Yes, even the fabled S&W revolver is as rough inside as the oft maligned Taurus. Don't believe it, open both up. Each takes an equal amount of smoothing engine turning to slick up the action and neither can be polished to eliminate the majority of tool marks. Thank goodness, even with two pieces of tool marked steel rubbing together, smoothing at least one will substantially reduce friction leading to that finer function everyone desires.
Here then is a superb S&W Mod 60 opened up for some smoothing (and if I can ever find that darn trigger pull guage, a Wolf mainspring and a before/after pull test.) But I will say, simple action smoothing and a reduced power rebound spring made a "Tellable" (even my Wife can tell) difference in the quality of the pull in this lovely J-Frame 38.
Here it is opened and stripped of its guts. As you can see the inside of the frame is engine turned. Mill marks still show but the surface is slick as it should be for smooth function. And by engine turning, you really can't remove enough metal to make this tight Ol Gal sloppy loose. As you can also see, the side plate has yet to be polished/engine turned. Note the nasty milling marks...same as Taurus, Rossi, Colt...you name it. They ain't hand made any more.
Here is the hammer. Frosty stainless steel but smooth. Couple ways to polish this (and FYI DO NOT POLISH NEW MIM PARTS - YOU WILL LIKELY DESTROY MIM PARTS WITH YOUR ATTEMPT TO REFINE THEM.) which are engine turning or hand polish.
I elected to do hand polishing with 800g Wet/Dry paper soaked in oil. Here it is about half way and I finish it off with a bit of stainless steel compound by pressing lightly (lightly that is) on a buffing wheel. (Oh yeah, disassemble the hammer if you can with out damaging it and stay off the engagement surfaces, engagement surfaces are for the pro's not for us Homers.)
Here is the rebound slide. You can't see it but lotsa milling marks and casting bubbles on the bottom. A rough pig of a part. You can't change the dimensions so I stoned the left and right sides and bottom lightly to true them up and break the sharp edges. Final polish was - you guessed it, engine turned. This photo is post stoneing and pre-engine turning. See the bumps on top? Those can be felt as the trigger resets, leave them alone. A pro can smooth them up for you but I don't find the feeling objectionable. It ain't a target gun and I ain't got a spare part to practice on either.
Ah, the forgotten source of friction...The jackshaft or better knowns as the hammer spring strut. Look at it closely post polishing. See the frosty yolk on the left? Rough as a cob like that full length, springs need something smooth to slide on, otherwise, roughness in the works. So, easily done, chuck it up, oil up some 400g and 800g Wet/Dry paper and polish the shaft. Shiny now and less friction, smoother function. Prolly not a noticeable amount but then we always do a Workman-like job, don't we?
And now,out of the workshop - after a double and triple and quadruple cleaning and scrubbing and squooshing with solvent blaster sause to get out every last speck of grit from every last possible hiding place.
Kinda pretty sitting there on the table waiting for its light coat of eezox (not cause stainless needs rust protection but because all metal parts need a touch of lube. And eezox goes on wet and dries to a nice protective and lubricating film) I trust eezox on all my weapons, even the antiques.
Thats it, I put it back together with the reduced power rebound spring. Very smooth. Very noticeably smoother than it was in factory trim. In fact, its smooth enough that it would serve just fine without the addition of a reduced power mainspring. But we'll see. Off to the range first.
Now the trigger on this is the ribbed trigger....wonder how it'd be smoothed off and rounded? Nahhhh....well?
Here then is a superb S&W Mod 60 opened up for some smoothing (and if I can ever find that darn trigger pull guage, a Wolf mainspring and a before/after pull test.) But I will say, simple action smoothing and a reduced power rebound spring made a "Tellable" (even my Wife can tell) difference in the quality of the pull in this lovely J-Frame 38.
Here it is opened and stripped of its guts. As you can see the inside of the frame is engine turned. Mill marks still show but the surface is slick as it should be for smooth function. And by engine turning, you really can't remove enough metal to make this tight Ol Gal sloppy loose. As you can also see, the side plate has yet to be polished/engine turned. Note the nasty milling marks...same as Taurus, Rossi, Colt...you name it. They ain't hand made any more.
Here is the hammer. Frosty stainless steel but smooth. Couple ways to polish this (and FYI DO NOT POLISH NEW MIM PARTS - YOU WILL LIKELY DESTROY MIM PARTS WITH YOUR ATTEMPT TO REFINE THEM.) which are engine turning or hand polish.
I elected to do hand polishing with 800g Wet/Dry paper soaked in oil. Here it is about half way and I finish it off with a bit of stainless steel compound by pressing lightly (lightly that is) on a buffing wheel. (Oh yeah, disassemble the hammer if you can with out damaging it and stay off the engagement surfaces, engagement surfaces are for the pro's not for us Homers.)
Here is the rebound slide. You can't see it but lotsa milling marks and casting bubbles on the bottom. A rough pig of a part. You can't change the dimensions so I stoned the left and right sides and bottom lightly to true them up and break the sharp edges. Final polish was - you guessed it, engine turned. This photo is post stoneing and pre-engine turning. See the bumps on top? Those can be felt as the trigger resets, leave them alone. A pro can smooth them up for you but I don't find the feeling objectionable. It ain't a target gun and I ain't got a spare part to practice on either.
Ah, the forgotten source of friction...The jackshaft or better knowns as the hammer spring strut. Look at it closely post polishing. See the frosty yolk on the left? Rough as a cob like that full length, springs need something smooth to slide on, otherwise, roughness in the works. So, easily done, chuck it up, oil up some 400g and 800g Wet/Dry paper and polish the shaft. Shiny now and less friction, smoother function. Prolly not a noticeable amount but then we always do a Workman-like job, don't we?
And now,out of the workshop - after a double and triple and quadruple cleaning and scrubbing and squooshing with solvent blaster sause to get out every last speck of grit from every last possible hiding place.
Kinda pretty sitting there on the table waiting for its light coat of eezox (not cause stainless needs rust protection but because all metal parts need a touch of lube. And eezox goes on wet and dries to a nice protective and lubricating film) I trust eezox on all my weapons, even the antiques.
Thats it, I put it back together with the reduced power rebound spring. Very smooth. Very noticeably smoother than it was in factory trim. In fact, its smooth enough that it would serve just fine without the addition of a reduced power mainspring. But we'll see. Off to the range first.
Now the trigger on this is the ribbed trigger....wonder how it'd be smoothed off and rounded? Nahhhh....well?
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