one eye joe

I recently purchased a NIB S&W Airweight Centennial, W/O the IL. It is in transit to my FFL as I speak. This is my 1st J frame and my 1st DAO revolver. I plan to use it as my primary CCW in the shorts and t-shirt weather, and as a BUG in serious social situations. I utilize the services of a very accomplished professional 'smith. I plan on retaining stock springs throughout to ensure reliable ignition and positive trigger reset. What # trigger pull is reasonable to expect by polishing the appropriate internals of such a weapon without changing springs ? Any "MUST DO" suggestions ? Thanks in advance for your responses..............one eye joe :wink:

dfariswheel

How much pull reduction depends on the gunsmith and how close he's willing to push a defense gun trigger.
The idea these days is SMOOTH, not necessarily LIGHT.

In the old days, the lighter the trigger, the better it was thought to be. These days, it's understood that the key to a "good" trigger is smoothness.
We finally figured out that the lighter the trigger, the SLOWER you could fire the gun due to reduced action speed, and the higher the risk of unreliable ignition.
In a defense gun, reliability is THE key feature, to the exclusion of just about everything else. A super nice trigger pull is of no use if the gun fails to fire.

A good, modern pistolsmith will usually replace the rebound slide spring with one a little lighter, then "polish" (actually de-burr) a couple of key parts.
He may want to replace the hammer coil spring with a lighter one.
He will NOT "polish" parts to a mirror shine since this actually serves NO purpose, and may even ruin the parts by breaking through the case hardened "crust" on the parts.
He will absolutely NOT do any polishing or cutting on the hammer and trigger interfaces since this almost always ruins the parts.

My suggestion is to talk it over with the gunsmith and see what he recommends. Make it clear that reliability is your main issue.
After you get the gun back, shoot AT LEAST 100 better 200 rounds of the SAME AMMO that you plan on using for actual defense use. You want to shoot at least 100 rounds without cleaning, and in one range session if possible.
This is your verification test to insure 100% reliable function. Don't fall into the trap of shooting cheaper practice ammo as a verification. All ammo isn't as reliable as other ammo in different guns, and you need to know if the gun/ammo combination is going to really work when you need it.

Since the S&W "J" frame guns use coil springs, and a good gunsmith won't do a lot of de-burring since it's not needed on a defense gun, a "trigger job" shouldn't cost that much.

one eye joe

Hey dfariswheel--Thanks for your response and for pointing me in a good direction. I thoroughly agree with you that absolute reliability is the MOST important consideration in altering a CCW. I'm not hung up on a particular trigger # number, but was just wondering what is commonly attained. As usual I found your post very well reasoned and informative. Whenever I see a post by you , either here or on any other forums that we both visit, I always take the time to read it. I usually learn something. Keep up the great work............................one eye joe

Captain38

Joe,

As you're going to be using your M642 for the self-defense purposes, I'd suggest you can usually smooth a J-frame's action sufficiently without involving a gunsmith if you'll just dry-fire it every chance you get!

one eye joe

Thanks captain 38. Will do......

OrygunMike

I offer up this link to an article written on this very topic,
by a true, honest-to-goodness subject matter expert.

GrantCunningham.com - Library

sdb321

I just had a deluxe action job performed on my 640 Pro. I had it done by Denny Reichard at the Sand Burr Gun Ranch. He is one of the best in the nation. My 640 is like a different gun. The trigger pull is 10 pounds and smooth as glass. He is in Rochester In. He works on Smiths form all parts of the nation. Give him a call, you won't be disappointed!!!!!