Gray Guns Spring Pack, Trigger, and Guide Rod Review/Install

[Crispin1025]

Folks, I recently decided to install Bruce Gray's spring pack, trigger, and guide rod into my IDPA gun, a Sig 226 Scorpion. First off-Mods, if this belongs in gunsmithing, please move to the appropriate forum. Second-if you attempt this, you assume all liability for work done. Always ensure your firearms are unloaded before attempting any work. This is not meant to be a step by step guide, merely a review with some observations as I conducted the work myself.

This gun has an untold number of rounds through it. I had originally anticipated sending it to Bruce Gray, who performed his work on my X5 Allround (which I cannot say enough good things about). Bruce is a gentleman and passionate about the Sig handgun series, and he will shortly be getting my second X5 for work. I decided that for a regular factory gun that I don't use as often, I would attempt to clean it up myself. That said, I HIGHLY recommend getting the OPSPEC DVD on the Sig P-Series that features-you guessed it-Bruce Gray, taking you step by step and piece by piece through every variation of the Sig lineup. It also goes over tools needed or recommended, has an annex on recoil spring weights, and a great number of other useful bits of information. So, with DVD and parts in hand, I began.

 

Edited October 7, 2016 by Crispin1025

[Crispin1025]

The DVD covers tools, disassembly, where you should and should not attempt to work on an action, etc. I will focus on the parts themselves, in this case, the Spring Pack, P-SAIT Trigger, and Stainless Guide Rod.  

Edited October 7, 2016 by Crispin1025

[Crispin1025]

The trigger is a very nice upgrade, and used in the Legion series. It has two notable differences over a stock trigger, that being it has been well contoured, and features an integral overtravel stop. I find this trigger to be the nicest, and I have every variant. In the first photo, the Gray Guns trigger is near, showing the enhanced face curvature, in the second, on the right, showing the overtravel stop.

[Crispin1025]

Next is the guide rod. It is a much tighter fit; I can't quantify this, but based on the dimensions and how my gun felt before and after, the lockup is tighter. It is machined out the same diameter the whole way, where the Sig OEM part tapers at a critical point, that being where it interfaces with the front of the slide. Additionally, given the slightly larger diameter, it should keep the spring compression more consistent. Whether or not anyone will ever be able to tell is beyond me; the lockup and additional weight were enough of a reason for me to install it.

 

As for the springs, well, I took a photo so you could look at them, but I can't compare them directly to the OEM ones. I will say this, if you are going to attempt to work on a gun in this way, get the pack and change them all. Bruce in the DVD lays out the importance of timing in the gun and relationships between parts; something tells me he has done a lot of work to insure each of these springs works in unison to achieve a final, reliable end state. Included are a firing pin return spring, sear spring, firing pin safety spring, and both a #17 and #19 pound main springs, the #17 for a range only gun and the #19 for a duty gun, I believe. I have run a wolf #17 pound spring in this gun for years and it has never had a failure to fire regardless of ammo, but better safe than sorry I suppose.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Crispin1025

[Crispin1025]

In terms of polishing work, I polished where Bruce said I could, and avoided where he said not to. I found my hammer strut to be particularly abrasive, so I spent extra time working it over on my Arkansas stones. I also spent time checking all the axles and hammer fit, in addition to the trigger bar axle where it interfaces with the trigger itself. I polished these as minimally as possible to achieve a smooth finish. I only post the photos of the strut as this part in particular I thought was very rough, the others are as you would expect.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Crispin1025

[Crispin1025]

Finally, the trigger. The big improvement of this, besides the comfort of the improved face, is the overtravel stop. This is why the legion series are so nice-it's the one piece they upgraded and it definitely makes a difference. Once in the gun, it is adjusted by the allen screw, with a matching wrench supplied in the package. Here it is as observed through the frame in the first photo. When adjusting it, I would start by slowly increasing the stop until the gun no longer fires in single action, then back it off until it fires, then another 1/4 turn for insurance. While doing so, you can visually inspect both the double action and single action sear on the right side, with my pick pointing to the single action sear interface in the bottom photo.

[Crispin1025]

So-how did it turn out? With the stock spring, my average DA pull was 9lb 14.8oz, SA was 4lb, 1.3 oz (all measurements taken with with a Lyman digital trigger scale, average of 10 pulls). With just a 17lb wolf mainspring change, it came down to a 9lb 4.3oz DA pull and a 3lb 15.2oz SA pull. Final values after cleaning up the action and installing the Gray Guns Spring Kit are 9lb 2.2 oz for the DA pull and 3lb 7.8oz in SA, with a noticeably improved reset due to the overtravel stop. Additionally, the shot to shot variation was much lower and consistent. I assume it is due to the combination of new springs and minor finishing/polishing.

Was it worth it? Overall, definitely. The guide rod and trigger are very nice upgrades in and of themselves. If you're going to go that far, for the little extra cost of a spring pack and some time with polishing tools and the DVD to guide you, you can have take an older elite and upgrade it past the current flagship Legion guns. If I was going to buy again now, I'd get the Legion over an Elite, but I have several Elites on hand already and am good with my hands, so I wanted to make an attempt at this project. I will test fire tomorrow and post results accordingly, but I do not anticipate any issues based on the parts and install I did. 

 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I will am also more than willing to take this apart and post additional photos if needed should anyone have problems or want to see something specific. Thanks for reading!

Edited October 7, 2016 by Crispin1025