John Jay -> Jeremiah. 5 week report

[Jeremiah]

Derek helped me change my username from "John Jay" to "Jeremiah". There's already a JonJ on this forum, and there's no reason for me to use a handle that's not of personal importance to me. Jeremiah happens to be my real, actual name.

The other thing is the 5 week report. After shooting the revolver for all of 5 weeks, here's what I've accomplished:
I can keep bullets in a 2.5" group at 10 yards, with a few strays. The two things that I think I need to keep working on are: keeping a tight grip and always focusing on the front sight. Front sight: seems like an easy thing to concentrate on but its hard to do, especially if I start getting mad about a flyer. Also, I should probably move the sight out to the maximum (50') for the range soon.
I've managed to stop jerking the trigger, but have probably gone too far in the other direction. Now it can sometimes take forever for a shot to break. So, I've been shooting some targets not so much for the score but to try to approach a rapid pace of fire while still staying as close to the x ring as possible.
Gun safety habits are coming along. There's the experience of having the gun go off before I've committed fully to pulling the trigger. The gun is vaguely on target, but I haven't really lined up the shot and yet the trigger finger has put enough pressure on to break the shot. That exactly the kind of thing that I wanted to get acquainted with in a practice environment.
When I took the Moon Island range test to get my license I scored a 215 out of 300. Now I can almost get a 300 on the same test (there's some issues with the double action on my gun that caused me to 'unfairly' miss a few in double-action--see below).

It has turned out to be a lot of fun.

Two gun issues (S&W 66):
The screws on the frame keep coming loose. I have a sight adjustment tool that I've been using to tighten the screws, but I'm not sure if it's exactly the right tool to use, and I don't want to damage it or the gun by overtightening.

The gun fires every time in single-action, but double-action is very unreliable. If I pull the trigger back slowly, when the hammer falls there's almost no chance of the shot going off. If I pull the trigger back sharply, the gun fires about half the time. Someone at the range said that a spring needs to be replaced or tightened up. I've been firing reloads almost exclusively, so there's probably an occasional issue with the primers, but the comparison between single action and double action is vast.

Both of these problems seem like they could be a result of the gun just generally needing a tune up. I bought it used, after all.

Lastly, it turns out that buying a gun is sort of like getting a tatoo. Now that I have one, why not get another? But there are so many! mark III? s&w 17? j-frame snubby? 1911? sig or glock? mossberg 500? winchester 94?

 

[Len-2A Training]

Jeremiah, give S&W Tech Supt a call about the constantly loosening screws and the DA/SA issues. They can issue you a FedEx Call Tag to ship it back to them for repair at no cost to you, not even the shipping charges.

S&W is providing top notch customer service these days. It matters not that you bought it used or had it for 50 years!

 

[KMaurer]

Loctite 222. Fixes that sort of problem in about 5 minutes.

Ken

 

[C-pher]

Lastly, it turns out that buying a gun is sort of like getting a tatoo. Now that I have one, why not get another? But there are so many! mark III? s&w 17? j-frame snubby? 1911? sig or glock? mossberg 500? winchester 94?

Oh yea, this is so true...as I have both, and many or several of both, I know just what you're talking about.

And I agree with Len, call S&W, they will fix you up in about a week or two.

 

[Lynne]

Where would the world be without Loctite and duck tape??

 

[Jeremiah]

Just talked to Jeff at the S&W support center.

He said that there was a screw underneath the grip for the mainspring that has probably come loose. And a loose screw would effect double-action performance before single-action. He also said I could put some good wrist into tightening the screws without fear of stripping the threads or anything. He also recommended locktite ("make sure it's only on the threads").

So, I'll try that first. I've only been tightening the screws I can see. If there's still a problem, he said to they'd be willing to send me a FedEx package so I could send it in for service.

 

[dwarven1]

Just talked to Jeff at the S&W support center.

He said that there was a screw underneath the grip for the mainspring that has probably come loose. And a loose screw would effect double-action performance before single-action. He also said I could put some good wrist into tightening the screws without fear of stripping the threads or anything. He also recommended locktite ("make sure it's only on the threads").

So, I'll try that first. I've only been tightening the screws I can see. If there's still a problem, he said to they'd be willing to send me a FedEx package so I could send it in for service.

Darn... you beat me to it. You'll see a flattish spring going through the grip frame at a diagonal; near the bottom of the grip frame (on the outside, IIRC) you'll see a tension screw that goes to the spring. That's the one to tighten. I seem to remember having that problem on my Mod 19 many years ago.

and if worse comes to worse, take a quick ride out I-90 and drop it off. You can pick it up when they're done. That's what I did when I needed the chambers reamed on my 686P.

Ross

 

[Moderator]

Just talked to Jeff at the S&W support center.

He said that there was a screw underneath the grip for the mainspring that has probably come loose. And a loose screw would effect double-action performance before single-action. He also said I could put some good wrist into tightening the screws without fear of stripping the threads or anything. He also recommended locktite ("make sure it's only on the threads").

So, I'll try that first. I've only been tightening the screws I can see. If there's still a problem, he said to they'd be willing to send me a FedEx package so I could send it in for service.

Any updates on the trigger?

 

[Jeremiah]

Yeah, it works flawlessly now that I tighened that spring. I haven't bought any locktite yet, so I expect that the tension may fall again until I get the that. But, that's not such a pressing concern, now that I know how to fix it. The improved reliability makes me feel much better about the gun. I've been working more on double-action practice since one of the senior members of the range mentioned that he almost always practices double-action. I can see the sense in that if you're practicing with self-defense in mind.

I seem to have plateaued in marksmanship at the moment, and I suppose the best solution for that is weekly practice. My best target so far was a few weeks ago, and I haven't approached it since. That's sort of frustrating, but to be expected. The current goal is to get 24 single-action rounds in the 9 and 10 rings of an NRA "official 50ft timed and rapid fire pistol target". I almost did that at the end of last month but recently the groups have expanded to the 7 and 8 rings.