How to lighten trigger pull on wife’s 642-1

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__steve__

__steve__

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Hello

What kit is available for my wife’s S&W 642-1 to soften the trigger pull? Her hand fatigues after two shots and it is painful on the finger. She needs maybe half the tension.

Thanks a lot
 
I have a 442 (basically the same gun - hers is stainless). I installed the Apex Duty / Carry Kit for J frames on the recommendation of @9mmepiphany
It has an 8 pound main spring with a lower tension rebound spring and an extended firing pin with a replacement firing pin spring.
The feel of the trigger pull is reduced and feels great as compared to brand new factory springs, which I also tried. With the factory springs the gun felt brand new again…I couldn’t hit my targets due to the pull. It took a lot of shooting to break this baby in the first time. I wasn’t doing that again so I bought the Apex kit.
So far I like it very much though I haven’t tried it with CCI primed ammo.
Here is a link for the kit:
https://www.apextactical.com/j-frame-duty-carry-spring-kit

Apex also has a video for instructions on installing their kit.
 
How much experience do you have with detail stripping a S&W? They're not difficult, but it shouldn't be your first pistolsmithing job.
A lighter rebound spring will help (basically powers the trigger), as will polishing the rebound slide itself. I'm hesitant to lessen the power of the mainspring, fearing misfires.
You might be better served getting your wife a Smith EZ, either .380 or 9mm.
Moon
 
Most J frames are at around a 12 pound or more trigger pull. You can certainly make it lighter with a kit but I doubt even the best gunsmith could get it below 9 pounds & still be reliable. A 6 or 7 pound trigger pull is not realistic
 
halfmoonclip said:
How much experience do you have with detail stripping a S&W? They're not difficult, but it shouldn't be your first pistolsmithing job.
A lighter rebound spring will help (basically powers the trigger), as will polishing the rebound slide itself. I'm hesitant to lessen the power of the mainspring, fearing misfires.
You might be better served getting your wife a Smith EZ, either .380 or 9mm.
Moon
Click to expand...
thanks,

I have some decent smithing capabilities. I will definitely look in to the rebound spring and slide friction parts before mainspring
 
Recently installed the Apex on mine. My trigger was smooth with little to zero stack but off the scale heavy, so 12+ Lb’s. Averages now right at 9lbs but feels lighter for some reason. Probably because it was so heavy before
 
halfmoonclip said:
Once cocked, it might need to be uncocked in a stressful situation, which is dicey.
Moon
Click to expand...
Not dicey at all. My wife is a brand new shooter. Lesson #1 was how to check to see if the gun (single action) was loaded or unloaded. Lesson #2 was how to lower the hammer on a snap cap. Only then did we take it to the range.
 
Not dicey at all. My wife is a brand new shooter. Lesson #1 was how to check to see if the gun (single action) was loaded or unloaded. Lesson #2 was how to lower the hammer on a snap cap.
Click to expand...
I agree that decocking a revolver is not especially dicey in general. However, I do think that for a person who legitimately has enough hand strength issues that they can't fire the gun more than twice with the DA trigger, decocking is likely to be pretty dicey.
 
__steve__ said:
She needs maybe half the tension.
Click to expand...
I don't think you can have half the trigger weight, and still have a reliable double action revolver. You might smooth it and lighten to 80%, but that's about it.

I have fixed an older lady's 642 that a local gunschmidt "tuned" for her by swapping springs, with the result that it failed to fire 10% of the time. She ended up with a S&W .380EZ, and it's an enormous improvement for her.

Double action revolvers aren't ideal for arthritic hands, and I don't think you'll find a way around that that doesn't compromise reliability.
 
I also put the Apex kit in my 642. It was my first "gunsmithing" job and probably took 4xs as long as it should have, getting the rebound spring in was a bugger. In addition to the kit, I carefully polished the rebound slide too. It definitely lightened it up some, but by only a couple pounds at most. Maybe a dumb question for another time but can you half cock the trigger in a 642 and return it to safe? I thought it's DAO only with the concealed trigger?
 
Thanks for the info. I should not have used the word “half” as generalization for lighting the trigger tension. She loves the weapon and her hands are healthy, they’re just very small.

I’ll prescribe some finger strengthening for her, polish the rebound/slide surfaces and see what happens, then next step would be the Apex kit. I’ll have to check the tension on it now too as a control.
Thanks for all the useful information everyone
 
I have an 8# Wolff mainspring in my 442 and to me it's a significant improvement. Originally I tried the 15# rebound spring, but it made the reset feel too sluggish for my taste so I put the factory spring back in there. I also did some very, very light polishing of the rebound slide and some trigger surfaces. After lubrication, reassembly, and some dry firing I am extremely pleased with how it has turned out.
 
I would also mention that both the Ruger LCR and Kimber K6s have triggers that are easier to pull. If the spring swap doesn’t do the trick you could explore both of these options.
 
A[ex duty kit and a hand filing set of rubber grips are the best things you can do for her. Not to mention that your mothers day shopping is now done!
Seriously, I always have done my own trigger spring swaps on ( over a dozen) j frames until this last one. IMHO, the addition of the extended firing pin on the Apex kit is a game changer and the only reason I'd consider lightening the main spring. It really is the best drop in solution I've come across for these little wheel guns.
 
__steve__ said:
What kit is available for my wife’s S&W 642-1 to soften the trigger pull? Her hand fatigues after two shots and it is painful on the finger. She needs maybe half the tension.
Click to expand...

DA trigger pulls on every unaltered J-frame revolver I've ever squeezed have been extremely heavy. The gun in my 73 year old wife's bed stand has been a DA-only Smith Model 640 for a long time and, a few months ago before we left for the range for some practice sessions, she unloaded the revolver and attempted to dry-fire it and found that only with great effort could she get the hammer to drop. I don't want to risk light hammer falls on an "altered" trigger intended for self-defense and because her purse gun is also a J-frame, we decided two new revolvers were in order.

Several trips were made to two local gun stores with much trigger-pulling performed on many different revolvers. After much squeezing, the choices for her were narrowed down to three revolvers with "manageable" da pulls: a Kimber K6, a Colt Cobra and a Ruger LCR. Today, a Cobra has taken up residency in the drawer of her night stand and an LCR lives in her purse. All three of these revolvers have by far the nicest (smooth and light) trigger pulls on the many we tested.
 
Tallball said:
SteadyD writes the truth.

None of my Smith snubbies has had a DA trigger as good as my LCR.
Click to expand...
I would agree. It was one of the big selling features of the LCR when I worked in a gun shop a few years back. That said, SW did produce some PC version 442's that were darned close in pull weight and smoothness of the LCR. The up price of that option was only $60 and well worth it IMHO.
 
SteadyD said:
I would also mention that both the Ruger LCR and Kimber K6s have triggers that are easier to pull. If the spring swap doesn’t do the trick you could explore both of these options.
Click to expand...
Those nd the Colt Cobra are the best options.

The limiting factor for the 642 is the geometry.
 
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