686 spring swaps

[Blue1 1]

So I picked up a Wolff spring kit for L and N frame S&Ws.

 

Took the grip off my 325 TR and then came to my senses and put it back on. No sense making your first foray inside a revolver on a $1200 Performance Center piece.

 

It made more sense to work on the older, and less pricey 686 Plus. Removed the grip, removed the crane retention screw, cylinder and crane. Then the mainspring preload screw and the rest of the side plate screws. My S&W Revolver manual and other sources say to tap a wood hammer handle on the butt frame to loosen the side plate. This got it starting to come off, but no matter how much I banged on it, it wouldn't come off any further. Sources warn not to pry open the side plate to avoid flaring the edges, so I took a small screwdriver and went through the trigger guard, placed one edge of the blade on the side of the trigger and the other side up inside the side plate a little, away from the edge, and twisted lightly; side plate came right off, yes!

 

Removed the mainspring, then held the trigger spring back with the tip of a small screwdriver and removed the spring and trigger block. Replace the trigger spring with the lightest of the three in the kit, and replaced the mainspring with the reduced power mainspring.

 

Wolff cautions against using the reduced power mainspring from service or critical duty firearms. I presume this is due to increased chance of a light hammer strike from the reduced power mainspring possibly failing to set off the primer, resulting in failure-to-fire. I also figured that they are probably pretty conservative in this warning and it is basically a disclaimer type statement to avoid litigation. In any case, I will thoroughly test fire this with a variety of ammo to assure its reliability.

 

After a little playing around with the position of what I think is the sear, I got the side plate seated, put the two rear-most screws in, installed crane and cylinder, installed the crane retention side plate screw. Fully seated the mainspring preload screw and fitted the grip.

 

The moment of truth...I popped in some snap caps and pulled the trigger double-action. Wow, this thing is noticeably lighter, but the real difference is single action. I don't have a trigger pull gauge, but I know what it was like before compared to the 325 Thunder Ranch and I'd say SA pull has been reduced not quite to half, maybe 60% of what it was. That's awesome, as this was lighter than the 325 before the mod (which I attribute to its much more broken-in condition). Can't wait to get to the range with it.

[NickC 23]

Aaaah, Federal primers are your new friend. Just a tip, tapping on the frame with a soft malet will pop the side plate off without the need for a screw driver through the trigger.

 

I see some fine india stones, honing oil and a shit load of strain screw adjustments in your future.

 

Strap yourself in Mr Blue1. Things are about to get fun.

[alec.mc 180]

Depending on when your revolvers were produced, the s&w's are all pretty much the same internally. The new ones will have a bunch of extra safeties, frame mounted firing pin, etc etc.

 

Next time you need to take the side plate off, hold it in your left hand on the barrel, and smack it a few times with the hard plastic handle end of a screw driver or something near the main spring strain screw, dont use something soft that will absorb all the engery... smack it good, it'll come off - you wont break anything.

 

 

If you're using factory ammo - keep the DA Trigger pull around 7-9 lbs or so. Some primers are harder then others, as nick said - federal primers will yeild the best result if you are reloading and want the best double action trigger obtainable.

 

The peice you had to line up to get the side plate back on is not the sear, it's a hammer drop saftey... It will pull down infront of the hammer to prevent it from hitting the firing pin. Personally - I remove this ( and all other safetys ) from my revolvers - you may feel different. Read up on it.

[Blue1 1]

Everyone must have missed it, I did in fact bang on the frame with a wood hammer handle probably fifty times, side plate did not come off, started to but had to give just the lightest pressure with the screwdriver in a place that wouldn't be damaged and it came right off.

[Blue1 1]

The hammer drop safety, is that what is actuated when the safety by the cylinder release is turned?

[Blue1 1]

OK, I investigated and see that is not the case. It seems it would make sense not to remove the hammer block, but I think I am going to remove the lock, don't see any advantages to keeping it, can always reinstall if needed.