Are sears and hammers considered consumable?

[DougR]

The title says it all.

Are hammers and sears considered consumables?

That is, should they be replaced routinely after X number of rounds.

Or should a hammer and sear essentially live for the life of the pistol.

I understand the "life" of a pistol varies greatly.

Is it 20 years and 10,000 rounds?

Or is it 2 years and 50,000 rounds?

I'm confident some poor trigger jobs may not last long.

Or trigger jobs done on poor (soft), steels.

Thanks,

Edited March 4, 2009 by DougR

[shooterbenedetto]

The title says it all.

Are hammers and sears considered consumables?

That is, should they be replaced routinely after X number of rounds.

Or should a hammer and sear essentially live for the life of the pistol.

I understand the "life" of a pistol varies greatly.

Is it 20 years and 10,000 rounds?

Or is it 2 years and 50,000 rounds?

I'm confident some poor trigger jobs may not last long.

Or trigger jobs done on poor (soft), steels.

Thanks,

When they are worn, they should be replaced.

[Pat Miles]

I think in the strictest definition of word "consumable" they are. In the reasonable definition they are not. Yes they wear during use. If they are of good quality and maintained correctly (cleaned and lubricated correctly and when necessary) they can work correctly for many, many thousands of cycles. After a certain point they can be "refreshed" and do their job again for many, many thousands of cycles. Then they can be refreshed again. In theory they could be refreshed countless times if a person did not care if the thumb safety did not work at some point.

That said, will they eventually reach the end of their service life which includes allowing the thumb safety to work? Yes they of course will.

My short answer to a long explanation... no they are not a consumable. A consumable in my opinion when talking about firearms is a primer or the gun powder. A brass cartridge would be another consumable even though it has a longer service life.

CYa,

Pat

[Josh Biondi]

When a part is gone is gone. I think that until the part works you dont need to think to substitute it. I have a STI hammer and an EGW sear with a fine trigger job done by myself (1.5lbs) that works from 75,000 rounds ago and dont miss a fire. Just a couple of time i refresh the surface with a white stone to gloss it, and never more.

[ExtremeShot]

I sure wouldn't recommend eating them!

[wide45]

Springs are consumable. You don't repair them. They just get replaced.

Good hammer/sear can usually be refurbished to work like new. Sometimes it is not worth it.

[Tzygä]

+1

Good trigger parts and trigger jobs and your trigger parts last as long as your barrel.

[outerlimits]

while learning to do your own trigger jobs, they become expendable! once you have it figured out, they are not.

[Radical Precision Designs]

The title says it all.

Are hammers and sears considered consumables?

That is, should they be replaced routinely after X number of rounds.

Or should a hammer and sear essentially live for the life of the pistol.

I understand the "life" of a pistol varies greatly.

Is it 20 years and 10,000 rounds?

Or is it 2 years and 50,000 rounds?

I'm confident some poor trigger jobs may not last long.

Or trigger jobs done on poor (soft), steels.

Thanks,

A few questions you made here. The first thing that comes to mind is QUALITY. Quality implies a few things like machining consistency and "trueness" of cut and finish, metal compound/formula and consistent/even hardness overall.

A great many of the 1911's that come my way come from the factory with what I consider "consumable" internals, and I have stated that specifically here before. Manufacturers "need" to cut costs somewhere. Since they (manufacturers) did not have in mind competitors putting 500,000 rounds through their guns in a relatively short amount of time, or at such rapid rate, they put in parts (hammer and sear specifically) that are "MIM" manufactured and will hold up to some degree (phoey !) . As soon as I see and identify these the "consumable" label is used. Most of the times the gun owners agree and these parts are replaced immediately. Of course, just because quality parts will hold up and last a lot longer it does not mean that tipically, like magic they will yield results to your hearts contentedness. You still have to make sure everything matches perfectly with your gun or make them so. Mistakes in fitting them can indeed be costly. Don't skimp here, do ti right.