Poor Boy Trigger Job: Really Works!

[Panzerschwein]

Gang I've a new Ruger's Blackhawk .45 here and decided to try this trick I learned from Jeff Quinn over at Gunblast:

http://www.gunblast.com/Poorboy.htm

In short, you unhook one side of the trigger spring and push the hammer firmly while pulling the trigger a few times to "mate the surfaces". Guys I'm going to have to tell you, it WORKS. The gun had a rather gritty, spongy feel out of the box. After I did this, the break is so clean and crisp with no creep and it's lighter but not too light, probably 3-4 lbs and smoooooth!!

Super neat, easy trick to get a great trigger out of your Ruger's six gun, guys. Just thought I'd share my experience with it!

 

[LoonWulf]

@.308 Norma shared that trick with me and i used it on my .44 SBH to good effect. I did some polishing on the internals and i think i actually ended up around 2.5-3lbs, I checked it but cant remember right now what it was. The thing broke cleaner than most of my rifles tho.

 

[243winxb]

May not be a good idea with Case hardening/Surface hardened parts. Some may be only .004" thick.

Not a problem with Rugers, as they seem to be 100% real steel.

 

[Jack B.]

I don't know about that.

 

[WestKentucky]

I did that on a single six and liked it, but I had issues with reliable trigger setting. After a couple slips running it dry I rehooked it. Be careful.

 

[Sistema1927]

I have done it with several SA Rugers, always with great results.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Guys I've dry fired this gun at least a few thousand times in the past couple days. 0 issues so far!

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

Yes, the force created by shoving hard against the hammer while slowly pulling the trigger will 'marry' the surfaces of the cocking notch and the sear together, removing microscopic irregularities. You need to push quite hard against the back of the hammer, and pull the trigger very slowly until the hammer falls. The leverage created when shoving the hammer forward translates into a very strong force between the two mating surfaces. I have done this on a bunch of Vaqueros. You only need to pull the hammer back and shove forward twice. Anything more is over kill.

However I only recommend this technique for Rugers, not for Colts or clones. The internal parts of a Ruger are much more massive than the internals of a Colt. The Ruger parts can take the stress. I would not try it on one of my Colts or one of my antiques. Stoning is better for them. I would be afraid of breaking the sear of a Colt.

Also, I don't much care for the technique of lifting one leg of the trigger spring off the stud for a Ruger. I would rather bend the spring and reduce the force on both legs, than just rely on one leg.

Obviously you cannot do that with a Colt or clone, the split trigger spring of a Colt or clone is a very different configuration. For a Colt or clone, I prefer to substitute a wire trigger/bolt spring.

 

[gotboostvr]

I had a 4 5/8ths SS Blackhawk 357 that dropping the one leg off took it from 4lbs to 2 1/2lbs.

That thing had a sweet, no take-up trigger.

One of my "why did I sell that?" moments.

 

[chicharrones]

Also, I don't much care for the technique of lifting one leg of the trigger spring off the stud for a Ruger. I would rather bend the spring and reduce the force on both legs, than just rely on one leg.

That's my preference, too. Works well.

 

[rpenmanparker]

I was taught that trick minus the spring removal for 1911s.

 

[warnerwh]

Putting in some Wolf spring is easy and they don't cost much and I wonder why people just do the poor mans trigger job. It's not nearly as good as replacing springs and I have heard of problems with pulling one leg off of the trigger spring.
On my Blackhawk I bought the lightest springs available and bent both legs of the trigger spring to reduce pull weight even more. Polishing internals and reducing the amount of creep to minimum safe also improves the trigger. Cost was about 17 dollars if I remember correctly. To me however if I didn't know how to do trigger jobs I'd pay for it as it takes the gun to another level of refinement not to mention making accurate shots easier.

 

[CraigC]

Springs are cheap and you don't feel the hanging spring leg dragging up and down the hammer spring. I change the springs in 99% of my guns.

That said, I can't really call it a "trigger job". It may lessen the letoff due to less spring pressure but it does nothing to minimize the creep inherent to the New Model action.