Koenig Hammer/egw Sear

[Jack Suber]

Has anyone ever had an EGW sear break? It happend to me Tusday practicing. The entire engagement surface (hook) sheared off about an 1/8 of an inch back. The piece chewed on the hammer surface a little, too. I had a sweet trigger set-up with a Koenig Hammer. Just beautiful. The perfect "glass break" trigger. I installed my first set about a year ago on the pistol my son is shooting . The parts "dropped in" with very little work - just tweeking the spring. Both the sear and the hammer were polished very well and it appeared that they were made for each other. That pistol is still fine and the trigger is still sweet.

When I had mey current gun built, I asked for the same parts. I got another very good trigger and was thrilled with it. This was the set that broke. Since the Area 6 is coming up, I figured I had to get it fixed fast. So, I ordered the Koenig Hammer and EGW sear and had them shipped overnight. I figured they would go right in (like the last set I installed) and I could tweek the spring and get the set-up I had before. The parts arrived today and I headed to the shop to install them. I was stunned to see tool marks on the engagement surface of the Keonig Hammer. Also, there was a very small grove across both sides of the engagement surface that engage the sear and both of those surfaces were pitted and rough. The grove would snag the sear everytime the sear ran over it. The hammer required about 4 hours of stoning to get the trigger decent. What a disappointment.

Normally, I would have sent them back but I need to get this gun up and running. The trigger is close to where I had it but there is still a slight "crunch" or slip just before the trigger breaks. I believe it is still being caused by the area where that little grove is. Oh well.

Has anyone had similar experience with the Keonig Hammer and/or EGW sear? Just curious. Think I'll get one of Bob Londrigan's kits after the A6.

Jack

[libertarian]

The entire engagement surface (hook) sheared off about an 1/8 of an inch back.

Wow. So what was the result? Did the hammer just fall completely? Did it go to half-cocked? That's a little disconcerting.

[Jack Suber]

The entire engagement surface (hook) sheared off about an 1/8 of an inch back.

Wow. So what was the result? Did the hammer just fall completely? Did it go to half-cocked? That's a little disconcerting.

The hammer followed completely. Never caught the half-cock knotch (there was nothing for the sear to engage it with). It fired once and that was it - not sure why it didn't go auto because it fed a live round into the chamber when the hammer followed. Still trying to figure that one out.

[XRe]

Still trying to figure that one out.

The hammer may have spent enough energy helping "push" the slide forward that it didn't have enough oomph left to push the firing pin into the primer...

[eerw]

Did you order the parts from George??

call him and talk to him..also tell him about the sear..

he is usually great about taking care of things....

hope you get things set up for the A6

[Qstick]

Did you order the parts from George??

call him and talk to him..also tell him about the sear..

I have ordered plenty of parts from George (or one of the shop guys who answers the phone) and have always asked them to pick out a nice pair and have had great results. I remember a post from months ago where George said some of the sears and hammers had an endmill pass mark (???) and some did not.

+1 on calling George - he is always very helpful and pleasant to deal with.

[geo]

Has anyone ever had an EGW sear break? It happend to me Tusday practicing. The entire engagement surface (hook) sheared off about an 1/8 of an inch back. The piece chewed on the hammer surface a little, too. I had a sweet trigger set-up with a Koenig Hammer. Just beautiful. The perfect "glass break" trigger. I installed my first set about a year ago on the pistol my son is shooting . The parts "dropped in" with very little work - just tweeking the spring. Both the sear and the hammer were polished very well and it appeared that they were made for each other. That pistol is still fine and the trigger is still sweet.

When I had mey current gun built, I asked for the same parts. I got another very good trigger and was thrilled with it. This was the set that broke. Since the Area 6 is coming up, I figured I had to get it fixed fast. So, I ordered the Koenig Hammer and EGW sear and had them shipped overnight. I figured they would go right in (like the last set I installed) and I could tweek the spring and get the set-up I had before. The parts arrived today and I headed to the shop to install them. I was stunned to see tool marks on the engagement surface of the Keonig Hammer. Also, there was a very small grove across both sides of the engagement surface that engage the sear and both of those surfaces were pitted and rough. The grove would snag the sear everytime the sear ran over it. The hammer required about 4 hours of stoning to get the trigger decent. What a disappointment.

Normally, I would have sent them back but I need to get this gun up and running. The trigger is close to where I had it but there is still a slight "crunch" or slip just before the trigger breaks. I believe it is still being caused by the area where that little grove is. Oh well.

Has anyone had similar experience with the Keonig Hammer and/or EGW sear? Just curious. Think I'll get one of Bob Londrigan's kits after the A6.

Jack

Hi Jack,

First off, I am sorry to hear the parts are not what you expected.

Like you many people have installed our sear and Doug's hammer and had very good luck.

If there is pitting and or a grove in the sear I would very much like to see the part. this concerns me. The sear is milled from solid, sent out to heat treat, and comes back to be blasted and the notch ground. Also I would like to know where it came from? Very interested. The notch is ground over the milling marks and some times you can see the immage of the circular mill marks. People have dropped them in with good sucess.

On the hammer I have even more questions. Doug sells hammers to an OEM now.

we can not make enough hammers so there are two sourses.

I would like to see the hammer also. The next problem is there is a company that has sold hammers that are coppies. Were the sides of the hammer ground? that would be very telling. if the sides of the hammer were not ground this would be a major concern. The fourth concern is there was reports of a vendor having the hammer knocked off.

That said I can tell by a photo if the parts are ours.

I will happly replace the parts if they came from EGW or Doug. If you call me today and email a picture, I will next day air saturday the parts, provided the parts are from us.

Also I will replace the broken sear and would like to have it analized, Please send it back, both parts. What I have seen on this is the hammer half cock notch hits the sear every time the gun fires and causes problems over time.

To check this we made a fixture to KILL a sear. on a cut in half frame we took a hammer and milled the half cock notch back so when the hammer fell it hit the half cock just short of hitting the frame. We dropped the hammer 250 times and each and every time the hammer hit the sear at the half cock. After hitting full on 250 times there was no damage to the sear.

Please call or email

215-538 1012

egw@pil.net

Best regards,

geo

[ong45]

George,

Can you tell us which retailers carry the Koenig hammers that EGW manufactures? I suppose people can also order the hammers direct from you.

I have used EGW parts with great succes and appreciate the concern you show for your product.

James

[Jack Suber]

George,

Thanks for the reply. Actually, I think I ordered my first sear/hammer setup from you (did y'all sell them as a kit at one time?). The first set is in my "son's" gun now. The surfaces on it are still like a mirror and they have been in the gun almost 2 years. I figured this is a freak occurance - at least with the sear break. The hammer is a different story. I ordered the new parts from Brownells since I have an account there. The broken sear was installed by Derek at Mellenium Custom when he built the gun for me. He, too, said that this is very rare. I will be happy to send the broken one to you for your reference. No need to replace it - things happen (I got A LOT of use out of it). Just send me an address. I have the new hammer/sear in the gun now and prefer not to switch it out since it is working for now. When I clean it next week, I will take a picture and email it to you. It has been ground on the sides. This one had signifcant tooling marks on the contact surface (some still visible) and the pitting I referenced - you can still see that. The sear was dragging on them. The new sear is fine. The hammer also had some burs of metal along the edges that I stoned smooth. Perhaps this was one that just got through QC? Since I did alter the parts by stoning them, I don't expect a replacement. They are working for now (at least I think so - I am going to go test fire it this afternoon). I just miss the way the old trigger felt.

The trigger was set at a perfect 2lbs. Could the trigger being that light have caused the failure? I never had ANY following problems or failure to fire. I ran my other gun at the same weight until my son started shooting it then I increased the pull weight a little for safety. Again, the sear that broke had been in the gun since last May and I have at least 10K rounds through it.

If you will send me your mailing address, I will get the old sear out to you. I spoke to Derek yesterday and was going to send it to him (I think he was going to send it to you anyway, so we'll cut a step out). At least this didn't happen during a major match!

Thanks for following up.

Jack

[ima45dv8]

Think I'll get one of Bob Londrigan's kits after the A6.

Jack

Bob will be set up as a vendor at A6.

[rubberneck]

If you will send me your mailing address, I will get the old sear out to you.

EGW Inc.

48 Belmont Ave.

Quakertown, PA 18951

[Jack Suber]

The gun worked! Woohoo!!!

Thanks, George. Sear will be on the way tomorrow. Take care and have a good weekend.

Jack

If you will send me your mailing address, I will get the old sear out to you.

EGW Inc.

48 Belmont Ave.

Quakertown, PA 18951

[L9X25]

Jack,

What happens is that some people like the overtravel adjusted so that the trigger stops just as the hammer falls. That can lead to the half cock notch "banging" the nose of the sear every time the hammer falls. Over thousands of rounds, the fatigue can lead to sear failure, like you had. There is usually visible evidence of the scrubbing on the sear or half cock notches of the hammer.

To check your new set-up, with an unloaded gun, hold the hammer and pull the trigger all the way back ... now lower the hammer slowly (while still holding the trigger back) and see if you feel anything bump or scrape the hammer on the way down. Anything that you feel could be the hammer bumping the sear. If you feel anything, add more overtravel until the hooks clear the sear, then add 1/4 turn more to the overtravel.

Edited April 22, 2006 by L9X25

[blackdragon]

This place has the best service!

Ivan

[Chuck Merriam]

If you have just a little creep after final installment you can boost the trigger, but be carefull not to go overboard. It will take that very small hangup out and smooth/mate any small burrs. Just push on the hammer lightly as you pull the trigger (do two times and the creep will be gone) It just speeds up the mating process. I have done this to several triggers that needed that mirco adjust.