The model 69 has MIM internals, the action should be butter smooth.
New MIM S&W's should be very smooth right out of the box. MIM has made S&W's DA revolvers the smoothest they've been since before WW II.
All of the above including dry firing
do not apply to the S&W Model 69.
It is the worst Smith I have ever handled/shot, makes Rugers feel 'Butter Smooth'. A spring kit will help, but it will need a trigger job.
Jerry
Are you saying it doesn't apply to the model across the board? Or just your 69.
If it's just your gun, then what I said applies; there's something wrong because it should be very smooth.
If you're saying it's the entire model line; that just doesn't make sense.
If YOUR model 69 has a really bad action, send it back to S&W and they should make it right. It ought to be pretty darned smooth.
I'm a gunsmith, so it costs me ZERO dollars to do a trigger job. I don't even bother on the MIM guns anymore, they're GTG right out of the box. Many object to how stiff the springs are, so swapping springs makes sense.
So that should tell you that if your 69 is really bad, something is amiss and ought to go back to S&W.