ALRAY Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 I was having occasional hammer follow on a 2011 open gun. It was a challenge to diagnose because the hammer follow would only occur during live fire. I went through the usual suspects. First I tried adjusting the sear spring, but it would still happen even with up to a 4lb trigger pull. Next, I replaced the sear and hammer with new EGW parts. Using trigger adjustment pins I could see that there was very good positive engagement, and again, I couldn’t replicate the hammer follow except during live fire. I had already checked the grip screws which were Loctited after prior experience on a different gun on which loose grip screws causing hammer follow. In order to see exactly what was going on during live fire, I fired the pistol with the grip safety removed. Apparently during live fire, the left leaf of the sear spring was jumping off the sear and would settle under the sear, pushing up from the bottom. It was the plastic STI grip that was either cracked or worn to the point that it was allowing the sear spring to move under fire. I couldn’t find any visible cracks in the grip. After replacing the grip, the pistol is up and running, with the original sear, hammer and sear spring. I should have suspected this issue was slowly in the making. About a year ago, the left leaf began slipping off to the left of the sear. After reading around the forum, I fixed this by shimming the sear spring so it wouldn’t fall off and it worked fine for over a year. One possibility that I did not experiment with was simply changing the grip screw bushings. I don’t think this would have solved it because when observing the amount of play the sear spring had in the new old grip vs the new one, there was significantly less in the new grip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlappyMcTrigger Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 I had this same problem. You can also peen the sear spring towards the bottom to eliminate the wiggle room within the grip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkane Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Any idea how many rounds it took for the plastic grip to start showing problems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALRAY Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 Not sure. I think the problem was unique to this gun. I have several other 2011's with more rounds than this one and they show no signs of similar grip issues. I guess it's just something to keep in mind when diagnosing hammer follow, along with the other things I tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkm2011 Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Thanks for posting this, I would never have thought of the grip causing hammer follow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yigal Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 i have half frame installed in plastic grip.(for my experiments) . after i saw this problem i added to leaf spring 1.5 mm to eliminate this problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excursion12 Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 On 10/9/2018 at 3:52 PM, SlappyMcTrigger said: I had this same problem. You can also peen the sear spring towards the bottom to eliminate the wiggle room within the grip. Thanks- I bought a used 2011 and the spring was peened out as you describe. I never understood why they did it until now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vgdvc Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 On 10/9/2018 at 3:52 PM, SlappyMcTrigger said: I had this same problem. You can also peen the sear spring towards the bottom to eliminate the wiggle room within the grip. Hello. After experiencing hammerfollow at my last match on three of the last 10 stages I have been doing some research into what may cause it and came across this thread. This only happens during live fire and cannot replicate it any other time. It is a 2011 open pistol with a DVC style plastic grip. Grip screws were loose. I snugged them up but haven't had a chance to look into anything else yet. Could you please describe where I would peen the bottom of the sear spring to prevent movement and play? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powder Finger Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 (edited) about 1/8 inch (maybe a little higher) from bottom slot on left (sear leg side) use a dull or rounded pointy punch. just displace a bump to the left side. Edited July 27, 2020 by Powder Finger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vgdvc Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlappyMcTrigger Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 2 hours ago, Powder Finger said: about 1/8 inch (maybe a little higher) from bottom slot on left (sear leg side) use a dull or rounded pointy punch. just displace a bump to the left side. Exactly or buy a new one. The one I had an issue with was a C&S (IIRC) but I’ve had great luck with them in every grip save one of the few plastic grips I have. I went scorched earth and replaced the whole ignition setup when it was a narrow $7 spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlappyMcTrigger Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 Good luck @vgdvc ! Hope you get it figured out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOGRIDER Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 On 10/9/2018 at 3:22 PM, ALRAY said: I was having occasional hammer follow on a 2011 open gun. It was a challenge to diagnose because the hammer follow would only occur during live fire. I went through the usual suspects. First I tried adjusting the sear spring, but it would still happen even with up to a 4lb trigger pull. Next, I replaced the sear and hammer with new EGW parts. Using trigger adjustment pins I could see that there was very good positive engagement, and again, I couldn’t replicate the hammer follow except during live fire. I had already checked the grip screws which were Loctited after prior experience on a different gun on which loose grip screws causing hammer follow. In order to see exactly what was going on during live fire, I fired the pistol with the grip safety removed. Apparently during live fire, the left leaf of the sear spring was jumping off the sear and would settle under the sear, pushing up from the bottom. It was the plastic STI grip that was either cracked or worn to the point that it was allowing the sear spring to move under fire. I couldn’t find any visible cracks in the grip. After replacing the grip, the pistol is up and running, with the original sear, hammer and sear spring. I should have suspected this issue was slowly in the making. About a year ago, the left leaf began slipping off to the left of the sear. After reading around the forum, I fixed this by shimming the sear spring so it wouldn’t fall off and it worked fine for over a year. One possibility that I did not experiment with was simply changing the grip screw bushings. I don’t think this would have solved it because when observing the amount of play the sear spring had in the new old grip vs the new one, there was significantly less in the new grip. This might help........... https://www.egwguns.com/evolved-1911-sear-spring-2-pack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yigal Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, HOGRIDER said: This might help........... https://www.egwguns.com/evolved-1911-sear-spring-2-pack finally properly designed part. i would like more radius between sear and disco legs. Edited July 28, 2020 by yigal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stardust tommy Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 an 1911 searspring can be to short/not wide enough for a 2011 grip I put the searspring upside down under water with the 90° lip just above the surface, heat untill it gets red hot and let it cool slowly than I hammer the lip from 90° to 45°, this way the searspring wil sit a little higher and keep contact with the sear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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