.22 Caliber J-frame

[SteveThePirate]

Looks good! A bit of a weight gain, but not all that bad.

[Evil_Ed]

So...before I box this thing back up and send it back to Smith...figured I'd ask here.

I have a Colt Night Cobra that I can't hit crap with, at all, slow fire or not. I figured a 22lr trainer in a similar size would help diagnose if it was me, the gun, or "yes". So I bought a new Smith 43c as training wheels.

I got it home and dry-fired it some and every 6th to 15th squeeze, it would get really crunchy and the hammer (or trigger) would hang at the end of it's travel...crunch it a little more and it would eventually fire. I popped off the grips and the side panel, didn't see anything obviously "wrong", put a couple drops of Lucas fine baby tears gun oil in various friction points and buttoned it back up. Got it to the range this morning figuring the lube would make life better...newp. Same random hangup at the end of the trigger pull, a sudden stop, and then you could power through it to actually drop the hammer. Also got some lead spitting out at me from the sides a couple times (or jacket, depending on what I was shooting)...

Oh and light strikes. I even had light strikes shooting CCI Mini Mags, Standard Velocity...and Eley Club. The CCI Standard Velocity, ok I could see a dud...but 3 duds in 8 rounds, when I just ran through 100 rounds from the same lot through my 10-22 without a single hiccup? And Mini Mags...as I remember they have an incredibly high standard for manufacturing - something about special people doing special things in far away places needing 22lr that is guaranteed to work through pistols with integral cans and ported barrels to ensure subsonic. Won't even get into the standards Eley is made to...so this is just a long way of saying "what the fuck, that's not normal".

Anyway - that hangup/crunch at the end of the trigger pull, randomly (doesn't matter if it's upside down, pointing down, pointing up, on left or right side, etc...does it in any orientation near as I can tell), is that a "thing" with j-frames and does it have a known cure?

I can take the side plate off again and do a further disassembly? I've got youtube and a dremel; there's nothing I can't disassemble.

It's just if it's one of those "but if it would be better off going back to Smith for remediation" things, I'd rather not make it worse...

[Duelist]

So...before I box this thing back up and send it back to Smith...figured I'd ask here.

I have a Colt Night Cobra that I can't hit crap with, at all, slow fire or not. I figured a 22lr trainer in a similar size would help diagnose if it was me, the gun, or "yes". So I bought a new Smith 43c as training wheels.

I got it home and dry-fired it some and every 6th to 15th squeeze, it would get really crunchy and the hammer (or trigger) would hang at the end of it's travel...crunch it a little more and it would eventually fire. I popped off the grips and the side panel, didn't see anything obviously "wrong", put a couple drops of Lucas fine baby tears gun oil in various friction points and buttoned it back up. Got it to the range this morning figuring the lube would make life better...newp. Same random hangup at the end of the trigger pull, a sudden stop, and then you could power through it to actually drop the hammer. Also got some lead spitting out at me from the sides a couple times (or jacket, depending on what I was shooting)...

Oh and light strikes. I even had light strikes shooting CCI Mini Mags, Standard Velocity...and Eley Club. The CCI Standard Velocity, ok I could see a dud...but 3 duds in 8 rounds, when I just ran through 100 rounds from the same lot through my 10-22 without a single hiccup? And Mini Mags...as I remember they have an incredibly high standard for manufacturing - something about special people doing special things in far away places needing 22lr that is guaranteed to work through pistols with integral cans and ported barrels to ensure subsonic. Won't even get into the standards Eley is made to...so this is just a long way of saying "what the fuck, that's not normal".

Anyway - that hangup/crunch at the end of the trigger pull, randomly (doesn't matter if it's upside down, pointing down, pointing up, on left or right side, etc...does it in any orientation near as I can tell), is that a "thing" with j-frames and does it have a known cure?

I can take the side plate off again and do a further disassembly? I've got youtube and a dremel; there's nothing I can't disassemble.

It's just if it's one of those "but if it would be better off going back to Smith for remediation" things, I'd rather not make it worse...

Never seen such a thing, but my J frames are all centerfire, so that may not be germane. Hope you get it fixed - I’ve been interested in a 43c for a while.

[jandbj]

So...before I box this thing back up and send it back to Smith...figured I'd ask here.

I have a Colt Night Cobra that I can't hit crap with, at all, slow fire or not. I figured a 22lr trainer in a similar size would help diagnose if it was me, the gun, or "yes". So I bought a new Smith 43c as training wheels.

I got it home and dry-fired it some and every 6th to 15th squeeze, it would get really crunchy and the hammer (or trigger) would hang at the end of it's travel...crunch it a little more and it would eventually fire. I popped off the grips and the side panel, didn't see anything obviously "wrong", put a couple drops of Lucas fine baby tears gun oil in various friction points and buttoned it back up. Got it to the range this morning figuring the lube would make life better...newp. Same random hangup at the end of the trigger pull, a sudden stop, and then you could power through it to actually drop the hammer. Also got some lead spitting out at me from the sides a couple times (or jacket, depending on what I was shooting)...

Oh and light strikes. I even had light strikes shooting CCI Mini Mags, Standard Velocity...and Eley Club. The CCI Standard Velocity, ok I could see a dud...but 3 duds in 8 rounds, when I just ran through 100 rounds from the same lot through my 10-22 without a single hiccup? And Mini Mags...as I remember they have an incredibly high standard for manufacturing - something about special people doing special things in far away places needing 22lr that is guaranteed to work through pistols with integral cans and ported barrels to ensure subsonic. Won't even get into the standards Eley is made to...so this is just a long way of saying "what the fuck, that's not normal".

Anyway - that hangup/crunch at the end of the trigger pull, randomly (doesn't matter if it's upside down, pointing down, pointing up, on left or right side, etc...does it in any orientation near as I can tell), is that a "thing" with j-frames and does it have a known cure?

I can take the side plate off again and do a further disassembly? I've got youtube and a dremel; there's nothing I can't disassemble.

It's just if it's one of those "but if it would be better off going back to Smith for remediation" things, I'd rather not make it worse...

I broke the trigger stud in mine around 10k rounds and it exhibited similar issues.

[Evil_Ed]

I broke the trigger stud in mine around 10k rounds and it exhibited similar issues.

Hmm, this one is new...I'm just going to send it back in that case. I don't know if that pin is pressed in or milled in, but it's not looking like a user serviceable part, either way. Midwest Gun Works doesn't even seem to sell them...

[Norville]

Hmm, this one is new...I'm just going to send it back in that case. I don't know if that pin is pressed in or milled in, but it's not looking like a user serviceable part, either way. Midwest Gun Works doesn't even seem to sell them...

Quoting your shorter post, but my 43C will not light off CCI Mini Mags, I get 2 or 3 failures in 8. Everything else I tried runs fine including Russian steel cased that takes a block of wood to eject.

[Rotundra]

So...before I box this thing back up and send it back to Smith...figured I'd ask here.

I have a Colt Night Cobra that I can't hit crap with, at all, slow fire or not. I figured a 22lr trainer in a similar size would help diagnose if it was me, the gun, or "yes". So I bought a new Smith 43c as training wheels.

I got it home and dry-fired it some and every 6th to 15th squeeze, it would get really crunchy and the hammer (or trigger) would hang at the end of it's travel...crunch it a little more and it would eventually fire. I popped off the grips and the side panel, didn't see anything obviously "wrong", put a couple drops of Lucas fine baby tears gun oil in various friction points and buttoned it back up. Got it to the range this morning figuring the lube would make life better...newp. Same random hangup at the end of the trigger pull, a sudden stop, and then you could power through it to actually drop the hammer. Also got some lead spitting out at me from the sides a couple times (or jacket, depending on what I was shooting)...

Oh and light strikes. I even had light strikes shooting CCI Mini Mags, Standard Velocity...and Eley Club. The CCI Standard Velocity, ok I could see a dud...but 3 duds in 8 rounds, when I just ran through 100 rounds from the same lot through my 10-22 without a single hiccup? And Mini Mags...as I remember they have an incredibly high standard for manufacturing - something about special people doing special things in far away places needing 22lr that is guaranteed to work through pistols with integral cans and ported barrels to ensure subsonic. Won't even get into the standards Eley is made to...so this is just a long way of saying "what the fuck, that's not normal".

Anyway - that hangup/crunch at the end of the trigger pull, randomly (doesn't matter if it's upside down, pointing down, pointing up, on left or right side, etc...does it in any orientation near as I can tell), is that a "thing" with j-frames and does it have a known cure?

I can take the side plate off again and do a further disassembly? I've got youtube and a dremel; there's nothing I can't disassemble.

It's just if it's one of those "but if it would be better off going back to Smith for remediation" things, I'd rather not make it worse...

Mine was doing the same thing when I bought new. The only rounds I didn’t have the issue with were federal punch.

It was also spitting lead on left side. Sent it back, and they received it on 4/19. I was quoted 6-8 week turn around.

The times it did work, it was great…

[jandbj]

Hmm, this one is new...I'm just going to send it back in that case. I don't know if that pin is pressed in or milled in, but it's not looking like a user serviceable part, either way. Midwest Gun Works doesn't even seem to sell them...

They replaced the stud on mine… left an ugly booger on the side where it was originally. But it’s working great once again.

[Evil_Ed]

Got an emailed receipt from Smith that they got it on May 5th, radio silence since...hopefully it's in the pile to be worked on soon!

[Evil_Ed]

Got it back today, a handful of dry fires and it feels muuuuuuuuuuuch nicer. I'll get it to the range this weekend hopefully and shoot it some.