Henry Rifle Forums

Miss Tina had decided to go back to a snubby revolver, and had really liked her Smith and Wesson Chief's Special she had when we were first married. It was stolen a couple years after we moved out into the farm, and I replaced it with the Airweight 642, which she liked, but not as much. The recoil was snappy. For years, she carried a ported Glock 23 .40 caliber.

A couple months ago, she wanted to go back to the snubby, but NO used Chief's Special showed up in the local area and the new ones were running nearly $1,000.00. Ah, nope. I'd pay that to keep the boss happy. She wouldn't hear of it. Then I remembered an article about the Taurus line. The local Gunshop had the Taurus 856, a six shot snubby, and the reviews were good. She looked at it when I went to pick up the Mini-14 that came in from a friend, and ... other than a really heavy trigger, she liked it.

Time for a spring change. Galloway Precision Spring Kit.


The trigger return spring and hammer spring took about 45 minutes to change, taking my time and working thru the video, to make sure I didn't miss anything. I had done the spring change and trigger jobs on both the 642 and M&P 340, but that was years ago, and I wasn't going to attempt one on this gun, just swapped the springs, put some white gun grease from Wilson's where I thought it should go, and back together the gun went.

Pre-Spring change, the double action pull was 12 pounds plus, and single action pull was about 9 pounds or so.
Post spring change the double action pull was down to 9 pounds but felt a lot smoother and lighter. The single action was in the 6 pound range. Fine for a EDC gun for a BASIC shooter.

Before I would let HER carry the gun again I took it down to test the gun and insure it functioned properly. First:
Six shots at ten yards double action: (All shooting today done off hand, unsupported.)


I was very happy with that group. I moved back to fifteen yards and fired two six shot groups. Double action. The first six:


The second six rounds at fifteen yards:


I was getting tired by this second six at fifteen and the two wide shots were called flyers, I jerked the trigger a bit and knew those were going to be out of the group. MY fault. For a final test, I moved up to seven yards and fired two six shot strings. Rapid fire. True rapid fire, as soon as the sights were on target, shoot. VERY pleased with that group.


I still have the gun, she will come down and shoot it and then it goes back in her EDC. She got caught up with the farm today, but should shoot a few strings tomorrow. I HATE to see someone buy a new gun, load it up and start to carry it without every test firing to insure it functions or shooting at least a dozen rounds or so to insure they know where it shoots. But, I have seen experienced shooters do it more than once.

I bought that same revolver in blue for my wife without her involvement and when she tried it she could hardly pull the trigger it was so bad. Oops, my stupid mistake. Got her a Ruger LCR that while giving up one round in capacity she likes much better. It is only a nightstand gun as she refuses to carry a firearm. Nice work with the trigger BOM, if you were my neighbor my wife could have kept the Tarus.

Excellent work, Marine, both on the gun and with the DA shooting. Impressive.

Yeah, I've been on a prowl for a Chief's Special, too, but I guess just about everyone else is, too, given the prices they are getting. Vintage Smith revolvers remain a very good investment, same as vintage Colts - if you can afford to pay what they are bringing. That Taurus looks pretty solid with the mod you've done.

This is the reference I used...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mkr3F3ES7WU

Taurus also has the 85, which is a five shot snubbie, more in line with the Chief.
The 856 is a six shot. I like the extra round for miss T, please a speed strip with six more.

I have a model 85 that was my mom’s gun she got in 92 after my dad passed. She only shot it once 20 rounds of round nose and 10 of HP.
I got it in 2005 when we moved her into assisted living. The trigger was horrible so I did the spring swap and polished up all rough spots. Now it is a very smooth trigger and relatively fun to shoot. Easy to carry as well.

My Rabbi (mentor) in both LE and shooting was a Factory certified armoror for Smith & Wesson, Sig, Glock, Mossberg, Remington, etc. He built the huge dept range for a major county in Virginia and oversaw the Firearms Program for thirteen years before returning to Patrol Operations. He was still heavily involved in the training in the department.

We did the spring changes and trigger jobs on the Smith 642 and 340 with him doing one and me following along and learning by doing on the other. He had also certified me to do the semi-annual inspections on my sections model 64s, which included removal of the internals, full inspection and cleaning, and reassembly and lubrication. Removal of the screws or sideplate by unauthorized personnel was grounds for suspension or termination. I was NOT authorized to perform "modifications or repair" on department Smiths.

Later, after transition to the Glock platform, I became a Factory Armoror, and could perform those inspections and repairs. Funny thing, in all those years, thru two models, never had to repair one.

I DIDN'T perform a trigger job on Tina's 856 for two reasons.

First, and most importantly, it's a brand new gun. I want to put two or three hundred rounds thru the gun and then test the trigger. It may not need a trigger job. I don't want either the double or single action on that gun too light, it's NOT a match gun, I hate to see match weight triggers on EDC guns.

Second... I have forgotten most of what my guy taught me. It's been years, and I judt did the one gun, and then stopped. Since I WASN'T a gunsmith, I said no when friends shot my snubbie and said, "Man, that turned out great, can you do my Model xxx?"

If I decided to polish, lightly, the wear areas, 300 rounds... Better yet, 500 rounds should be enough for the shine to begin to show.

Got Miss T down on the range yesterday evening to Fam Fire the 856 after the Spring Job. I had her fire 12 rounds double action at 10 yards and she did very well. She really liked the results of the change. Much lighter double action trigger pull and very smooth. Her first six shots were nicely grouped. The next six were almost as tight. We moved up to seven yards and I had her shoot two shot groups from the ready, at fairly quick speed, (For her.) they remained mostly centered with a couple of the second shots going high. ALL her shots were ON target and nicely centered with no wide shots or off target.

I cleaned the gun and she is now back to EDC.

Nice shooting, both of you.