Nice results with J-frame spring kit

[LeftHand-Fu]

Still getting good results with good SD ammo! I haven't gotten around to testing the cheaper stuff like Win white box in other guns yet — this was expensive enough — but I did not get a single FTF with the following:

FTF ...... Brand of .38 Special
0/25 ..... Hornady Custom XTP
0/60 ..... Federal Hydra-Shok

[LeftHand-Fu]

I've made a few more trips to the range to shoot the modified Model 36 gun alongside a Ruger LCR-357, a Smith 586, and an unmodified Smith 36, and the results have been as expected: good SD ammo has been reliable in the modified gun, and target ammo is OK in the others. The longer pull on the LCR makes me shoot lower on the bull and snake my way back up to the bullseye, now that I'm more used to the Smiths...

...but also I shoot that 4" Smith waaay better after spending time with a few snubnoses.



This evening I shot my modified Model 36 side-by-side with the UNmodified Model 36. The unmodified gun has trigger pull weight of 13.5 lbs — two pounds heavier than the first one before I put in the spring kit! Results:

* In _both_ guns I got one failure to fire: the same one round of Cor Bon DPX, my most expensive SD ammo yet! That's disappointing.

* In the 9.5 lbs DA snub, still no failures of other SD ammo: Hornady Critical Defense FTX this time. (It was Hornady Custom XTP and Federal Hydra-Shock on previous trips.)

* In the 13.5 lbs DA snub, as usual no failures of target ammo: Remington Target or Winchester white box. (I've also had no problems with those in my unmodified Smith 586 or Ruger LCR on recent trips.)

It's been like that every trip. Accuracy and endurance were of course compromised with the heavier snubnose trigger, so I will probably put a spring kit in that one too.

[Che762x39]

I shot PPC back in the 1980s and "Bullseye" spring kits was a popular way to get an inexpensive trigger job. Federal had the softest primers so that was the preferred primer to reload your match ammo with.

I found your research very noteworthy and thank you for sharing.

[AFTII]

After extensive design & testing, the factory decides on a trigger that's 100% reliable. Any changes compromise reliability. That's why such modifications are suitable for recreational guns; not defensive guns.

I disagree. After extensive design & testing, the factory decides on a trigger that is: (1) inexpensive to manufacture; and (2) satisfies some subjective, unquantifiable, measure of safety.

If reliability were a legitimate criteria, S&W could go back to making revolvers with actions like they had before the locks an other crapola they added destroyed their crisp, low effort, reliability.

[LeftHand-Fu]

"Thank you for your support." -OP

I've gone ahead and installed another Apex spring kit, into that second Model 36 I was testing above. The pull weight is now 9.5 pounds, and I am confident that good quality SD ammo with Federal primers or equivalent will always go bang in this gun.

Once again per the instructions I polished only the rebound slide (with fine 800 grit sandpaper), and did nothing else but replace three springs and the firing pin along with some cleaning and oiling. Next up: painting the front sight, then back to the range. Thanks again for your comments.

[LeftHand-Fu]

Update: the second re-springed Model 36 performed flawlessly on its first time out: 50 rounds of Winchester white box, 100 rounds of Hornady Custom XTP, no failures.