Tips for putting a series 80 Gold cup back together?

[Peter M. Eick]

I tore apart my series 80 gold cup to figure out why the trigger pull is so bad on it. Very long and rough in general. My conclusion was it is all of the series 80 parts so I very lightly stoned them and put them back together with a bit of grease and got it working again.

The problem was the sear spring. It is this dinky little spring and lever are that fit on the sear on a gold cup and sit next to the disconnector. I used a slave pin to assemble them (greased) and put them in that way. What a pain to do though.

Does anyone have some tips on how I could have done it easier?

I know I have to take it apart someday because I have a EGW gold cup lightweight trigger coming because I want to remove that really heavy steel one. Also I am seriously considering "de-series 80-ing" the gun and replace the hammer, sear, and disconnector along with put in a brownells shim to fill the gaps for the series 80 parts. My solution to the problem right now is to remove the offending pieces and part of me thinks that is a bit foolish.

 

[Drail]

Replace the heavy stock trigger and convert to Series 70. Many guns have had this done. It IS absolutely possible to do a trigger job on a Series 80 and achieve a crisp pull that is indistinguishable from a Series 70 but to me I don't think it's worth the effort and I have seen far too many Series 80 pistols where the firing pin was just barely getting by the firing pin block and firing the gun. I would rather put the effort into getting the trigger pull where the customer wants it (sear fitted to the hammer) and then fitting a new thumb safety properly (snug and positive) and installing a extra power firing pin spring. A series 70 gun is perfectly safe if it's set up right.

 

[loadedround]

Peter: I ran into the same problem with a Colt Gold Cup when I disassembled it and couldn't reassemble it. Fortunately an old retired gunsmith at my club showed me how to make a slave pin out of a lollipop stick to hold the sear spring etc together on reassembling. It worked like a charm and the "slave pin" fell out through the magazine well. However I learned my lesson and won't dissasemble any Gold Cup again.

 

[rcmodel]

A slave pin is the only-est way I know of to do it.

As for taking the parts out and throwing them away?

Maybe not a good idea if you are trying for a light 3 1/2 pound trigger pull.

The Gold Cup uses a wide & heavy steel trigger, and will experience trigger bounce induced hammer follow unless you replace the trigger with a light aluminum one.

rc

 

[saltydog452]

Dinky parts that like to disappear.

Don't let those parts burrow into the carpet and get away from you.

Xolt Custom sez that they do not have replacement parts available as they were all sold off to aftermarket repair/replacement 'smiths. Jack First was one of the buyers, but his shop does not have any more available.

I can't get to the nomenclature site from here, but those parts were the GC sear, dinky little spring, and the '55 Chevy hanging 'clutch' pedal looking gizmo.


salty

 

[Peter M. Eick]

I don't mind a 4 lb pull since this is not going to be a perfect target gun.

My complaint is the exceptionally long take up to get to the trigger break. It reminds me of my M1A's and I would swear it is a two stage trigger. The reset is terrible for quick double taps or quick shooting.

I will give the gold cup its due though. The actual trigger break is nice. Just getting to it is very frustrating.

I guess my next step is to order a prepped sear and hammer and hope that my gold cup is "to spec" and I can drop it in.

 

[Drail]

Be aware that "drop in" trigger kits are a crapshoot. Sometimes they work as advertised and sometimes your frame holes are far enough out of spec that very little is gained. Your best bet if you want a great trigger is to have a good smith do it, especially if you want to retain the Series 80 function. Series 80s triggers can be made very nice but they're also VERY easy to screw up. It sounds like you may have a trigger with a short bow on it. But you need some takeup on a 1911.