Finally...a heavy trigger pull on my 1911!

[Malikovski]

The saga of bad amateur gunsmithing continues, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

In the last installment (here), I swapped out my buggered hammer/sear with new parts, and all seemed well.

Except that it wasn't. Fortunatly I played with the pistol some more before heading to the range. I found the trigger was still way too light. I held it in one hand, a revolver in the other, and the 1911 trigger broke before the single action revolver. Not good! The hammer would not push-off, nor wiggle-off the hammer hooks, but it would follow if the slide was dropped and the trigger not depressed.

I swapped out the mainspring just in case the factory original was weak (the original recoil spring was weak), and besides I wanted to dump the mainspring housing with the locking mechanism on it.

No dice, and what's more, I had four hammers and two sears, and every combination produced exactly the same results. By this point I was armed with Kuhnhausen, a 30x loupe, and two jigs for hammer and sear work (the Tom Wilson jigs pictured in Kuhnhausen, pp.81-82, vol. 1), and I finally figured out what was wrong.

And it shouldn't be a surprise, given that this is the cheapest Springfield 1911 you can buy...the frame was out of spec. Specifically, the pin holes for the hammer and sear were too far apart. This allowed the parts to rotate farther and contact differently. Instead of the flat top of the sear contacting the flat hooks of the hammer, the edge of the sear nearest the front of the pistol was contacting the edge of the hammer hooks. So the slightest trigger pressure would nudge the point of contact off.

I suspected the frame, and once I measured the distance between the pin holes and then looked at the hammer/sear assembled outside the frame, it all made sense. Pull them apart farther than they should, and the sear will rotate towards the rear of the pistol farther than it should, and the flat surface contact becoms a line of contact, and very near the edge of the hammer hooks at that.

So, for the first time I set to stoning metal with some confidence in what I was doing. I took the old sear and put it in the jig, adjusting the set screw so that I could alter the angle of the engagement surface. It took several tries, but with each test fitting the trigger got heavier, and the fit looked better.

I don't have a pull gauge, but I guess it's about twice as heavy as when I started, which should put in the 5-6 lb. range. Surprisingly, the break is clean with no noticable creep.

So...did I diagnose the problem correctly, or just have a lucky day?

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Without actually having the gun on the bench...I'd say that you probably nailed it. The sear and hammer pin/hole location doesn't have to be very far off to make a lot of difference.

 

[Malikovski]

The holes were .009" too far apart by my measurement.

Thanks for the confirmation. It's nice to be right now and then!

 

[Old Fuff]

Regardless of what the gun cost, if the holes are that far off, Springfield should give you a new frame. It could have never got past a US Government Inspector, even during wartime. :banghead:

 

[Malikovski]

They should yes, but I think everything I have done has definitely "voided the warranty."

I bought this gun as one that I could fiddle with and learn on without wrecking something expensive, so it is serving it's purpose, but I think after this experience, I would not buy another pistol from Springfield for any purpose other than fiddling around with it. So far every dimension I've bothered to measure has been out of spec, parallel parts aren't, fitting is sloppy, et cetera. Not bad as a learning tool, but pretty poor as an out-of-the box pistol.

I cannot resist messing with stuff, and I figured my first 1911 was something of a goner. I'm really pleased just to have returned it to functional condition.

 

[BBBBill]

...They should yes, but I think everything I have done has definitely "voided the warranty."...

Not my experience with them at all. They replaced a frame on a gun belonging to a friend that had started as a bullseye gun built when Les Baer was there running the custom shop, later modified into a comp gun. The slide stop pin hole had egged out to an oval on the right side. About .206" x .211". I called to discuss options for repair and was directed to send it in for inspection. The pistol returned with a new frame, all custom parts moved over from the old frame and fitted, no questions asked, no money charged. I suspect that to be the norm with them from what I've heard from others.

 

[Old Fuff]

So far every dimension I've bothered to measure has been out of spec, parallel parts aren't, fitting is sloppy, et cetera. Not bad as a learning tool, but pretty poor as an out-of-the box pistol.

I haven't bought one, but I noticed in some that others have, how dimensions and tolerances often don't match USGI blueprints. Yet people keep buying them hand over fists. Then they wonder why the things don't work and slander the design as being jam-0-matics.

It's a sad situation... :banghead:

 

[carnaby]

I dunno, I've got two Springfields and I like 'em a bunch. I liked my Kimber too. My sister had a Springfield Champion, and between the four guns, I don't recall any of them jamming ever.