How Do You Stop Hammer Fall On A 1911

[AzShooter]

I recently bought a Colt 1911 22 (Walther) Gold Cup Trophy.  It's a nice gun but it had two immediate problems.  The thumb safety would not reset, and the trigger pull was slightly over 9 pounds.

 

You Tub helped me get the safety to work 100 & of the time now.  I put a replacement safety on that fit my thumb better.

 

I picked up a Cylinder & Slide trigger kit, to try to get the pull down to 4.5 pounds.  My problem is that the hammer falls after every shot.  The slide picks up the new round but the hammer is now fully forward.  I replaced  the mainspring and the problem is less but it still happens.  

[wanttolearn]

the causes are myriad....while it might prove to be an improper sear-hammer interface ....assuming geometries are correct, and in view of a new hammer, sear, and spring....you might first, safely,  bench trial augmenting sear spring pressure to see if that helps.

Edited November 5, 2021 by wanttolearn

[AzShooter]

Thanks.  I'll try that in the morning.

[Absocold]

Buy a set of outside pins. They're very cheap and will let you see what's going on with your sear to hammer interface. If it looks good then you need some more sear leaf tension or you have a disconnector issue.

[AzShooter]

Thank you.

 

[Boomstick303]

8 hours ago, Absocold said:

Buy a set of outside pins.

 

Where do you get these?

 

A google search is just bringing up pin sets for a 1911.

[twodownzero]

8 hours ago, Absocold said:

Buy a set of outside pins. They're very cheap and will let you see what's going on with your sear to hammer interface. If it looks good then you need some more sear leaf tension or you have a disconnector issue.

 

Or even that the mainspring isn't installed correctly.

[Silver_Surfer]

Bending the center finger of the sear spring forward slightly may help for starters. 

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.fMfCQ2po7hti8PKNi32CuAHaFj?w=241&h=181&c=7&r=0&o=5&pid=1.7

[AzShooter]

Well, for now I put all the original parts in.  No more hammer fall.  I did play with a backup spring after that but only the mainspring.  I tweaked it a little and got the trigger pull down to 6.5 pounds from 9.5 without hammer fall. 

 

At least I'm going in the right direction.   

 

Next week, after I test the gun with live fire, I'll try the C&S kit again but for now I'm going to take a break.  Thanks for all the help folks.

[zzt]

5 hours ago, Boomstick303 said:

Where do you get these?

 

I got mine from Brownell's.  You want the ones that go all the way through the receiver.  They let you mate the sear nose and hammer hooks while outside the gun in the same orientation they will be in inside the gun.  The external armorer's blocks and jigs will only give you good results if the holes in your receiver are perfect.  Build enough guns and you'll quickly find out that is not always the case.

[Boomstick303]

4 minutes ago, zzt said:

I got mine from Brownell's.  You want the ones that go all the way through the receiver.  They let you mate the sear nose and hammer hooks while outside the gun in the same orientation they will be in inside the gun.  The external armorer's blocks and jigs will only give you good results if the holes in your receiver are perfect.  Build enough guns and you'll quickly find out that is not always the case.

 

Ah, thanks, that completely makes sense.

[cyberiad]

I installed a C&S kit in a 89mm 1911 several years ago and the kit came with instructions that specifically discussed things to check if hammer follow occurs . Did you kit come with instructions? If not, they may be available on their website.

[zzt]

22 hours ago, AzShooter said:

I picked up a Cylinder & Slide trigger kit, to try to get the pull down to 4.5 pounds.  My problem is that the hammer falls after every shot.  The slide picks up the new round but the hammer is now fully forward.  I replaced  the mainspring and the problem is less but it still happens.  

 

The first thing you try is backing out the overtravel screw.  Then flatten the standoff tabs at the front of the trigger bow.  You want to make sure the back of the trigger bow is not interfering with the sear.  Sears are all different sizes.  So a good setup for one may not work with another.  Since putting your original parts back in cures the problem it has to be the configuration of the new parts.

 

Another thing to check is the rear of the trigger bow.  Make sure it is not convex.  It should be a plane, but sometimes you have to adapt.  With one brand of receiver I could not get proper function until I put a punch on the rear of the trigger bow (while it was in the gun) and hit it with a hammer.  It was slightly concave, but it allowed the disco to function properly and everything worked 100%.

[AzShooter]

3 hours ago, cyberiad said:

I installed a C&S kit in a 89mm 1911 several years ago and the kit came with instructions that specifically discussed things to check if hammer follow occurs . Did you kit come with instructions? If not, they may be available on their website.

Sorry, no instructions.  YouTube is our friend these days I guess.  

 

I put all the old parts back in to see if there was a still  a problem but other than a heavier than normal trigger pull everything works the way it's supposed to.  I'm going to take a break for a few days and then work at it one stage at a time.  I ordered a couple of light sear springs from Brownell's so I can leave the originals alone. Then I'm going to play with it like a mad monk on Saturday night.

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by AzShooter

[AzShooter]

4 hours ago, zzt said:

 

The first thing you try is backing out the overtravel screw.  Then flatten the standoff tabs at the front of the trigger bow.  You want to make sure the back of the trigger bow is not interfering with the sear.  Sears are all different sizes.  So a good setup for one may not work with another.  Since putting your original parts back in cures the problem it has to be the configuration of the new parts.

 

 

My kit did not come with a new trigger.  I bought it from Brownell's and not C&S directly.

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by AzShooter

[Silver_Surfer]

Be careful and watch out for the doubles, triples ect....

[AzShooter]

Well, I put the original spring in today and all the OEM parts.  Gun works flawless.  I fired 200 rounds of CCI Blazer 36 grainers without a failure.  

 

Accuracy was pretty good, keeping almost everything in the X ring of the Bianchi target at 10 yards.  I wasn't after groups, just function checking.  

 

Now comes the fun part, one step at a time.  New sear spring... test... sear...test... hammer... test... disconnector.

 

The Cylinder & Slide kit says I can get a 4.5 pound trigger.  I'll be happy with that.