Problems with J Frame Trigger

[LibertyNeverDies]

I just purchased a M&P360 and the trigger has rapidly degraded. I bought it brand new. I've been doing a lot of dry fire with it and after probably 200 reps the characteristic of the trigger has changed. This happened before I fired any ammo through it.

It went from a smooth and consistent pull to almost locking up at the first part of the pull. It's almost impossible to pull the trigger without pulling straight through. The cylinder is still tight and still rotates. I've experimented with pulling the hammer back enough to start rotating the cylinder and from there the DA trigger pull is smooth and fine.

Does anyone have an idea what is wrong with the gun?

I'd like to avoid sending it off if at all possible.

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

This may or may not help. I have noticed that newish J-frames can have something like this if the star gets dirty or has a burr on it. It usually goes away very fast. Maybe clean that up and see if that's it? Worth a shot.

[gaijin]

Little chance of a "long distance diagnosis" without pulling the sideplate and viewing the action as trigger is staged.
If you've never done it (removed sideplate) and are not pretty familiar with how S&W's work, especially the "lock" guns- I would advise taking it to someone that knows S&W revolvers or sending it back to S&W.

[jakebrake]

^^^^ I second contacting s&w...that shouldn't be happening.

[ST911]

I just purchased a M&P360 and the trigger has rapidly degraded. I bought it brand new. I've been doing a lot of dry fire with it and after probably 200 reps the characteristic of the trigger has changed. This happened before I fired any ammo through it.

It went from a smooth and consistent pull to almost locking up at the first part of the pull. It's almost impossible to pull the trigger without pulling straight through. The cylinder is still tight and still rotates. I've experimented with pulling the hammer back enough to start rotating the cylinder and from there the DA trigger pull is smooth and fine.

Does anyone have an idea what is wrong with the gun?

I'd like to avoid sending it off if at all possible.

Did you take it apart, install any "improvements", or do any .25 trigger jobs?

Gun is clean and lubricated? Ejector rod screwed in tight?

[mdain]

Is it a lock, or no lock gun. If it has a lock, ensure that it is fully disengaged. We see 30-40 a month, and typically, at least one is not fully unlocked.

[LibertyNeverDies]

This may or may not help. I have noticed that newish J-frames can have something like this if the star gets dirty or has a burr on it. It usually goes away very fast. Maybe clean that up and see if that's it? Worth a shot.

Thank you for your response. I tried that and it worked for approximately 10 pull and then degraded rapidly. I did notice unusual wear on the star at a couple points so I think I'll be contacting Smith and Wesson and sending it to them.

Little chance of a "long distance diagnosis" without pulling the sideplate and viewing the action as trigger is staged.
If you've never done it (removed sideplate) and are not pretty familiar with how S&W's work, especially the "lock" guns- I would advise taking it to someone that knows S&W revolvers or sending it back to S&W.

If checking the lock doesn't I'll be giving smith a call and sending it to them.

Did you take it apart, install any "improvements", or do any .25 trigger jobs?

Gun is clean and lubricated? Ejector rod screwed in tight?

Gun is as it was OTB. I haven't touched the internals. Ejector rod appears tight.

Is it a lock, or no lock gun. If it has a lock, ensure that it is fully disengaged. We see 30-40 a month, and typically, at least one is not fully unlocked.

Unfortunately it has the lock. I'll check to see if this is the case and I'm hoping it is. Is this a problem from factory QC or a flaw in the gun that prevents it from being reliably unlocked?

[T2C]

Did you get the issue resolved? What did it take?

[LibertyNeverDies]

Did you get the issue resolved? What did it take?

Not yet. It's characteristics have changed. When I pick it up the first 5-10 reps aren't that bad of a trigger. Then it gets really bad. I tried cleaning the star off and that didn't work and I've also tried light lube on the star and that didn't work either.

I've waiting for my 3D scanner to come so I make the molds for this gun. Once I've got the molds dialed in I'll send the gun off to SW and see how they solve it.

I'm still able to shoot it fairly well. 12inch target at 10 yards in DA which is the bad trigger.

[T2C]

I've seen this issue before with a few S&W revolvers with the lock. One of them belongs to a student and the issue occurred during a class I taught a few years ago. The issue occurred within the first 20 rounds of a 200 round one day course.

I took her brand new revolver, rotated the lock back and forth several times then applied lubricant between the cylinder and crane. She fired the remainder of her rounds without complaint. I inspected the revolver after class concluded and the trigger pull weight appeared normal.

I asked her to contact me and let me know if she had any more issues with her J Frame. I suggested she send the revolver back to S&W for inspection and warranty repair if the issue reoccurred.

I would be interested to know what you have to do to get the issue resolved.

Thanks,

T2C