Improving X5 trigger

[jsykes]

So I just bought an X5 and the trigger sucks.  I work in a shop and had been thinking of getting one for a couple weeks. I had played with several of our stock guns and the triggers were all very nice.  When I decided to grab one last night, the ones that had already been opened were all gone, but since all of them felt the same, I didnt think there was any reason to open a factory sealed one and test it before buying.

 

My fault, I was wrong, as the trigger I ended up with sucks.  Super disappointed.  its stiff and really gritty and creepy.  Not the nice smooth and crisp break that the others I had experienced had. So taking apart and lubing it didnt seem to help and it doesnt seem to be the trigger assembly, but must be in the striker or safety.  Just moving the striker sounds and feels gritty.

 

So the question is how can I clean this up and make the factory parts feel more like all the others I played with. I'm sure it will eventually have a GG kit in it, but I'd rather not drop that money immediately after just buying the gun and knowing that the factory trigger can be a lot better than the one I seemed to get.  Any help appreciated.

[Daemunx1]

I’d say that most likely those open ones have just been played around with enough that the trigger feels a little more broken in. I’ve done some polishing to mine and added a pelt2 and still nothing seems to effect how it feels more than continuing to work the trigger. Both dry and at the range. 

Edited March 13, 2018 by Daemunx1

[Marshal82]

Mine was pretty similar and figured out how to get a pretty great trigger. I polished everything that touched or rubbed, it was quite a bit. The biggest hiccup I found was the striker interface to the sear. The striker face that catches the sear, I refaced that and straighten it out so it catches flat and gets a smooth clean drop. I also left the round spring out from the safety lever since it was jus adding additional force. 

[Daemunx1]

So you neutraled the angle on the striker and tampered with a safety... sorry but thats advice not to to give. 

[Marshal82]

Hey man, it works and I didn't change how any safety functioned. Glock triggers are the same, to achieve the better trigger slight geometry changes are needed. You've made it clear you disagree and that's fine, but it doesn't mean I'm wrong. If I notice any negative effect I'll report back but so far it's perfect. What do you think Burke or Gray does with their custom jobs? Likely the same, they just charge you a bunch of money and don't tell you what they changed. 

[Daemunx1]

I hope it does work and remains safe for you. I dont mean to come across as disrespectful its just that advising ppl to remove material from sear engagement surfaces and tampering with safeties isnt a good idea. Someones gonna end up w a full auto, a ruined gun or a negligent homicide when their gun goes off when dropped or fires unintentionally due to bad sear angles. Its just not the kind of things most ppl need to be messing with. 

[BLUEPSTU]

20 hours ago, jsykes said:

So I just bought an X5 and the trigger sucks.  I work in a shop and had been thinking of getting one for a couple weeks. I had played with several of our stock guns and the triggers were all very nice.  When I decided to grab one last night, the ones that had already been opened were all gone, but since all of them felt the same, I didnt think there was any reason to open a factory sealed one and test it before buying.

 

My fault, I was wrong, as the trigger I ended up with sucks.  Super disappointed.  its stiff and really gritty and creepy.  Not the nice smooth and crisp break that the others I had experienced had. So taking apart and lubing it didnt seem to help and it doesnt seem to be the trigger assembly, but must be in the striker or safety.  Just moving the striker sounds and feels gritty.

 

So the question is how can I clean this up and make the factory parts feel more like all the others I played with. I'm sure it will eventually have a GG kit in it, but I'd rather not drop that money immediately after just buying the gun and knowing that the factory trigger can be a lot better than the one I seemed to get.  Any help appreciated.

I am in Raleigh as well. The easiest things you can do without costing money is polishing the trigger bar spring (At the points that it rubs up against the FCU.) You can also bend the trigger bar spring from a 90 degree angle to a 60 degree angle. Just shoot me a pm if you have any questions. Good luck to you.

[Rjracing]

Polish the FCU frame at all the contact points, as well as the trigger bar and trigger arm. If thats not enough, go pickup the PELT2 trigger kit.

 

I was at my shop the other day and we were playing with all the P320's in stock and I was amazing at how bad and how good some of the factory triggers felt, completely different from one gun to another for some reason... even though that they all use the same components internally. The worse literally pulled at a long and gritty 9lbs, the best at a short and smooth 4.8lbs, all had the "factory trigger upgrade" done too and none were X-series guns (which use the same FCU too, just a flat trigger)

[Marshal82]

1 hour ago, Daemunx1 said:

I hope it does work and remains safe for you. I dont mean to come across as disrespectful its just that advising ppl to remove material from sear engagement surfaces and tampering with safeties isnt a good idea. Someones gonna end up w a full auto, a ruined gun or a negligent homicide when their gun goes off when dropped or fires unintentionally due to bad sear angles. Its just not the kind of things most ppl need to be messing with. 

 

By all means, never by an aftermarket trigger or have yours worked on by a known professional! I guarantee they all slightly change geometry of the trigger parts to achieve a much lighter and smoother trigger, most of them will claim all safeties are functional too.

Edited March 13, 2018 by Marshal82

[Daemunx1]

And those guys know what theyre doing, how to do it and how to test it afterwards. Ppl reading forums and making the changes themselves with a dremel dont. I suppose if someone screws up their gun and shoots themselves or someone else based on bad advice your ok with that? I’ve never seen anyone who knows anything about firearms recommend dyi gunsmiths screw with grinding out sear angles and removing springs from safeties. 

 

Anyway, youre free to make whatever recommendations you want, ppl should also hear that there are limits to what they should be doing at home and that they risk damaging their firearm or creating a safety hazard if they screw it up. 

Edited March 13, 2018 by Daemunx1

[jsykes]

Thanks for the feedback.  I'll shoot it a bit and see if it cleans up at all.  I dont think polishing the fcu is the answer as it seems really smooth when there is no slide on it or when its pulled from the frame.  It really seems to be in the striker or something up there, like I said, just moving the striker by hand feels gritty and stiff.

 

I'll shoot it and if it doesnt clean up, I'll look to send it to GG or something.  I'm just pissed I didnt check it first before buying.  I had my choice of about five of them, but all were sealed except the floor model and I didnt want to open multiple ones to try them all having tried several others previously that were all essentially the same.  Oh well, live and learn.

 

Thanks.

[ddc]

11 hours ago, BLUEPSTU said:

I am in Raleigh as well. The easiest things you can do without costing money is polishing the trigger bar spring (At the points that it rubs up against the FCU.) You can also bend the trigger bar spring from a 90 degree angle to a 60 degree angle. Just shoot me a pm if you have any questions. Good luck to you.

 

Hey that's interesting! I would never thought of polishing where the trigger bar spring rubs up against the FCU.

 

[BLUEPSTU]

10 hours ago, ddc said:

 

Hey that's interesting! I would never thought of polishing where the trigger bar spring rubs up against the FCU.

 

The polishing did help a good bit with the weight pull as well as the feel. I even did it with the new trigger bar kit from Apex.