FA97 Action Job BOOOH

[SingleFan]

Well I picked up my new M97 in .41 mag with a 4-1/4 bbl.  I had ordered the gun with an action job and trigger set at the 3 lbs.

What a disappointment on the AJ.  The M83 with an action job is much smoother.  Spoke with John, one of the gunsmiths and he explained to me that they are not able to do much to smooth out the action because of the small frame, componentry etc.  Boy, what a stiff action.  My custom ruger and smith are both much smoother.  Not to mention that my 83 is a dream.

Test target is one hole; literally.  My results were very good as well, but they could be much better if that trigger weren't so dang hard.

Anybody else have an action job on their M97?  How did yours turn out?  I've thought of sending it back, but the smith at FA told me they won't be able to do much with it.  He said he'd like to see them change the action altogether; more like a mini 83 than the transfer bar arrangement.

[MarkH]

Yep, I've had six or seven of them ... mostly for the trigger break, which is worthwhile.

The gun will probably shoot in.  Some will do some tinkering with careful thinning of the mainspring, or careful bending of the bolt and trigger springs.  I never did ... but again, the guns will shoot in.  For a good while I did a lot of sliphammer work with the FA 97's in 357 and 44 Sp.  Got some 0.10-0.12 second splits with them - without any tinkering with the springs - and you can't do that with a lousy action 

[STJ]

Yea, my 83 is WAY smother than my 97...The 97s trigger breaks crisp but the whole action is stiff.

[Shootist Elite]

I have to agree with you as far as the smoothness goes between the M83 and M97. I to was told by Freedom Arms basically the same thing as to why the M97 can't be made as nice as the M83. I personally have disassembled my M83 even though it had the factory action job and was able to improve upon it by cleaning up the contact areas with "Flitz Polish". I haven't had a chance to try out on my M97 but I see no reason why some improvement can't be achieved. I don't think no matter what you do you will ever get it as nice as a M83 but you may be able to improve upon it enough to satisfy yourself. whats nice is that the Flitz Polish can smooth up the parts without taking off any measureable amount of material. Just my 2 cents worth.