My sister has been shooting with her boyfriend. They are both new to the sport and have been taking lessons. She's had the chance to shoot several guns, and she likes the S&W .38 Ladysmith, but she was complaining about how tough the trigger pull is. I told her that shops can do trigger work and bring it down to about 3 pounds. Has anyone done this to a S&W snubby? Is it prudent? Thanks for the info.

Single-action, shouldn't be a problem for a competent gunsmith.

Double-action pull, it's going to be heavy, and the lighter the gun, the heavier the pull. Don't want to mess with that, other than smoothing things up a bit.

Lightening up the single-action pull should help the double-action pull, a little. A lot of the DA pull is the mainspring, though. SA pull is largely affected by the trigger return spring.

You could try some spring kits from Brownell's if you want to go cheap.

Been a while since I've done an action job on A Smith. Pretty simple really. Cut about one coil off the trigger rebound spring. I believe I cut mine to 15 coils. If you have a stone set, polish all the friction points until very smooth. Do not bother the sear engagement point, you shouldn't need to. You can back the main-spring screw out a little to your tatse. You should now have a lighter and smoother operation.

NOTE: When you back out the main-spring, you also lighten the hammer fall. OK for target work but not for a carry gun. To say the obvious, get the hammer too light, it could misfire.

lumberjak is right about the light hammer fall, and it's more prudent with light guns and resulting light hammers. They need the spring weight to make sure that the primer fires right.

You CAN smooth them up though, and the single action pull can be lightened. My 637 "airweight" is pretty nice after working it over a little.

Drifter

Cut about one coil off the trigger rebound spring. I believe I cut mine to 15 coils.

I hate to cut the rebound spring. Never quite know how much is enough, because I have seen it vary a bit from gun to gun. "cut it until the trigger return gets sluggish and then cut a new one 1/2 coil less" is a PITA. My S&W tuning is done strictly by polishing friction points, and judicious use of a good lube.

Cut about one coil off the trigger rebound spring. I believe I cut mine to 15 coils.

I hate to cut the rebound spring. Never quite know how much is enough, because I have seen it vary a bit from gun to gun. "cut it until the trigger return gets sluggish and then cut a new one 1/2 coil less" is a PITA. My S&W tuning is done strictly by polishing friction points, and judicious use of a good lube.

Am close to agreement with the above. Ploilishing is the main thing, geting the friction down without changing spring power...but have been know to order lighter, substitute replacement rebound springs. Is a decision only made after all the polishing work has been done (don't forget to de-burr and polish the mainspring strut)....often, the polish work is all that is needed, but on occasion have subed a lighter rebound spring.

The last think I want is less power to the firing pin.

I'm not sure if all S&W's are like my 317, but I noticed that many of it's internals are case hardened. Be very careful when polishing or grinding these parts for smoother operation. I'm not sure how deep the case hardening goes, but you do not want to go past it.

I'm not sure if all S&W's are like my 317, but I noticed that many of it's internals are case hardened. Be very careful when polishing or grinding these parts for smoother operation. I'm not sure how deep the case hardening goes, but you do not want to go past it.

Yep...S&W's have case hardened main parts...but the good news is that they seldom need any polishing, it's the studs and frame contacts that seem to be a bit rough (mill marks). Just don't go too far with the studs...polish as in remove any rought marks, not polish as in reduce it's diameter. The main spring runs on a stamped steel strut, and stoning down the edges of the stamping seems to make a difference...gives the spring a nice smooth edge to ride on.

The rebound slide can have some buggers and burrs on it as well...usually the side facing out is well polished, but the bottom often is less well polished..pays to get that one smooth as well as the section of the frame it rides on...and I do not know if it is case hardened or not, but it's once place where I will work on the major action part.


Can be an on-going project...using the gun for a few hundered rounds, then checking for sratches on the moving parts...rub marks are one thing, and probably to be expected....but scratch lines signs that something id diggin in a bit.

Problem with lighter springs is that they tend to get a bit lighter with use. Guns that work fine clean may give missfires when dirty...and snub-nosed J-frames tend to get carried in places were they get a bit dirty.