Vic Pickett Spring Kits

[hopalong]

Jim,

I really doubt your or Mikes action job is any way inferior to Randys. (I have not tried any of them aside my own, and have from good reputable folk that all three of you do quality work)

The spring kit, well..........................

I tried my first one before I really knew much about the insides of a Smith & Wesson and it made an instant change in feel and ability to run a lighter action.

Vic has his springs Chriogenized (SP) and the geometry on the mainspring is a little different than the factory mainsprings supplied by S&W. AND the rebound springs come chrioed too.

The thing that helps with his kit is there is no guessing on new geometry for the mainspring, and no cutting of the rebound spring (so they can be reinstalled if it is sold ect.) once you do the other interior work, just drop the rebound spring you want in and the new rmainspring and set it according to what primers will be used (this also decides which rebound spring you use).

Does it save the time enough vs the cost of the kit ? maybe, it surely will if someone is new to the "tuning" process.

I hope that answers your question.

Hopalong

[underlug]

Sorta curious to know/understand what makes Vic Pickett's spring kit or Randy Lee's

trigger work better /so good.

Does Randy do something Mike C or say myself doesnt.

Ive been getting some rally good results with revolver trigger jobs, would like to know

a better way =allways wiloling to learn!!!

Jim/Pa

Sailors

If you'd like to give yourself a $1250 tutorial, check out page 5 of the classifieds. Randy routinely does a lot of interior work on the pistol to get a gun "right". Reeves Jungkind once said he could train a rheaseus (sp?) monkey to tune a Smith. He didn't have Randy's work in mind.

If you can't get Randy work, the routine smoothing and a Vic Pickett spring kit will get you pretty close to where you want to be at a very reasonable cost and very little trouble IMNSHO.

Edited May 8, 2009 by underlug

[scottyinAZ]

wish i saw that a week ago =( you would have had yourself a deal

Scott

[jjanglin]

Mostly just curious,Im allways willing to learn somethin new or differant, as a gunsmith I feel if ya arent willing

to try what other people point out or do , you could be missing out . Its fun to me to try and play around

with others ideas.

Ive been cryo treating the guns I work on and the springs for a lot of years, I feel it is a true benefit

to the operation of most anything mechanical.

Jim/pa

Sailors

[Carmoney]

Randy routinely does a lot of interior work on the pistol to get a gun "right".

Absolutely. There is a big difference between what you get from his action package, or my own competition action package, and the standard "action job" offered by many generalist gunsmiths. Anybody can do a basic action job by simply polishing the obvious bearing surfaces inside the action and reducing the spring tensions in some manner.

Getting those spring tensions reduced with the correct balance is another thing altogether. Getting the cylinder running ultra-smoothly on its axis is a huge part of creating a world-class revolver action, and most gunsmiths and hobbyists don't know anything about that. Knowing how to set up a rebound slide is important. Knowing what to do with the bolt and the front lock are important, too. Those are just a couple of examples that most people don't even consider. Likewise, knowing where not to stone or polish can be just as critical.

The basic "action job" takes maybe a half-hour to perform, while a full competition action job requires even a highly-experienced and skilled revolversmith to invest about 4 hours of time to complete--and that's when everything goes together well with no major problems. (Every time I think about that I am reminded that I really need to raise my prices!)

There is no real reference source for this stuff, either. The Kuhnhausen book and the factory armorer's materials have some decent info on performing basic repairs, but that's about all. The Jerry DVD shows most of what you need to do the basic "action job" but that's about all. Decades ago, Lin Alexiou self-published a little booklet that had some great stuff on doing action work on a variety of handguns, but I lost my copy somehow and I haven't seen it available for sale for many years. The best revolver guys are largely self-taught.

And so although it may sound self-serving, I think you would be wise to have your action set up by somebody who (1) has first-hand experience in performing hundreds of S&W competition action jobs over a long period of time, and (2) is an active and successful competition revolver shooter in his own right. It's always interesting to check out action work done by other 'smiths. One of the things you commonly see is an action that is pretty smooth and light but which has slightly sluggish trigger rebound. The 'smith and the beginning revolver shooter both think it feels great, but the experienced hand knows it will create a greater likelihood of double-stroking when the shooter runs into a fast bank of close targets. That's just one exampe that comes to mind.

Roughly one-third of the revolvers I receive in have already had some effort at action work done on them already--sometimes the DA trigger pull feels pretty good, and sometimes not so much. In either case, the owner has obviously reached the point where he is no longer satisfied with the basic (Rhesus monkey?) action job and is ready to step up to a fully-tuned competition action package. There really is a difference.

[Toolguy]

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