SEAR HAMMER RELATION ON 1911:2011

[PEETERSMARC]

Hello

I'm living in Belgium and i have some questions about the correct hammer/sear engagement, in my country unfortunately the country is so small and the gun's law is very restrictive because of that it's impossible to find a correct armorer for working on 1911/2011 platform

I know i need the hammer hook must be cut to 90° - 0,020 widht

But about the correct cut of the primary angle i found différent informations (see picture below)

My specific problem that's my hammer fall to half cock only when i try to shoot really fast splits and i have this specific problem basically with all the 1911/2011 i use !

I have this problem wih my S&W PC1911 and my STI Edge (completly out of the box) i have replaced the internals parts with SVI parts with the same results, so now i think it's time to search a solution by myself about this problem.

For example i have sell my STI Edge at a friend, he shoot with this guns since 2 years without any problem, and recently i shoot with itl and i have experienced one more time some hammer follow

In advance thanks and sorry for my English

Marc

Edited April 5, 2012 by PEETERSMARC

[Joe4d]

Checked the sear spring ?

A good trigger job is hard without a jig. I guess someone much better than I could freehand one, but I like to take the guesswork out. I have used an ed brown jig, basically the sear is attached to a block of steel, a feeler gauge is used and a honing stone. Kinda hard to mess up the angle. Think of it like using a miter box like you would for sawing window molding.

[rooster]

Need more info, hammer follow can be caused by lots of different things. Trigger bounce, poor sear hammer relationship, worn sear or hammer etc. The diagrams that you show in red and green are not really correct. The 1911 hammer sear engagement pictures are. Ideally you would want the one on the right labeled positive. The tips of the hammer hooks land on the middle of the sear and if you look closely they kind of "trap" the sear into the hooks. If one is done correctly and you look down the back of a cocked gun into the hammer channel and you carefully pull the trigger you will see the hammer raise slightly befor dropping. This is a positive engagement. Your problem could be as simple as adjusting the overtravel stop or a new sear spring. Without more info it is hard to diagnose. If you don't know how to work on trigger components you kneed to find someone who does because a 1911 hammer should never follow, if it does you have a safety problem.

[outerlimits]

+100 on using a jig. I like a bit more takeaway angle on all my sears. The most important thing is to keep the hammer hooks square after you cut them. If not, you will NEVER have a decent, consistent pull.

[PEETERSMARC]

Hello.

Thank you for you reply, actually i have all the tools for working on my pistols (Jig, Hammer file, etc...).

Like explained it's difficult to find a good armorer for 1911-2011 platform, so i would like to find by myself a solution!

Now on my 1911 i'm working with new parts for testing, i cut the hammer hook to 90° (but i don't modify the widht 0.022), modify the primary angle of the sear with a positive engagement (checking with external pin from Brownells)and cut a small secondary angle like on the second picture.

Now after adjusting the sear spring, i have a 3" trigger weight i feel a small creep only when i push very slowly my trigger and the hammer must slightly raise in this case.

One interesting think is that i need more presure on the left leaf of the sear spring with this engagement to keep the same overall trigger weight.

So this afternoon, i did some tests, and apparently i don't have any more problems (100 Rnds) but i need more tests

Marc

[Powder Finger]

Confused.... pics seem to contradict each other on what + - and neutral are.

[PEETERSMARC]

Confused.... pics seem to contradict each other on what + - and neutral are

Yes i know

[a matt]

I just watched my gunsmith use a jig and installed a sear in my gun. I had an issue with hammer follow and inconsistent trigger pull. It is fixed and a nice -2 lb trigger.

[gino_aki]

The only thing I would add is to have a set of those external hammer and sear pins that Brownells sells to check the actual relationship geometry in the gun's pin holes as the jig and the gun might be different.