Traditions Kentucky Pistol: Trigger play

[SixShootinSam]

Well I've finally got a traditions 50 cal kentucky pistol, can't say it's the greatest craftsmanship, but its not bad for the price.

Only thing I noticed right away is that the trigger has a lot of forward backward play in it, even when fully cocked. is this normal? just kinda jiggles back and forth.

Sam

 

[Das Jaeger]

Sounds

like it isn't set up to the lock itself very well . At full cock the flat of the trigger mechanism should be resting on the bar that engages the sear on the lock . Sounds like they did a piss poor job of inlaying the trigger plate and housing assembly close enough to the lock bar.
Send it back , or monkey with it .
Recomend you buy a Pedersoli or better , or be willing to fiddle with the lesser quality Kentuckys .

Jaeger

 

[SixShootinSam]

That's a bummer. You know of an exploded view anywhere of this pistol, or pistol type? I see one on dixiegunworks but it's too small for me to even see.

 

[Das Jaeger]

Sam

go to Davidpedersoli.com and press on psitols, Kentucky when you get tot he picture there is a PDF file tab you press , full giant exploded scematic for ya , but it aint no help because it doesn't show how they SHOULD sit when assembled .
VTI is the same and so is Numrich .
Anyway you can post me a pic of yours inside of lock and see if its like on my Pedersoli , then i can take one and show you what it needs to look like at half and at full cock . And rest . Ummm , there may be soemone ehre that has a good example of the Traditions model though, so don't give up hope just yet for that either . But, I have a feeling they may all be just that bad is all , just not tightly made .

Jaeger

 

[Das Jaeger]

Sounds to me though

like you should be able to slowly inlay that trigger plate deeper , going very slowly each time you take soem wood out and eventually meet up with that bar though , that tis the problem if it is the same desing as mine .

Jaeger

 

[Das Jaeger]

I just pulled my plate off

and you can't see it anyway where it needs to be , we would have to do this in person .

Jeager

 

[SixShootinSam]

Well I just fiddled with it and came up with a solution, it's a bit hokey right now but I'll take care of it some other time.

I basically just put a piece of thin sheet metal around the back end of the trigger plate which prevents it from going down all the way. it's almost tight right now, so I will try and do what you said too: making the inlayer a tiny bit deeper.

Thanks for the link to the exploded view, that helps a lot!

 

[Das Jaeger]

Cheers !

Thats what I am here for , to harrass the grumpy , and to help when I can to the willing to learn .
Sounds like your well on your way to getting it solved , very cool !

Das Jaeger

 

[mykeal]

It's a Traditions. Live with it.

 

[Das Jaeger]

Okeedokeee

, but I hope you do take the effort to make it safer anyway by making it RIGHT , reguardless of it being a Traditons as some would say . There is nothing wrong with them for the price unless your an Elitist anyway. Although I won't buy another ever , but thats only because of the company , not the product . Good luck to ya Sam , Cheers

Jaeger

 

[BHP FAN]

I had one.After getting it as close as I could,I made a ''trigger return'' spring out of a bic pen spring.it eliminated the annoying rattle,anyways.

 

[Cosmoline]

You can always get a kit and make your own. Then you can set the trigger in as deep as you care to. The play doesn't really make much difference to me but it bugs some folks.

 

[fyrfyter43]

Here's my response on another site to someone having a similar problem with a Pedersoli pistol. I'd be willing to bet your problem is the same. It's not actually a problem with the trigger, but with the lock's tumbler.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that in one of the tumbler positions (rest, half-cock, or full-cock), the trigger "tightens up".

My Queen Anne is the same way. The trigger is very loose at rest. At half-cock, it is tight and barely moves, except a very slight side-to-side play, which requires some force to even notice. At full-cock it becomes slightly loose again, but nowhere near as bad as at rest.

If that's the way yours is, it actually isn't a trigger problem. It's a problem in the lock...specifically the design of the tumbler. The tumbler geometry prevents the sear bar from being at the same angle in each of the positions, preventing contact between the trigger bar and the sear arm in all but one position. I honestly think this improper geometry is inherent in all Pedersoli locks.

Even if your trigger isn't tight in any of the tumbler positions, this improper tumbler geometry is still a strong possibility, but may be compounded by the trigger not being positioned quite right in relationship to the sear bar.

For a much better explanation of the problem (and a description of how to fix it), check out page 84 in "The Gunsmith of Grenville County".

 

[SixShootinSam]

Sounds like a neat solutution BHP FAN, can you tell me roughly what you did with that bic spring?

fyrfyter43, this could indeed be an issue.

 

[SixShootinSam]

Well I thought I'd share my solution, in case anyone else runs into this.
I took a bic pen spring, like BHP Fan said, and cut it in half. then I took a little dab of JB weld and put it on the spring and the trigger plate.

Unwound the top of the spring a little so its bigger, and won't bend inside.

The result is amazing, yet so simple. No more trigger play at all.

Thanks again for the tip BHP Fan!

 

[Cosmoline]

That's really cool! If it works well you should solder it on to prevent it from coming loose in recoil and gumming up the works.

 

[SixShootinSam]

I was actually going through my box of plumbing materials looking for the soldering wire, but was out. Will probably do that soon! Good suggestion though.