1911 homestyle trigger job

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Just back from the range:

The trigger pull seems very stable and has not changed after 300 rounds this am.

I shot 50% better groups, some of that is getting used to the gun, but much of it is because the trigger breaks so cleanly now. The trigger before this work was so bad it was damn near impossible to shoot a group!

Jim
 
Speaking of jigs, I like the jig made by Ron Power the best. Anyone else have one that they like better?
John K
 
Great question 4 eye!

Lets talk tools! I know we can do better than my 20 dollar vise and hard arkansaw wet stone.

Jigs jigs? We really need some stinking jigs!

and the Brownells parts numbers are.......?
 
How does anyone feel about the "kits" sold by Nowlin, C&S for trigger jobs, i.e. all preset replacement parts?

I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that they can produce square, true parts that mate well together!!

They are not cheap and my concern has been that after installing a set, I might still have one side of the sear 'doing most of the work' like I have now due to frame, pin variances, etc. That may not be the reason for my sear/hammer issue, but just for example.

I said "not cheap", but they would be a bargin if you had to send your gun through the mail and pay for a "premium" trigger upgrade. Not to mention the time involved in getting work done.

But, I've experienced a trigger problem done by a non professional and it wasn't pretty. Following safe loading procedures really does work. :D
 
Pre-Fit Trigger Groups

45Auto asked:

How does anyone feel about the "kits" sold by Nowlin, C&S for trigger jobs, i.e. all preset replacement parts?
-------------------------------------
Some of them work very well in some guns, not as well in others, and
not at all in a few. This brings us to the second question:


I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that they can produce square, true parts that mate well together!!
------------------------------------

Yes they can. CNC machinery has allowed the machinists and toolmakers to hold closer tolerances much easier than when I did my apprenticeship.
There are a few flies in the ointment, though.

1...Are the locations of the sear and hammer pin in-spec?
2...If they are, are they on one end of tolerance or the other? A few
thousandths of an inch can make a difference if the parts in the kit are
also on either end. Tolerances stack up. They can work for us or against
us.

3...Are the holes drilled straight, or are they slightly out of print on the
alignment? If they aren't dead straight, the squareness of the hammer hooks and/or the sear primary angle is for naught if the pin that they
ride on is set at an angle.

On occasion,I have installed a sear, hammer and disconnector that weren't advertised as being a "Matched, Drop-In" kit, and everything fell into place. I've also used the same parts from the same manufacturer in a different pistol that required adjustment. It's a crap shoot. Any part that is advertised as a drop-in may very well do just that, but it's best not to count on it. Even at best, the trigger group won't be quite as good as
a skillfully fitted set.

Of all the ones that I'm aware of, the one that Dane Burns sells has had
more good reports than any of the others., though I've never used any of them. Just going on what I hear through the grapevine.

Cheers!
Tuner
 
Boostin' it.

zahc asked:

What is boosting a trigger?


Howdy zahc. Boosting a hammer is simple, and often makes a big difference in the "feel" of the trigger, if not a difference in the letoff.

Cock the hammer and dribble a few drops of oil between the curved part
of the hammer and frame. Dry-fire it a few times to distribute the oil into
the sear and hammer hooks.

Use the tip of a small screwdriver between the back of the hammer and the top of the grip safety to lever the hammer forward lightly while you
pull the trigger. Pull the trigger until the hammer falls. If the trigger is
very hard to pull, you're using too much force on the screwdriver. Let off
the pressure slowly until the hammer will fall. Repeat this 5-6 times.
The trigger should feel smoother, and probably a bit lighter. Depending
on how bad the trigger was to begin with, it can make a lot of difference.

One thing to keep in mind is that...if the trigger is noticeably harder to
pull with light boosting, it's a sign that both hammer hooks aren't bearing
evenly on the sear...and probably only one hook is holding the hammer in
full cock. Not really a major issue, though. Very few production pistols
DO have a hammer/sear fit that is even, and go through their whole
lives in that condition. It's just not conducive to a good, crisp trigger.
Easy for a pistolsmith to correct, though...and if all you want is to get
both hooks on the sear, he can probably do it while you wait unless he's
badly backlogged. If you opt for a complete trigger job, he may want to
replace the hammer, sear, and disconnect as a unit as opposed to using yours. Some are funny about trigger groups. At the very least, he will
probably want to clean up the sear primary angle a little.

Do yourself a favor, and tell him NOT to take the trigger below 5 pounds.
It's a matter of preference, but I get nervous whenever I encounter any
autopistol with a single-action trigger below that level...and am happier with 6. Just my opinion here.

Luck to ya!

Tuner
 
Tunner Said:

Easy for a pistol smith to correct, though...and if all you want is to get
both hooks on the sear, he can probably do it while you wait unless he's
badly backlogged.
***********************************

HA! HA! The fact that this is totally NOT true is what prompted this entire line of 1911 clinic threads. Tunner you are a throw back to another time with different sensibilities. Your right in that they COULD do it while you wait. But they wont. What they will do is take your gun in for six months, they not work on it at all until you are forced to act like an ???????. Then they get pissy and tell you about all the other things that must be done in order for your trigger to ever work again. Never mind that it worked for tens of thousands of rounds before you dropped it off.

Welcome to hell Tunner pull up a chair and stay a while. :)
 
Fan club

Tunner,

I would gladly pay you to work on my gun. But I would much rather pay you 20 times as much to sit with me and teach me how to do it myself.

I may pick up my stuff and move one of these days. You may get a knock on your door. :)
 
Prolly me Tuner. No harm done. I agree the first post was a bit angry in tone. I wAS mad at SEVERAL gunsmiths and their general inability to stick to any reasonable time frame.

Since my first post I have learned a lot.

1. There is much more to this Gunsmithing than I had known.
2. There are many things outside of a gunsmiths control that may
make him break commitments for delivery dates.
3. They are probably worth what they charge ( most of the time)

Still many Smiths don't seem to feel the need for good communication with the customer and this is at the heart of the problem.

When it seems the projected date for a gun being finished is not going to work out it is not to much to ask that the call the customer and tell them exactly why.

If some one has my gun and a large deposit and months go by after the gun should have been finished and I have heard NOTHING that is a problem.
 
I tried a Cylinder & Slide match hammer, sear & disconnector(Brownells, $111), in my Springfield Armory Trophy Match. All the parts looked really good with a rockwell hardness of 52, and made from bar stock, not MIM. Except for a few file strokes on the existing safety they were truly drop in parts. 3.5# on my trigger scale with a clean break.

"Foolproof machinery does not allow for the ingenuity of fools."
 
Smiths don't seem to feel the need for good communication with the customer and this is at the heart of the problem.
Click to expand...
Fact of life.

A good gunsmith needs all his available time to work on guns, just to keep up with his back-log.

If you want more talk, a lesser smith might have more time to talk to you.

rcmodel
 
Ah yes, post #42 is yet another first post by a new member that dredges up a 4+ year old thread...

I am seeing this so often lately that it is cliche.

If you are smart enough to use search to find the answer to your question, why can you not grasp the fact that others are as well?

And if they aren't, what makes you think you need to register to post to a 4+ year old thread?
 
LOL! What's that about good communications, RCModel?


Thing is that until I stopped to read orion's post I was about to say that in my experience gunsmiths tend to reticence - i.e., they don't talk much, and when you find one that does (thinking of a particularly long backlog of work that nearly equals the length of wordy blogging the fellow does) talk too much you may be even more frustrated by the time it takes to obtain completed work from him.
 
ORIONENGNR, I did not see this information anywhere in the thread so I thought that some of the members might be interested.
You have given me a new goal; to be as smart as you think you are.
 
1911 Tuner
Installed new hammer ,sear,and disconnector along with sear spring and beaver tail grip safety. Function is normal except the hammer will fall from half cock. Replaced disconnector with original disconnector,now function is O.K. is disconnector too long ,too short or what the heck is wrong?
 
1911 home trigger job

All I want to do is thank both 1911 Tuner and Old Fuff for giving me the courage to rectify a very ragged trigger pull on my factory series 80 Colt 1911. Its about six years old and had several thousand rounds through it and the trigger pull was still pretty rough. Lots of creep and pretty gritty. Seemed variable too.

1911 Tuner gave me the courage to tackle the chore because of his clear concise instruction.

Old Fuff gave me the restraint necessary to stick to Tuners tips and not stray into the while I'm polishin that, I might as well polish, and hone, and stone these other parts too territory.

A bit of judicious polishing, Tuners Slurry, and umpteen dry fires, a few light boosts to top it off has netted me a a very fine trigger pull.

These gents know what they are talkin about!

Thank You.
 
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