Help! My 1911 needs a trigger job

[combatantr2]

My NIB NORC 1911's trigger pull was just difficult and too hard to squeeze to effect some decent groupings. Shot it last week and was extremely reliable with ball ammo thru box stock magazines and CMC and my only complaint was its trigger pull. Tried to maintain the best and most relax trigger squeeze but I could not consistently place my shots. Some shots were too low and far left and a few were almost dead center.

Am thinking of the following:

1. Replace the mainspring with Wollf 17 pounder and bypass the trigger-job. (Honestly, im not inclined for a hack-job with pistols. Preferrably I want my guns hack-free. But if theres no other way I just might agree.) My worry with the 17lbs is I might have inconsistent primer ignition. I'll be carrying this gun on regular basis for defensive shooting purposes.

2. Commit the pistol to a gunsmith and have a trigger job. But I heard a trigger-job would mean filing down some part of the hammer. Bending the sear, etc. Filing the hammer ? No way with this gun. No, no, no, filing. Adjusting, a tweak here and there would be okey. But filing, arrgh! :banghead:

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[carolinaman]

Hi there,

First, I would put at least 500 rounds down range before I do anything! There are parts that need to "wear in" with any new handgun.

The things that I have done with my 1911's is to polish the trigger bow, trigger track and sides of the hammer and sear. The objective is to accelerate the wear process and smooth in the trigger pull by focusing on the frictional surfaces. I use 600/800 grit wet/dry sandpaper to do this and Militec Metal conditioner.

I leave the stoning of the sear/hammer engagement surfaces to a skilled gunsmith with the proper jig and skills to do the job. This is not an area that I experiment with! You have to ruin a couple of sets of sears and hammers to get it right!

A good trigger job is something that is well worth the expense of paying for in the long run!

Chris

 

[mete]

Trigger jobs do not include "filing down" the hammer.One guy I know tried a DIY job on a grinder - I replaced the parts !! A trigger job involves polishing surfaces with a fine stone. Smooth is more important than light so you should always start with stoning the parts .Lighter mainsprings usually are not needed. A proper trigger for safe reliable use should be 4-5 lbs .Find a good gunsmith.

 

[Old Fuff]

combatantr2:

Well you are right about one thing: It can be a serious mistake to tamper with a pistol's trigger pull unless you know what you are doing.

Concerning your idea of using a lighter main spring to lighten the trigger pull. This might (or might not) be a viable solution in some guns, but in the case of the 1911 pistol it is generally a mistake because the hammer and mainspring act as a brake on the slide and slow its rearward travel. What you would be asking for is a battered frame, and no - a stronger recoil spring or plastic buffer isn't the right answer.

The truth of the matter is that various parts in the 1911 system often do more then one thing, and modifying a part may have unexpected and unwanted consequences. If you feel you must have the trigger pull lightened take the pistol to a QUALIFIED gunsmith with a PROVEN track record for doing this kind of work.

 

[1911Tuner]

Boost

Boosting the hammer might help a bit. Here's how:

Cock the hammer and dribble some light oil on the curved area just under the frame edge. dry-fire a few times to distribute the oil. Get a slot-tip screwdriver about 5 inches long and work it between the top of the grip safety tang and the hammer. Don't apply pressure, but let the weight of the screwdriver lever up on the hammer enough so that the weight will depress the grip safety...Do this while lightly supporting the screwdriver and pull the trigger 8-10 times. Don't make the mistake of thinking that if a little upward pressure on the hammer is good, then a lot must be gooder. It's not.

What happens is that the rough edges between the hammer and sear engagement surfaces are smoothed. Essentially putting 500 rounds worth of wear on the parts in a few minutes, sometimes it works wonders and sometimes not.

Dropping to a sub-weight mainspring isn't the answer and can bring on more problems than it solves. I advise against it.

 

[MICHAEL T]

Tuner and Fuff have said it all. All rest of us can only sit and nod our heads in agreement.

 

[combatantr2]

Fuff/Tuner; Can i send my gun to you guys?

Talked to my gunsmith yesterday and he said - a trigger job is not a simple task but neither a difficult one. He said it may only involve some buffering or smoothing on some parts (and I dont know where ) but possibly he may cut a little off my mainspring if I decide not to put in a lighter one. Shucks . This guy knows me that I do not like hack jobs in my pistols as I have maintained all my guns in box stock condition. Phoenix Raven .25, Astra 9mm, P89, NP27, etc. All he has done so far for me were finish jobs none whatsoever thats mechanical. But this guy is okey. I just cant bring myself to agree for physical tweaking on my pistols.

Anyways, ill try shooting the NORC to try to smoothen things up.

 

[Old Fuff]

combatantr2:

Nope, ya' can't send me your gun because I don't have an FFL, and at present I'm not in the 'smithing business.

What you are suffering from is "gun ignorance syndrome." This means that anyone can hand you a line about what you should or shouldn’t do, and you don't know who's right or wrong.

The cure is easy. Got to (www.gunbooks.com) or even (www.amazon.com) or (www.brownells.com) and buy a copy of a book: "The Colt .45 Automatic - A Shop Manual" by Jerry Kuhnhausen. It is well illustrated and written in ordinary English. Within a short time you will know a lot more about .45 1911 pistols then you're gunsmith does, (maybe he should read it too ) because it shows what to do, why to (or not) do it, and how it's done - not just about trigger pulls, but everything else.

Now this doesn't mean that you should necessarily start doing your own work - although that may happen. It does mean that no one can hand you a line about this or that without you knowing it.

The real answer for ignorance is a dose of smarts - go get some...

 

[1911Tuner]

Mainspring

Tell him not to go cuttin' coils off that mainspring! Length is important for proper hammer strike. Long and light is better than short and stiff. Wolff has'em available in increments of one pound with the correct number of coils. I don't recommend any lighter than 21 pounds.

 

[Old Fuff]

I agree with Tuner, for the reasons I previously stated in post #4. But more to the point, this "gunsmith" should know what Tuner just said, and understand the correct way in almost any gun situation is to replace a spring with a lighter one of full length, rather then cut coils off of the stronger one.

He is not someone I'd want working on my trigger pull, and probably nothing else related to the 1911 pistol.