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Limited making unprovoked hammer fall!


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My Limited recently started to misbehave. When I activate my slide stop the slide sometimes takes the trigger along with it, which has resulted in one accidental discharge so far. Also when I run it dry and change the mag, I'm sometimes not able to activate my slide stop. Needless to say I really don't trust this gun anymore!

A little info on the gun: Limited Custom 9mm small frame. EGW hammer and sear (shot 40.000 rounds), Huening trigger Plunger and Henning flat trigger. The gun is 10 years old and I think my round count is about to reach the 150.000 mark. The EGW hammer and sear was bought by Henning 2 years ago. Is 40.000 rounds all you can expect from this set???

If anyone has any ideas they will be greatly appreciated.

Regards from Denmark

DVC

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Sounds like the sear or hammer hooks are worn out. The easy way to test this is to cock the hammer back beyond the point where the sear engaged the hammer hooks. Then release the hammer so the hammer hooks engage the sear lip aggressively. Its best if you use a tool or your finger nail to hold the hammer back so you can create a nice "SNAP" of the hammer going forward. Do this 10 - 15 times to see if the hammer will drop all the way down or always catches on the hammer hooks. If the hammer falls all the way down during this test then the hammer hook to sear lip engagement point is worn out. You can attempt to resurface the the sear lip to hammer hook engagement point but this usually requires access to a mill to do properly.

The number one cause of hammer follow on these guns is due to the hammer hooks being cut too low. I usually don't advise that the hammer hooks be cut lower than 0.015 in height. When they get shorter than 0.015 there is very little surface area where the sear lip engages and it can easily get worn out quickly and lead to hammer follow issues.

From what you have described you will probably need a new EGW hammer, then get the sear resurfaced so it has a fresh/straight lip to engage the hammer hooks. Just make sure that the new EGW hammer hooks are not cut below 0.015 or you will run into the same issue 30K - 50K rounds down the road.

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Hey,

So 40k sounds actually really good. And it's not necessarily that you need to replace the parts. It all comes down to the level of performance we are trying to achieve here. The way I tune my EGW hammer & sear, I have them set up so light that I have to re-stone the sear every 10k. Of course I don't have to go that far, but I like a light trigger so that is one of the compromises I have to do.

The nice thing about the EGW parts is that you can re-cut and re-stone them many times. They are made from hardened tool steel that allows you to cut or stone while the material is still hard. As opposed to the Tanfoglio factory parts which are case-hardened. You see the problem with the factory sear very quickly. Typically the trigger weight and feel starts to deteriorate very quickly as the hammer hooks dig into the sear.

There is NO way to get around wear. All trigger parts are made from some form of steel. EGW uses the best possible steel on the market, namely S7 shock resistant tool steel. They are cut to dimensions and specifications that allows us to tune the trigger to a light, crisp feel. If you want longevity, yes, they can be set up to 3-4 lb trigger pull and you may never have to re-do the sear or hammer. But if you want a light trigger pull you will have to accept the fact that the super-fine, polished edges over time will wear down and you will need to re-polish or re-shape the surface.

All in all, it's typically a simple fix and if you do it yourself you will also learn how cool it is to tune your own gun. To be able to know how a slight change in sear angle affects the trigger weight and feel. As I said before, I have been used to re-doing my sears many times, sometimes during a competition between shooting days. Not saying that's recommended, but among serious competition shooters who tune their own guns it's not uncommon to see them working on their own guns after a long day of shooting, preparing and tuning the gun for the next day. I've seen world and national champions do it.

;-)

Henning

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CHA-LEE

I tried doing your test, and the hammer always catches on the sear. When I lock the slide back and push the trigger guard against the side of a table and release the slide, the hammer doesn't fall. So I think this is the starting phase of the problem. But I cannot live with it as it is right now!

Henning: I'll will try to have a competent gunsmith redo my sear. I know a guy who does magnificent trigger jobs on STI's, will he be able to do this, or should I find one who has experience with Tanfoglio and CZ??

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GunslingerDK> From what you have described so far it sounds like you actually have a trigger bounce issue. Since your hammer passes the overcock/drop test this proves that your hammer hooks and sear lip are in good shape. If the trigger return spring is too light or worn out it will allow the to trigger move back far enough to hit the sear and drop the hammer when you do a slide lock drop. There is an easy way to test this. Slide lock the gun. Press the trigger lever FORWARD to keep it from moving backwards. Then drop the slide by releasing the slide lock lever. If the hammer does not follow when you perform this test you know that the issue is due to the trigger lever bouncing back and hitting the sear during the volent slide lock drop. If this is your issue the best way to fix it is to install a new or stiffer trigger return spring. You can also minimize this issue by adding additional pre-travel to the trigger lever. If there is more pre-travel then the trigger will not bounce back far enough to hit the sear.

I have seen this exact same issue on multiple EAA/Tanfo pistols using the Henning Flat trigger. They were all resolve by either using a stiffer trigger return spring or increasing the pre-travel of the trigger lever.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I turns out my sear is cracked :surprise: I will install the stock sear and use in this summer's matches before I will get another EGW. One should think that a hardened aftermarket sear would last longer than 40.000 rounds!

There are people who boast of 100K rounds through their gun, but then you as them what kind of shooting they have been doing, and they say shooting at paper at the range. The games we play in USPSA and IPSC truly test the durability of equipment.

It's a great testing ground and I'm always amazed how very few gun manufacturers take advantage of this arena to for their products. A perfect way to find out what works and what doesn't work. Perhaps it's the risk of getting a bad reputation if their gear falls under the "doesn't work" category.

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