BOLO Tuning for a longer DA pull

[Avenida]

Going to revive this as a few other threads in regard to the bolo have disappeared, not sure why. Also the instructions on PD website are gone so here is my question:

 

I installed PD BOLO in one of my guns and to my surprise it was a drop in installation, it all works, I do need to increase DA throw but the trigger is operational as is...

 

Am I missing anything else? I was expecting a more laborious installation but it was rather easy.... did I get lucky????

 

It is a 2017 gun with all extreme parts and titan hammer.

 

 

[IHAVEGAS]

The first two I did were drop ins.

[Avenida]

1 hour ago, IHAVEGAS said:

The first two I did were drop ins.

 

Cool! 

Will increase the throw tonight and see if I can get it where I want it.

 

[HesedTech]

3 hours ago, Avenida said:

Am I missing anything else? I was expecting a more laborious installation but it was rather easy.... did I get lucky????

 

Nope!

 

I have two S2s and they required a very small amount of fitting to make it work perfect on my pistols. 

Shortened reset over stock by a substantial amount.  

 

I just ordered some more PD parts for another Tanfoglio I’m going to shoot in the local IDPA match. S2 with cone barrel won’t work.

 

Congrats on making it work. Love the PD people and their products.

[IHAVEGAS]

1 hour ago, Avenida said:

Will increase the throw tonight and see if I can get it where I want it.

 

Nerve racking.

 

If you take it a smidge too far you will not be the first. 

[highhope]

For this point, I like T3 better than bolo

[IHAVEGAS]

17 minutes ago, highhope said:

For this point, I like T3 better than bolo

 

You just need to buy more Tanfos  

 

It gets easy after you have a few already shortened bolos to swap into the new gun & test. 

[Avenida]

I went full on and reduced the bolo by 0.020 and got to the very edge, haha. I wasnt planning on doing that much but it just happen. DA goes perfectly all the way back now - awesome trigger.

 

just put a yellow pd hammer spring, to try and light egd fp spring. Trigger is 5 lbs 6on

 

 

let’s see what happens.

[MemphisMechanic]

1 hour ago, Avenida said:

 

let’s see what happens.

 

That depends entirely upon which press you’re using.

 

I just upgraded from a 650 to a 1050. I wish I’d had this machine when shooting Tanfo; even CCIs from something with a bombproof mechanical primer depth adjustment probably run through a Tanfo with a 13-14 pound spring just fine.

[IHAVEGAS]

1 hour ago, Avenida said:

just put a yellow pd hammer spring, to try and light egd fp spring. Trigger is 5 lbs 6on

 

I never figured out the light versus heavy FP thing. Maybe it depends on what Hammer?

Running the heavy aftermarket  pins in my guns with the Extreme hammer, 4.5# d.a. but Dillon 1050 and federals. 

[Avenida]

I shot the gun for about 400 rounds last week, and going to do some more tomorrow.

Trigger is exactly 5lbs 4 oz and it can be seen in my instagram @Garcia_IPSC

It pops S&B with no problems, I was really impressed! Titan + BOLO + PD YELLOW spring.

 

I brought with me also some questionable ammo just to push the limits and even then it went off and only 3 light strikes on really bad seated primers. I'll take it.

 

If I wanted to be absolute careless with my reloading and get 100% reliability without worrying about gauging my ammo, the Pink PD Spring will probably make the gun 100% with ammo that would not pass the plunk test, high primers etc. That is a guess, as I do not have a pink spring yet but will try one when I have a chance (none in stock in Canada).

 

Also, will be getting the PD firing pin and PD firing pin spring, that will certainly increase reliability.

 

After trying PD parts I have to say that extreme springs and parts are very mediocre in comparison. I hope PD starts making absolute everything that is made under the extreme brand, I know it will be superior.

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Avenida

[johnbu]

I agree !  PD makes the best stuff out there right now. 

 

BUT !!

 

Not every gun will be 100% with light springs.  The "Italian Charm" that these guns possess means some are going to be cantankerous !  Those guns will need a stouter spring. 

[Avenida]

5 hours ago, johnbu said:

I agree !  PD makes the best stuff out there right now. 

 

BUT !!

 

Not every gun will be 100% with light springs.  The "Italian Charm" that these guns possess means some are going to be cantankerous !  Those guns will need a stouter spring. 

 

Yes I discovered this after I got my 2nd tanfo, which is the one I can achieve a 5lbs 4oz DA with yellow PD spring, and to my surprise and to avoid any headaches at today's match I switched over to a Medium Extreme spring and shot the match with practice ammo. 0 malfunctions and the best part: 5LBS 10 OZ on DA with a MEDIUM Spring.... that is absolutely unbelievable for me after toying with a 7 lbs DA trigger for a year.

 

I am having a really hard time getting the trigger of my first TANFO to run like my 2nd. My first tanfo, with a 14 hour trigger job and medium trigger spring, I am at a lousy 7 lbs 8oz DA with Medium spring.

 

It has been polished 3 times over the course of 5 thousand rounds so I can only think that my first tan is one of those that were not as lucky out of the factory. I am actually thinking of selling it and getting another one and see what is the luck of the draw as I have little faith in it, seems like a waste of time but also a waste of money to sell and re-buy to potentially end up in the same boat.

 

I have tried a light spring on this gun and reliability was pretty sad. haha

 

Too bad! but I am happy that my 2nd one is excellent... 

Edited November 19, 2018 by Avenida

[Localizer]

Raising the dead.

 

My new tuned Tanfo S3 is driving me nuts.

 

1. Light strikes galore with CCI primers...maybe 10-20%. Shot 20 Winchester primes ammo without issues...small, insignificant sample size.

 

2. The sound of the hammer falling is very weak...on DA or SA...much weaker sounding than my other DA/SA pistols in factory guise.

 

3. DA travel...we’ll, it’s typically about 70-80% of SA travel (my estimate), but sometimes, the hammer won’t come back very far on DA...if I slow down the trigger pull, I won’t get that seat slip.

 

The gun had a polish job, BOLO, extreme hammer, PD 14# spring, throat reamed, etc.

 

im interested in y’all take on item #3...anyone seen something like his before?

[HesedTech]

22 minutes ago, Localizer said:

Raising the dead.

 

My new tuned Tanfo S3 is driving me nuts.

 

1. Light strikes galore with CCI primers...maybe 10-20%. Shot 20 Winchester primes ammo without issues...small, insignificant sample size.

 

2. The sound of the hammer falling is very weak...on DA or SA...much weaker sounding than my other DA/SA pistols in factory guise.

 

3. DA travel...we’ll, it’s typically about 70-80% of SA travel (my estimate), but sometimes, the hammer won’t come back very far on DA...if I slow down the trigger pull, I won’t get that seat slip.

 

The gun had a polish job, BOLO, extreme hammer, PD 14# spring, throat reamed, etc.

 

im interested in y’all take on item #3...anyone seen something like his before?

 

You will probably find few, if any, TF owners who have tuned and reduced DA/SA use CCI primers. Mine shoot WSP and Federal primers perfectly (WSP have to be fully seated or light strikes happen) while CCI not so good. 6.5/2.3 DA/SA

 

Switch to WSP or Federal. 

 

#3 PD bolo changes DA travel and has to be tuned very slightly. Contact PD for details and help. 

Edited February 11, 2019 by HesedTech

[Polymer]

5 hours ago, Localizer said:

 

1. Light strikes galore with CCI primers...maybe 10-20%. Shot 20 Winchester primes ammo without issues...small, insignificant sample size.

 

im interested in y’all take on item #3...anyone seen something like his before?

Light strikes in both DA and SA? 

Do you have all the PD springs and FP?

Is the area on trigger bar where it contacts bolo wing face in DA pull not worn/rounded?

Using factory trigger bar plunger spring?

Edited February 12, 2019 by Polymer

[FALAR]

I just got two Tanfoglios back from Patriot Defense  myself that I requested tuning on.  I wanted them to be 100% reliable with any primer and they test fired them with CCIs.  THey installed all of their proprietary springs (they told me the 15.5lb hammer springs are in them now) as well as:

 

BOLO

Xtreme Sear

Xtreme titan hammer

Xtreme trigger 

 

It also appears they replaced the firing pin blocks too.

 

One of them came in with 6-7lb DA and 1.75lb SA.  The other is 4-5lb DA (also with almost all of the "stacking" gone from stock, it is EXCELLENT the other gun still feels like most of the DA is in the beginning) with a 2.5lb SA.  I also noticed on gun #1 is SA there is some take-up and strangely once you take it up it will not automatically rebound if you let off but you can do so manually.  The safety on #2 takes a bit of force to get in the fully upward position but I have no intention of ever using it.  The DA is simply amazing on gun #2; beyond anything I expected and hard to believe based on everything I've read here.

I did notice that unlike my other DA/SA guns that Tanfoglios seem to not have nearly as much DA travel relative to SA.

 

Finally got them to the range today (got them back on Friday) for just a little bit and had no light strikes of any kind with WWB.  I ordered some Dawson front sights and some grips for both guns and probably won't make another trip until they all arrive.   I wasn't too crazy about the throat reaming but after Tanfoglio replied that they only chrome plate the OD and not the ID and PD insisted I figured why not.  147 grain Federal HST passes the "plunk test" now and before they did not and were the only cartridges I had on hand that would fail the test in the guns.

 

Next time out I think I'll take some Fiocchi and IMI.  I hear mixed things about Fiocchi (and S&B) primers with some saying they are hard and others saying they are like Winchesters but it seems that IMI has a solid rep for being pretty hard.  Once I see those ignite I'll feel even better.

 

Not having a decocker though I don't feel very enthusiastic about doing a whole bunch of "will it ignite?" testing so part of me just wants to shoot and enjoy since they already tested them with CCIs for me.  I just don't know for sure where Fiocchi and IMI fall in the Federal to Winchester to CCI scale.

Edited February 12, 2019 by FALAR

[Tanfastic]

16 hours ago, Localizer said:

Raising the dead.

 

My new tuned Tanfo S3 is driving me nuts.

 

1. Light strikes galore with CCI primers...maybe 10-20%. Shot 20 Winchester primes ammo without issues...small, insignificant sample size.

 

2. The sound of the hammer falling is very weak...on DA or SA...much weaker sounding than my other DA/SA pistols in factory guise.

 

3. DA travel...we’ll, it’s typically about 70-80% of SA travel (my estimate), but sometimes, the hammer won’t come back very far on DA...if I slow down the trigger pull, I won’t get that seat slip.

 

The gun had a polish job, BOLO, extreme hammer, PD 14# spring, throat reamed, etc.

 

im interested in y’all take on item #3...anyone seen something like his before?

 

Yes, I've seen #3 before.  If your hammer is not making the exact same amount of travel on every DA pull then you have a significant problem with the sear engagement, this must be fixed or nothing else will matter.  You didn't specify if you did the "tuning" yourself, or if someone else did it.  If someone else, give the gun back to them and have them fix it.  If you did it, call PD and ask for some assistance in fitting your BOLO correctly, they provide excellent service on this stuff.  Depending on what's already been done with the BOLO it's possible that it can still be saved, but also possible that the BOLO needs to be replaced.

[Rhawk6]

Built my Stock 1 over a year ago Titan Hammer ,BOLO, exrteme trigger ,1piece sear cage .Tunned the BOLO for S.A. pull and quit. This winter started haveing light strikes in D.A.

only.cock the hammer and  it goes bang. So i decided to follow this thread and tune the BOLO for longer D.A. hammer travel.  Ground down the hump ,check travel , repeat. Now the hammer

comes back to and falls to half cock. repeated pulls wont get it off of half cock .  W.T.F.  No one else has posted this problem . Anyone got any ideas ?

[HesedTech]

8 hours ago, Rhawk6 said:

Built my Stock 1 over a year ago Titan Hammer ,BOLO, exrteme trigger ,1piece sear cage .Tunned the BOLO for S.A. pull and quit. This winter started haveing light strikes in D.A.

only.cock the hammer and  it goes bang. So i decided to follow this thread and tune the BOLO for longer D.A. hammer travel.  Ground down the hump ,check travel , repeat. Now the hammer

comes back to and falls to half cock. repeated pulls wont get it off of half cock .  W.T.F.  No one else has posted this problem . Anyone got any ideas ?

 

Sounds like you went one time too far. Call PD and ask them about the problem they are extremely helpful with questions.  

 

 

[Localizer]

Update:

 

Sent my pistol back to PD. They found my BOLO to be sheared/broken. Replaced it & covered shipping both ways.  They also installed an EGD medium trigger spring Outstanding service.

 

I removed the BOLO last week and replaced it with the factory sear...I also replaced the EGD spring with PD 15.5# trigger spring.  Trigger pull is over 8lbs in DA but 3.5# SA.

 

it was 4.5# & 2.5# respectively before I sent it back.

 

i have shot about 200rdswith the gun before swapping internal components...I had 3 light strikes, but those rounds wouldn’t go off in my Sig P320 either so, probably just an ammo issue.

[MemphisMechanic]

<bump!>
 

Putting this back at the top for a few guys with new Tanfos who might want to look at it.  
 

The interesting stuff is on pages 1 and 2.

Edited May 26, 2020 by MemphisMechanic

[BigAm]

8 hours ago, MemphisMechanic said:

<bump!>
 

Putting this back at the top for a few guys with new Tanfos who might want to look at it.  
 

The interesting stuff is on pages 1 and 2.

Watch your youtube videos, and then do this! Make your tanfo punch a hole through God with the DA...and also be able to set off CCI primers.

[N7VY]

Thanks MM. Actually I found his original post two days ago and today I took 0.006” off of my stock disconnector and I got an additional 0.7mm of travel on my hammer. I’m going to shoot tomorrow and see if it fires off CCI primers  any better. It did reduce my da trigger by 0.4 pounds to just over 4 and my sa reduction by just a bit to just under 2 pounds. 13 pound hammer spring  in the stock2 and I received a 14 pound one today. Will see if I need to put it in the gun or not. Thank you to yourself and to Patriot Defense for the initial idea. I’m very happy with my stock2 with the exception of the CCI problem. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by N7VY

[SISIG]

On 11/3/2018 at 5:50 AM, highhope said:

For this point, I like T3 better than bolo

What is this.