Trigger job

[mike g]

What's the solution ? to an under 2# trigger? I've got the "Ya__api" hammer/sear/micoscope jig and cannot get under a 2 1/4# release. The hammer hooks are at .018,polished,90 degrees,square. The sear is polished with the correct angles and match-up to the hammer. I'm using quaility components. I have experimented with 4 different brands of leaf springs and found that the 4 finger leaf spring is 1/4 # better than the 3 leaf spring. The hammer spring is 17#'s. What's left? I have both a S_ and a S_I, but since they all use the same components as CO_Ts this shouldn't matter? I suppose....I could go to .016 on the hammer hooks, but am I crossing into THE FORBIDDEN ZONE? as far as being reliaible?

[Carmoney]

Have you adjusted that left leg of the sear spring to reduce its tension?

It took me a long time to realize exactly how important that little variable is....

Mike

[Action Pistolero]

Mike,

All of my 1911 triggers are under 2 pounds. I shoot Action Pistol and the trigger on my primary gun weighs in at 1 pound. I use the Koenig hammer, Cylinder and Slide ultra light sear and disconnect, Clark 4 leaf sear spring, 17 pound mainspring with 2 coils cut off and Marvel oversize pins. This would not be the set up for a gun using Major pf loads. The lowest that I have seemed to get on my STI is 1.5 pounds. Stick with .020 or more on the hammer hooks. A full auto 1911 can be quite a handfull and it's not worth getting hurt over.

My Action gun is a Les Baer and when using the 4 leaf sear spring I back off the leaf for the grip safety as much as I can. The left leaf is straightened so that there is no bend. The center leafs are rounded over and I keep more tension on the disconnector than the trigger bow. I have a good many rounds through this gun and it has never doubled on me. The other thing to watch out for is the trigger. I didn't have any luck with the SV trigger. I went with the carbon fiber that comes in the STI. Make sure that everything is slick and not binding anywhere. I also use a mixture of STI trigger slick and Wilson ultima lube oil. I have found that this will lower the weight by 1/4 pound.

Good luck,

Kevin

[ErikW]

First of all, brand names are not forbidden here so you don't have to hide the names.

Second, the search function will return a boat load of information on trigger jobs. If the two pages of results for trigger (in this forum alone) aren't enough, search for "hammer AND sear."

[bountyhunter]

What's the solution ? to an under 2# trigger? I've got the "Ya__api" hammer/sear/micoscope jig and cannot get under a 2 1/4# release. The hammer hooks are at .018,polished,90 degrees,square. The sear is polished with the correct angles and match-up to the hammer. I'm using quaility components. I have experimented with 4 different brands of leaf springs and found that the 4 finger leaf spring is 1/4 # better than the 3 leaf spring. The hammer spring is 17#'s. What's left? I have both a S_ and a S_I, but since they all use the same components as CO_Ts this shouldn't matter? I suppose....I could go to .016 on the hammer hooks, but am I crossing into THE FORBIDDEN ZONE? as far as being reliaible?

The trigger force to pull on an original 1911 (no series 80 crap) is primarily due to three components:

1) The leaf of the spring which presses on the disconnecter/trigger. A four leaf spring has two seperate leafs for this, a regular spring just has one leaf here..

2) The leaf of the spring that presses on the sear since you must rotate it .

3) The "drag force" moving the sear face across the face of the hammer hook. This one depends on face angles, smoothness, and the mainspring weight.

You can measure the various forces with a trigger pull gauge. On mine, I set up the first two for about 12 - 14 ounces each and the last one generally is about 8 ounces as I recall. My pull is usually around 2 1/4 to 2 1/2. Going under two pounds is getting into the region where you really have to do it all right.

[BEDELLCUSTOM]

if you are using the yavapai sear tool you better check it to see if it is giving you a proper hammer/sear setup. i had one of those once and the pin locations for holding the hammer and sear were off by more than .015".

to check this put your hammer and sear pins in the frame of your gun and with a pair of calipers measure the distance from the outside of the hammer pin to the outside of the sear pin,this distance is typically .589"-591" depending on frame hole location and pin sizes. the yavapai jig i had measured .575", this will cause you to stone the sear at one angle and end up with the engagement at a different position when installed in your guns frame. i have also heard of the pins in the yavapai tool being installed crooked, where as the pins were further apart at the top than at the bottom or vice versa. i have my own jigs i use for my setup but brownells has a hammer sear jig on page 122 of catalog #57 (called the "brownells hammer/sear pin block kit)that allows you to adjust the pin distance to match the setup in your frame so you can see the exact same hammer sear engagement outside your gun. there are also frame pins available so you can setup your hammer/sear on the outside of your frame. use some layout fluid on the hammer and sear when mating them so you can check for proper engagement.

[mike g]

Gentlemen, Thanks for the input. I believe you can't have to many guns! Mr. Bedell was correct, my Yavapi jig is under sized at the pins(.578), so this is probably not something to purchase?(I liked the fact that I could actually see the relationship) I have learned more from this site than I would have thought possible. Interestingly, my "gun" my inqury was about,"(2 1/4#) trigger pull", has the "Bedell" titainum comp. on it! With the other things the same, I finally settled on a 2# pull(I was able to get less) for now, as the gun is NEW and I am 63 years "OLD"? I'm certainly not a "pistol smith", but I like to do some work on my equipment OR at least have some knowledge of the workings. Thanks for the help!!