PPK/S Peening

[MLB]

Thought I'd solicit the advice of those with many more rounds downrange...

I have under 200 rounds of WWB through my PPK/S. Just breaking it in. I noticed some peening on the block above the trigger guard. The slide is impacting it upon cycling. I noticed it only because in order to take down this handgun, you pull down on the trigger guard (and this block) through the frame. You can then pull the slide back and off.

The peening made it a bit difficult to pull the guard down (the fit is nice and tight on this one). I fixed it by filing the flared sides of the block.

I remember XB having a similar problem with one of his pistols. Is this a common thing? I imagine that I could fix it by installing a stiffer spring, but being new, it shouldn't be weak just yet.

Thanks for your thoughts

[Callahan]

I dunno, MLB. My PPK clone has a standard takedown lever (guess it's not a clone!) This sounds like a job for XB. I read his post on the Walther he used to own and see no mention of it.

[XavierBreath]

MLB,
The exact same thing happened to my S&W/Walther PPK/S. What I did was take a a flat jeweler's file and square up the edges of the block again, and then radius them to where they are rounded slightly. This seemed to work well on mine, the block did not mushroom out again. I had probably 600-800 rounds through the pistol between the time mine mushroomed and the time I traded the PPK/S off. It only takes a slight, but definite radius of the edge. Burnish your work once you are finished.

Apparently S&W is not hardening the trigger guards very well, and the slide eventually will mushroom out the block. I think it eventually reaches a point where it becomes a non-issue, as long as you can get the trigger guard down for stripping. Why S&W does not radius this block from the factory to prevent this is beyond me. If they hardened the block, it might be subject to cracking, maybe that's why it's not hardened better.

I do not know of any buffers for the PPK/S.

Putting in a heavier recoil spring will not only alter the cycling of the action, and make it harder to chamber a round, but also make the slide slam shut harder. You are then looking at wear on other parts. Avoid a spring change.

On the plus side, you can lighten up that bulldozer needing trigger with a mainspring swap from Wolff.

[MLB]

Thanks for the comments guys.

XB, I did flatten out the block like you suggested. I hadn't thought to radius the corners though, will do.

I was looking at the Wolff spring site. They have springs rated between 14 to the standard 20 lb. How far down did you go? I was thinking that the 16 lb spring would be a reasonable start.