Taurus 94 experiment

[azredhawk44]

I've got me a model 94 Taurus with a 5" barrel, blued.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p17/azredhawk44/IMG_0930.jpg

Trigger has always been hellacious on this thing, and lockup has been... hinky. Never felt like sending it back to taurus and waiting for my social security checks before it came back, so I have just dealt with it for like 4 years now.

I put in an order for springs with Wolff mostly for my Marlin Camp 45 but figured I'd get spare springs for my SP101 and try some experimenting with this Taurus.

After some heart-pounding spring-popping, carpet-scrounging activities, I re-assembled the revolver with a 9 pound hammer spring and a 6.5 pound trigger return spring.

zOMG buttery smooveness!!!!11!!oneoneone!!1!

Wow, it is a totally different revolver. The lockup issues... completely gone. I don't understand how that can be, other than maybe my part-flying adventures ended up with me somehow properly seating a part that was improperly seated by the factory.

But... will it ignite a rimfire cartridge? Wolff completely recommended against what I am attempting to do with the model 94, and I admit I bought springs for a model 85.

Not so worried about the trigger return spring.. that shouldn't affect ignition. If the 9 pound hammer spring doesn't work out, I'll go back to the original and start trimming coils off of it, 1/2 coil at a time.

I'll hit the range this weekend with an initial report. I've been pretty disappointed with this revolver in general, but figured there's got to be some way to do it right if S&W can produce the K-22 or model 617 to shooters' satisfaction.

[DMZX]

Trying to lighten the trigger of a Taurus M94 is folly. Clipping the hammer spring will result in misfires due to light firing pin strikes on the rims of some, if not all, brands of ammo. Then you will have to replace the modified spring.

I have three small frame Taurus revolvers and have never had high expectations of them or compared them to my S&W revolvers. It is a proverbial apples and oranges comparison, IMHO. Given that, I enjoy shooting them very much.

The DA trigger of a M94 can be easily mastered, but the first thing to realize is that it will never feel anything like a S&W trigger. With that in mind, hold the gun as though it was a small frame .357, and practice (which is quite cheap).

My model 94 triggers have seemed to lighten after a bit, or maybe the muscles in my finger have bulked up. :D

[Rmart30]

Ive always wondered why they changed the design away from the previous model 94's...
They had much better triggers than these new style have.

[Bill DeShivs]

The Taurus trigger can be pretty nice. The hammer spring has little effect on trigger pull, but the trigger return spring lightening really helps.

[Carbon_15]

My wife couldnt even pull the trigger on her 94. I did the wolff spring swap and got a very nice trigger, but now it goes bang-bang-click-click-bang. I put the old springs back in and we treat it like a single action.

[Keltyke]

Not so worried about the trigger return spring.. that shouldn't affect ignition. If the 9 pound hammer spring doesn't work out, I'll go back to the original and start trimming coils off of it, 1/2 coil at a time.

From recent experience:
It won't work. I tried the same thing so my daughter could shoot the 94 and got 3-5 misfires every cylinder. Trigger didn't want to lock up the cylinder upon return, either. I put the factory springs back in. My only complaint about Taurus is they typically have stiff triggers, but the 94 is the WORST!!! I'm gonna do a fluff and buff on the internals and hope that will help it.

[Bill DeShivs]

As I already said-the hammer spring is not the culprit here. It is the trigger return spring!

[azredhawk44]

Well, I didn't get to the range last weekend, but I did this weekend.

I put about 50 rounds through the revolver with the lightened spring package and Federal Bulk Pack from WalMart.

I got about 10% light strikes.

I moved on to Federal AutoMatch. This is a little bit higher grade ammuntion, but still nothing spendy by any stretch.

I got about 4% light strikes out of another 50 rounds. 2 misfires.

I had some CCI stingers and minimags with me too, but never got around to shooting them. I was too busy shooting my AR most of the time.

So, the springs are staying. I'm thinking I might look into shimming the 9 pound hammer spring a little bit, maybe with a small piece of another spring. This should increase the tension to maybe 10-11 pounds and give me close enough to 100% with the Federal AutoMatch... which is actually my preferred ammo for my .22 rifles anyways.

I'm happy now. This thing is actually use-able.:) I can hold off on buying a K-22 or Single Six for awhile.

[Keltyke]

I just got my 94 back from the smith to fix a too-tight forcing cone/cylinder front clearance problem. He recommended quality ammo. Doesn't have to be the real expensive stuff, but bulk ammo (Remington 525 round green box in our case) will generate light strikes with this gin.