How To Remove Smith & Wesson Internal Lock

We aren’t real big on Smith & Wesson revolver internal locks. In fact, we hate them. So…how can you remove your Governor’s internal lock?

You can see in this excellent video (not done by us) how this can be done in most any S&W revolver. The video does not demonstrate removing the Governor lock unfortunately.

Still, there is value in watching and learning. At the end there is a resource mentioned that you may want to pick up as well; so do yourself a favor and watch until the end.

Will This Leave A Hole In My Gun?

Unfortunately removing the internal lock will leave a “hole” on the back of the Governor where the lock “flag” came up. There is a post in the S&W forum where a guy was selling plugs but he is currently AWOL. I will try to update this post if I find a flag to fill the gap.

This procedure will NOT leave an unsightly hole in the side of the firearm behind the cylinder release, though.

Why Should I Remove The Internal Lock On My Governor?

I can think of a couple of reasons you might want to disable the internal lock on your Governor, just off the top of my head:

• The lock feels like guvment/nanny-state infringement
• You don’t EVER want to grab the firearm to defend yourself/loved ones and find the lock engaged for any reason
• You have heard of guns ‘locking up’ and not firing even if the internal lock has NOT been engaged
• Maybe you feel it just does not belong
• There is concern you might use the lock and lose the key

Why Not Leave The Lock, But Alter?

I think the main reason to remove the lock and not try to disable by modifying is so that you can:

• Put it back in, for warranty reasons or resale (only sell your Governor if you are DESPERATE for cash!)
• You don’t want to risk screwing up the mechanism

The only reason I can think of to disable and not remove would be to avoid the slot shaped hole in the backstrap.

Whatever your reason for wanting to remove your Governor’s internal lock, here is the video should you choose to attempt this.

NOTE: GovernorHolster.com is NOT recommending you make this change to your firearm and it may void the warranty.

S&W Governor Pistol Ammo vs Computer Cases

We decided to do another .410 pistol ammo review (video) since there is a lot of discussion regarding the S&W Governor and similar Taurus Judge & Public Defender and the effectiveness of the .410 pistol payload coming out of a short barrel.

From our previous video review we had learned that 5 yards was about the maximum range for the .410 cartridge with such a short barrel before there is a fair to middlin chance that your aim could be dead on and yet completely miss your target; God help you if you had aimed for a headshot.

But in that previous video we were shooting at cardboard and plucking lead out of the woodpile behind it.

For this video we choose some old steel computer cases destined for the scrapyard and thought to make things interesting we would put a 12 gauge pump shotgun in the mix besides.

.410 Pistol Ammo That Disappoints

In the photo above, in red circles you can see the pattern from Remington Ultimate Home Defense .410 rounds. As in that previous video, the pattern is quite dispersed and only one of the 4 pellets actually hitting close to our aim point.

In theory, we like 4 pellets vs the 3 pellets of the Winchester Super-X we previously compared against. In practice, the Super-X stays more on-target without that 4th pellet going high & wild.

We like the idea of zero collateral damage when discharging a firearm!

A Vote For Winchester PDX

As you can see in the video, the Winchester PDX .410 ammo (get at Brownell’s), the heaviest load (discs) hits pretty much dead on target with an even dispersion of the BB’s surrounding it.

While we have no idea what the effect of the BB’s would be on an attacker, we really like that large, deep indentation from the business part of the shell.

Penetration

One thing we really like about our Smith & Wesson Governor, besides being a 6 shooter and not 5, is that we can mix up the loading of the cylinder with .410 pistol ammo (PDX), .45 Long Colt (PDX, buy at Brownell’s) and even .45 Auto (also in PDX if you like, again at Brownell’s).

The .45 Long Colt is shown in the video blasting easily through all 3 layers of steel. .45 Auto will do the same.

Of the 9 pellets in the 2-3/4″ 12 gauge 00 Buck only a couple make it all the way through all 3 layers but the all easily penetrate the first, and in a close pattern as you would expect from an 18″ barrel. Those that do not make it through that last layer leave a really big dent.

.410 Pistol Ammo Review Video

Watch the video for yourself and see what the effect is on the computer case from the .410 pistol ammo and you might decide, like we do, to load at least the last couple chambers with .45 Long Colt or .45 Auto – just in case you need to punch through something.