Why Hold the Trigger of a 1911 to the Rear When Chambering a Round

[ATLDave]

If your bullseye 1911 has a 2 lbs trigger, this kind of "babying" is probably necessary because of the expensive "hacking" the expert gunsmith did to get it that way

I shoot with tons of guys with ~2lb triggers in their 1911/2011 guns in USPSA. None of them do this trigger nonsense. And they'd be DQ'ed if they did. Those guns see thousands or tens of thousands of rounds per year. This all seems like complete "magic thinking" nonsense, or something, at most, applicable to guns with triggers measured in ounces, not pounds.

 

[ATLDave]

I don't understand the Kimber thing. It sounds like they don't want people to decock a hammer in the normal way. What harm could that cause?

Just conjecture, but if you're manually de-cocking, it's possible to create a rub between the sear/hammer hook interface if you've got the trigger pulled just the right/wrong amount.

 

[Drail]

Or if your overtravel screw is set so close that the sear can barely clear the hooks. It has pretty become unnecessary ever since alum. triggers became a standard part on most production guns. But those old Gold Cups with the wide heavy steel trigger would bounce out of enagement if the engagement was set to minimum or the sear spring was very light.

 

[ATLDave]

Yeah, although that would probably pose the same wear problem in live fire/dry fire as during a controlled hammer ride-down, wouldn't it?

 

[Drail]

It could. I used to run the overtravel very close when I shot competition. I don't do that anymore. A small amount of overtravel doesn't bother me like it used to. And in live fire you are still holding the trigger back when the gun cycles from recoil. If the trigger is allowed to move enough for the sear to fully clear the hooks consistently and the half cock notch is not too tall there should be no problem with wear. But a lot of times people will lower the main hooks and not touch the half cock and set the overtravel very close. Crash.

 

[tark]

Les once told me that there are two things that constitute an unnatural act for a 1911. One is dropping the slide on an empty chamber and the other was dropping the slide at all with your finger OFF the trigger.

But he also said that that the latter never really hurt any thing, and its not that important to do. I don't bother, and I think most people don't either. I've never seen a post on the forum where someone complained that he wrecked his 1911s sear by NOT holding back the trigger when chambering a round......

 

[cprher]

The only place I saw it recommended was in an Army Marksmanship Training Unit manual for shooting the 1911 match gun in competition. The shooter was supposed to maintain complete control of the gun with his firing grip. From slide lock and a fresh magazine inserted, he was to press the trigger fully to the rear with his trigger finger. With his non firing hand, he depressed the hammer with his thumb and released the slide stop with his index finger. The explanation in the manual was that it reduced or largely eliminated any battering of the sear by the hammer while the first round was being loaded from the magazine. It duplicated, as best the shooter could, how the gun operated under normal firing conditions, which as you all know would have the trigger pressed all the way to the rear during the entire fire, eject, and load sequence.
Keith