Hi Power (Inglis) safety does not disengage after trigger is pulled

[IMtheNRA]

I just discovered a problem with an old Canadian Inglis Hi Power that I'd like to ask for your help in diagnosing.

1. Gun is cocked and I engage the safety.
2. Pull the trigger - hammer does not drop but a tiny click is heard.
3. Trigger is released.
4. Safety lever is stuck in the safe position and I can not disengage it.

The only way to release the safety lever now is to pull the hammer back a little more and then the safety is easily disengaged while the hammer is held back past fully cocked.

Gun is otherwise functioning normally.

What do you think the problem is?

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. The Hi Power safety blocks the sear and engages it from the bottom side. When the trigger is pressed and the safety is disengaged, the front of the sear is pushed down and the rear raises from the full-cock notch in the hammer, allowing it to drop. When the safety is engaged and the trigger pressed, the sear cannot move. The safety blocks it from beneath.

The tiny "click" you hear is your gun's sear moving a tiny bit against the engaged thumb safety as it lifts partially out of the hammer's full-cock notch. This puts quite a bit of tension against the safety via the sear really pressing against it.

With time and repeated trigger-pressing with the safety engaged, the problem will get worse until the hammer can drop! Hopefully, the half-cock notch would prevent its firing a chambered round but perhaps not. Retracting the hammer a bit, allows the sear to position itself in the "normal" manner as the hammer is held at full-cock and relieves the excessive tension on the safety, allowing it to move normally.

The condition can be fixed by building up either the existing sear where it contacts the safety or builidng up the safety where it contacts the sear via welding and then carefully dressing down for a perfect fit.

If you will cock your pistol, engage the safety and then press the trigger while carefully looking at the front of the hammer where it contacts the sear, I'll bet that you can see the sear move about half-way or perhaps a tad less out of the half-cock notch on the hammer.

Best and good luck.

 

[IMtheNRA]

Hi, and thank you!

I see what you mean. With the slide removed, safety on, and pressing the front of the sear with a punch, I can see the sear pop up just a bit from where it engages the hammer. But it does not fall down on it's own, until I pull the hammer back a little.

By the way, the hammer does not move at all. Only the sear moves, just a little up.

Now that I have all the components out, I see that the sear spring has a tiny crease about a third of the way up it's narrow part. It looks like it was bent too much at some point in it's history.

If I understand you correctly, either the safety lever has worn down on the spot where it contacts the sear, or the sear has worn down where it contacts the safety lever. This is assuming that the slightly damaged sear spring is not at fault.

Rather than fixing the existing components, I'd prefer to replace them. I have an extra C&S sear, but not a spare safety.

Is there a way to see which of the two componets is worn out?

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. The sear spring is not at fault in this instance. Now and again, a weak sear spring will let the hammer fall to half-cock when the slide chambers a round or is allowed to slam shut on an empty chamber but the sear spring's "power" or tension is not the culprit in the worn sear/safety interface.

I am not sure how to tell if the sear is too worn or if it's the safety. Here's what I might suggest if you like the trigger pull as is. Check and see if the C&S safety will fit. IF it happens to go w/o fitting which is not the norm but I have seen it a time or two in guns with worn sears, you may be good to go if the sear doesn't move when the trigger is pressed and the safety engaged. The sear from C&S is marked where to file and comes with instructions if I remember correctly. If the sear is replaced, it is most likely that a trigger job could be needed as well.

Best and good luck.

 

[IMtheNRA]

Hello Stephen, thank you again for the great advice. I inspected the Inglis sear and clearly saw wear in the spot where it contacts the safety. There was a large amount of metal displacement that looked like it "curled away" from the sear surface.

The safety did not have any visible signs of wear, which is good, as I don't have a spare.

I replaced the sear with the Cylinder-Slide "CNC" sear that I thankfully happened to have. This seems to have taken care of the problem as the safety now functions as it should and the sear does not pop up when the trigger is pulled.

While I had all the guts out for a cleaning and inspection, I replaced the hammer spring with a Wolff reduced power 26-lb spring. I also replaced the firing pin spring with a Wolff. I noticed that the original f.p. spring was significantly shorter and not as stiff as the Wolff f.p. spring. Replaced the recoil spring, as well as the trigger return spring and took out the mag disconnect.

During extensive dry firing, the gun functions as expected and it has the lightest trigger pull of any HP I've handled.

Here is the latest challenge:

After the significant trigger take-up stage, just before the hammer drops, there is a "gritty" feel in about 20% of the dry fires. It feels as though the sear/hammer interface is to blame. I imagine that as the sear begins to disengage from the hammer, it moves up, then encounters some more friction and bogs down, then it overcomes the friction and the hammer drops.

This happens in about 1 out of 5 trigger pulls. Am I correct in thinking that this is the result of the sear and hammer that have not "worn in" together? Would you expect this occasional grittiness to go away over time, or can this condition only be cured with a professional trigger job?

If not hammer/sear, then what other causes could there be for this condition?

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. It could probably benefit from a trigger job. I'd shoot it a while first and see how this shakes out but it does seem that Hi Powers frequently need some help to have a really nice trigger pull.

Best.