]

2 hours ago, Carmoney said:

 

 

I can't tell you how many times people have posted questions like this.....they get the exact answer to their exact question.....but they completely ignore it.  

 

Why do we bother?  

(It's one of the reasons I tend to disappear from this forum for months at a time.)  

I like your posts, Carmoney.

 

was it you who gave out dremel driving lessons?

 

miranda

[Waltermitty]

9 hours ago, Carmoney said:

 

 

I can't tell you how many times people have posted questions like this.....they get the exact answer to their exact question.....but they completely ignore it.  

 

Why do we bother?  

(It's one of the reasons I tend to disappear from this forum for months at a time.)  

 

Unfortunately that's true everywhere. I've gotten to where I don't answer questions either, but I thought: what the heck, it's a new guy maybe he'll do an easy check before boxing it up and shipping it somewhere. Bubber helped me figure my problem out at an Old Fort match when my gun wouldn't run two stages in a row without a thorough cleaning.

 

It's probably that I'm getting too cranky in my old age to deal with all the Dunning-Krugerands that pop up with questions (and arguments) then do something else because they don't understand the answers they get.