New Springs for my S&W 586

[Don'tkillbill]

I bought an old Smith & Wesson 586 but the springs were lightened as a cheap trigger job so I replaced them a few days ago. It fired federal primers great but when those dried up it would misfire my cci primers every 6-7 shots and there was no more adjustment on the strain screw.

Here's a video with the springs and some shooting.

 

[Sam54]

Thanks for the info, I just got a new 686. The single action is lovely, but the double is very heavy. I will try adjusting the tension screw on the main. Spring.

 

[Tengoo]

Gentlemen: Messing with the strain screw on a S&W revolver is a very unreliable way of adjusting the trigger pull. Standard and reduced-power L-frame mainsprings are available from Brownell's for US$16.72 [although they will probably rape you for shipping]. A Canadian gunsmith might be able to help you out.

 

[coldestcanuck]

Gentlemen: Messing with the strain screw on a S&W revolver is a very unreliable way of adjusting the trigger pull. Standard and reduced-power L-frame mainsprings are available from Brownell's for US$16.72 [although they will probably rape you for shipping]. A Canadian gunsmith might be able to help you out.

Just curious, then why is there a strain screw that can be adjusted?

 

[Tengoo]

Just curious, then why is there a strain screw that can be adjusted?

In fact, the strain screw is not intended to be adjusted, although it is sometimes done as a cheap and dirty method to change trigger pull weight. A loose strain screw will work out and eventually cause a too-light hammer strike, causing misfires. If you do a search on smith and wesson strain screw adjustment you will find lots of discussion on the matter, with pretty well all authorities set against it. What may be done is actually shortening the strain screw, or shimming it to build it up...but these are both fairly old-fashioned methods [or advanced, depending on your thinking]. For myself, I'd get a new spring with a lighter weight, or a standard spring to experiment with. But keeping the strain screw tight is the way to go.

 

[turbo_bird]

The strain screw is there so that you can take the tension off of the main spring to disassemble the gun, not to adjust trigger pull. As has been said, you can get reduced power main springs, you can also get reduced power slide springs (the part the trigger pushes back) that reduce the trigger pull. I have used both from Wolf, and they work good for me in a 66-1 and a new 586. The slide spring is a bit of a pain to install, so I ground down a cheap flathead screwdriver to help push it into place without having it spring out at me.
Kristian

 

[enefgee]

I have a purpose built PPC revolver, built by a top name revolver smith. It came with instructions that said clearly that it would only perform properly with Federal primers. As you might expect, he wasn't kidding. Are you sure the gun wasn't just tuned? When you get below about 10 pounds DA, the only way to be reliable is Fed primers. If your trigger pull was under 10 pounds, it was a professional job. PS, don't mess with the strain screw.

 

[Don'tkillbill]

My gun is working well now but I think the strain screw was shortened so I will replace that when I can get one from Brownell's. I put a regular strength mainspring in the gun and tightened the screw properly. Anyway its going out for another test drive this morning with 100 ccI primers.