1911 spring rate/trigger group help

Markus88

Markus88

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Have a 1911a1 from norinco, had it about 2 months now and about 500rnds thru it. Enough now to figure out I'm not happy with both the weight and sloppiness of the trigger pull.
Been surfing Brownells and looking at parts and various springs as well as triggers themselves. What do you 1911 experts reccomend I do? Just springs? Sear/disconnect/hammer? Adjustable trigger? Or the whole schmegoigle?
 
The hammer spring is in the little housing at the back of the grip. Slide it out, push out the little pin that captures the hammer spring, and remove the spring. Clip 2 coils from the bottom of the spring and reassemble. This will help trigger weight. If you bugger the spring, it is a $8 part.

Note: When you remove the little pin, note that it has a head, like a little nail. You want to push it out the right way. When you push it out, push down on the hammer spring, to take the tension off the pin. It will fall out easily with a prod from a paper clip.

There is a flat spring in there with 3 tines. bend the left two tines back about a tenth of an inch.

This is the no cost trigger improvement.

Beyond these steps requires some expertise. A 1911 gunsmith can polish and tune the trigger more. But try these first steps to see if the trigger becomes "good enough".
 
I had the same issues with my Norinco although I did not fire 500 rounds. First I tried to polish the sear, bought the guide, stones, etc. Did not work well enough and I do not recommend. This is what I installed:

Ed Brown Match Grade Sear
Wolff Variable Power Recoil Spring
STI - Long Adjustable Trigger
Wilson Combat Bullet Proof Sear Spring

These parts made a world of difference. the trigger pull is about 4.5 pound, very little play, quick reset. Now it is fun to shoot.

Hope this helps.
 
That's more the route I'm leaning towards. I've always felt with modifications, especially ones with a safety aspect is trigger group mods, you get what you pay for.
I was leaning towards replacing the sear/disconnect/hammer with match grade pieces either from wc or Ed brown, a lightened mainspring, new standard weight recoil spring, and lightened hamme spring.
I guess my main questions are, what fit issues, if any will I run into regarding the trigger group parts, and how light is too light regarding spring rates?
 
Before buying new parts try polishing all engagement surfaces WITHOUT changing any angles between the sear and hammer hooks. Then do as Ganderite recommended with the main spring and sear spring. It will be smoother and lighter. If you still arent happy with it you can always then buy the parts.
 
I'm not looking to cheap out on it. Want to do it right, once.
So I'm going to buy a new mainspring. There is several spring rates available and I'm wondering what the most common one is, or how light is too light etc.
Ideally I'd like a pull in the 3-4 pound range
And I will be replacing the trigger with an adjustable one (my fingers are way to long for the short trigger it comes with)
 
Ganderite said:
The hammer spring is in the little housing at the back of the grip. Slide it out, push out the little pin that captures the hammer spring, and remove the spring. Clip 2 coils from the bottom of the spring and reassemble. This will help trigger weight. If you bugger the spring, it is a $8 part.

Note: When you remove the little pin, note that it has a head, like a little nail. You want to push it out the right way. When you push it out, push down on the hammer spring, to take the tension off the pin. It will fall out easily with a prod from a paper clip.

There is a flat spring in there with 3 tines. bend the left two tines back about a tenth of an inch.

This is the no cost trigger improvement.

Beyond these steps requires some expertise. A 1911 gunsmith can polish and tune the trigger more. But try these first steps to see if the trigger becomes "good enough".
Click to expand...

^^ THIS ^^
It's what I did and it made a giant improvement

Shoot straight - chrisco
 
Markus88 said:
I'm not looking to cheap out on it. Want to do it right, once.
So I'm going to buy a new mainspring. There is several spring rates available and I'm wondering what the most common one is, or how light is too light etc.
Ideally I'd like a pull in the 3-4 pound range
And I will be replacing the trigger with an adjustable one (my fingers are way to long for the short trigger it comes with)
Click to expand...

I would order a few different main springs, Wolf sells a main springs calibration pack #26520 that has 3 reduced power springs in it. Any parts you replace in the trigger group will need some fitting, some more than others depending on the manufacturer of the parts and the frame they are going in. Any sear you buy, even an EB or EC will require stoning, this would be a good time to buy EB's sear jig.
 
I bought a Clark sear spring (pack of 3) and a two piece full length guide rod from Brownells to get me started. I also polished the sear (carefully of course) and the trigger band. The Clark spring made a world of difference!
 
Markus88 said:
Does anyone have pictures or diagrams of where/how much/ what the angles are supposed to be of the sear?
Click to expand...

Since this is a major safety issue I'm not going to tell you what angles to cut the sear angles to, but I will strongly recommend if you are going to get into this kind of work you buy a sear jig, they take the guess work out of it and provide you with the proper angles to stone, they are well worth the money.
 
Markus88 said:
I'm not looking to cheap out on it. Want to do it right, once.
So I'm going to buy a new mainspring. There is several spring rates available and I'm wondering what the most common one is, or how light is too light etc.
Ideally I'd like a pull in the 3-4 pound range
And I will be replacing the trigger with an adjustable one (my fingers are way to long for the short trigger it comes with)
Click to expand...

I have been using a 17lb mainspring in my competition 1911. Has been 100% prob around 8000 rounds.
 
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