DIY trigger pull gauge, and good results for a 1911 newbie

[motosapiens]

Background: CZ shooter, in production and idpa-ssp. had the opportunity through work to get a sig 1911 (numbered commemorative, with agency badge) for a bit below retail, so I figured I should buy one. It's a pretty fun gun, and I thought WTH, why don't I break up the monotony by shooting it in cdp, and shooting the cz in uspsa matches. Yeah, it may slow my progress to play with a different gun one week a month, but it's all about fun.

The trigger in stock form was crisp, but a little too heavy. Unfortunately i didn't measure it, but i'm pretty sure it was in the 5-6 lb range. Went by the local gunsmith to inquire about sights and trigger work, and he had the gun open in about 15 seconds, replaced the hammer spring with a slightly lighter version, tweaked the sear spring a little, put it back together, function-tested and live-fire tested it. Wow! scary light, like the high-end guns i've fondled. He said if I thought it was too light, bring it back. Ok, live fire tested it, and it shoots great, totally got rid of the 2" jerk to the left when trying to fire at competition speeds..... but.... a little scary. I cooked off my first shot earlier than i expected. Took it to work, and our armorer measured it at around 2.5 lbs or less.

Back to the smith... tweak, and also instruction, and away i went. now it measures at 4.5 lbs. too much for competition imho, but better than it was originally. I had a better understanding of the 1911 leaf spring now, so i researched on the net and figured i'd give a try to tweaking the spring ever so slightly, to try to drop the pull to the 3.5-4 lb range. Unfortunately, the armorer was gone and locked up before I had a chance to ask to borrow his trigger pull gauge.

So, i got a plastic coat hanger, and a baggie, and a clothespin, and weighed several of the bullets i'd been loading (40 minor load with 3.1 clays and 180gr bullets), calculated how many bullets equaled a pound, put 4.5 lbs of them in a bag, and measured my trigger pull. holding the gun upright, and putting the hanger hook over the trigger, removing bullets until it would no longer break the trigger, and then putting them back in until it would again. I consistently got 4.28 lbs or so (compared to 4.5 with the old school spring gizmo at work) so a reasonable sanity check there. The coat hanger weighs about 2.5 bullets (40 grams).

So then I disassembled the gun for the first time beyond field stripping. Having watched the smith and some youtube, it was a piece of cake. I applied a very gentle tweak to both the middle and leftmost leaves of the leaf spring, since I thought both could stand to be ever so slightly lighter, and I put it back together, and function tested it. everything worked, no surprise, since the trigger resistance and the break on the sear were both detectably heavier than the smith's first effort.

Then i started taking bullets out of the bag until it would no longer break the trigger. 20 bullets later I got measurement of 3.54 lbs.... pretty much right what i was hoping for.

If anything, I think the coat hangar method is MORE accurate than the cheezy fishing-type scale we have at work. All in all, I pronounce myself a satisfied customer (assuming that my live-fire checks go well. I think I am starting to see why there is such devotion to the 1911 platform.

[Forgetful]

Also you can attach a weight to a string and that string to the trigger. Place weight on a scale and pull the gun away from the scale while watching the weight on the scale go down.

[motosapiens]

Also you can attach a weight to a string and that string to the trigger. Place weight on a scale and pull the gun away from the scale while watching the weight on the scale go down.

good idea. perhaps harder to be consistent and repeatable, but the main issue in my house would be my lovely wife would kick my azz if I used her food/diet scale for anything related to guns.

[MC1]

Wow. That's some good use of your cranium. I'm going to give it a go myself. Just got an new 2011 and want to know the trigger pull. Thanks.

[bountyhunter]

Use a plastic gallon milk jug with water added. each ounce water equals one ounce weight. you can use dental floss looped around the trigger, tied to the handle of the jug. Keep adding water until the trigger releases. On my old jug, I drew lines on the side for "pound" markers using a sharpie/

[Flatland Shooter]

All good "redneck" ideas. Wish I'd thought of some of them.

Now the challenge is how to include the massive use of duct tape to build a trigger pull tester.

Bill

[Flatland Shooter]

Use a plastic gallon milk jug with water added. each ounce water equals one ounce weight. you can use dental floss looped around the trigger, tied to the handle of the jug. Keep adding water until the trigger releases. On my old jug, I drew lines on the side for "pound" markers using a sharpie/

How heavy is the jug?

[Jan R.]

Holy lots of free time!!!! Great ideas!!

[bountyhunter]

Use a plastic gallon milk jug with water added. each ounce water equals one ounce weight. you can use dental floss looped around the trigger, tied to the handle of the jug. Keep adding water until the trigger releases. On my old jug, I drew lines on the side for "pound" markers using a sharpie/

How heavy is the jug?

negligible. It's plastic so maybe an ounce or two.