Working on my LC Smith Grade 1, 1900, two piece tang, and three position safety. In it's past it had evidently been submerged and was full of rusty crud, so it was taken completely apart. All is well, except for the left trigger. Since how tight the screws are effects how functions work, I need some guidance.

The left trigger feels with typical force of pull that the safety is engaged when it is engaged. But if you pull extra hard on that trigger, it trips the sear. Hammer and sear look well fit, but it seems to fail less if that gun is opened (cocked) with exaggerated force. Tightening the tang screw almost as much as possible seems to help too. However, neither of those two troubleshooting steps yield 100% fix.

I have not yet taken a look with the stock off.

I'm thinking that it's short cocking, but humbly ask for your suggestions. Thanks.

Check and see if the cocking cam is working its way off its shaft. This can cause a hammer to "short cock". The fact that the cam just pushes onto the shaft is one of the many shortcomings in smith guns design.

These cocking cams are not firmly in place. They are peened on like an external hammer. I would think that giving them a good tap would help them stay in place.

I have often thought that drilling and tapping the end of the shaft so that a screw could be installed to hold the cam on would be a good solution. Much like a hammer tumber. But i have not found an application where i had to take it that far.

I seated the cams more soundly to the rods, but that does not to have helped. I still get times when the left will just barely trip the sear. The three position safety is not precisely set when the top lever moves. Sometimes it says safe, and is so. Other times it says safe, but it must be just slightly off; off enough to let the trigger move slightly.

What I am not familiar enough with on Smith's are the types of behavior relative to how tight the screws are: specifically the tang and side plate screws. If the side plate screw is overly tight, both sears can be tripped from just the front trigger.

Should have checked all of this more thoroughly before acquiring the gun.

Guns with HOTs are very finicky with screw tightness. DT guns not as much.

Thank you. This one has double triggers. Through more testing, I think the issue can be addressed with a slightly longer safety activator bar. I'll try a dab of epoxy to the rearward tip and see.

you haven't taken the stock off or taken a look or cleaned the safety on the tang?

I have. The gun was completely stripped down, which was good because it was cruddy. What I haven't done is reassembled without the stock and looked at how the safety is actuating.

This safety has the window where you see the word "SAFE" in the window. When it shows safe, it can still sometimes fire the left. If however you nudge the safety back towards that tang just a little bit, it never fires. So, I believe I need a slightly longer safety actuating bar so that the safety is pushed on just a little more than it is now.

Remember, that the safety bar is curved slightly- I'd check the inletted channel on the inside top tang left barrel side of the stock- relieving it of crud and splinters so that the safety bar slides easily in that inletted area might help--and check the underside of the top lever, as there is a lobe that pushes the safety bar back when you open up the gun. Also check the cammimg surface on the cocking rod, for burrs, etc. The cams on the cocking rods are made as "opposite hand", the one for the right barrel will not work if it was somehow forced on to the left barrel cocking rod.RWTF

Thank you.

It settled in nicely after a time, and consistently behaved for two rounds of 48 clays. I guess it needed some time to get used to being so clean.