After a few good cleanings and 500 rounds my trigger pull weight is way too high for my liking. Anyone out there change out their sear spring for an aftermarket and see improvement in trigger pull weight. Or would I be better off getting the sear and hammer edges stoned to better precision for better results. Thanks for any advice.
Norinco 1911 trigger weight
- Thread starter Poppa Roberts
- Start date
Replacing all of the springs in your 1911 is not a bad idea (use Wolff springs all around, IMO), but just changing the sear spring will not necessarily lighten the trigger pull.
Stoning the hammer hooks and sear nose will help with trigger feel (more crisp and smooth), but again will not necessarily make the pull lighter. Changing the angles will change the felt trigger pull, but it is not a casual job.
A bit rusty on this, but here's what I remember: The easiest and cheapest option is to adjust the tension of the existing sear spring. You'll see that it has three legs: One each for the sear, the trigger bow, and the grip safety. Reducing the tension of the trigger and sear legs of the sear spring will reduce the trigger pull. It's very much an adjustment done by "feel": Remove the sear spring and bend the appropriate leg in the opposite direction until permanently deform the spring and you get the desired tension. Go slow, check and adjust, and repeat. If you go too far, your trigger won't reset properly, and you'll get "hammer follow" when you drop the slide. Bad situation.
After making any such adjustments you MUST do a full function test to be sure your pistol is safe. Learn how to do that as your first step, naturally!
It's good (but not critical) to have a spare sear spring on hand in case your adjustments are too over zealous and you ruin the original part. Not likely if you're careful, but not impossible especially if you're not mechanically-inclined.
Stoning the hammer hooks and sear nose will help with trigger feel (more crisp and smooth), but again will not necessarily make the pull lighter. Changing the angles will change the felt trigger pull, but it is not a casual job.
A bit rusty on this, but here's what I remember: The easiest and cheapest option is to adjust the tension of the existing sear spring. You'll see that it has three legs: One each for the sear, the trigger bow, and the grip safety. Reducing the tension of the trigger and sear legs of the sear spring will reduce the trigger pull. It's very much an adjustment done by "feel": Remove the sear spring and bend the appropriate leg in the opposite direction until permanently deform the spring and you get the desired tension. Go slow, check and adjust, and repeat. If you go too far, your trigger won't reset properly, and you'll get "hammer follow" when you drop the slide. Bad situation.
After making any such adjustments you MUST do a full function test to be sure your pistol is safe. Learn how to do that as your first step, naturally!
It's good (but not critical) to have a spare sear spring on hand in case your adjustments are too over zealous and you ruin the original part. Not likely if you're careful, but not impossible especially if you're not mechanically-inclined.
I bought a bunch of those CanAm 1911s, and they all had heavy to very heavy triggers. I adjusted them all and most are in the 5 - 6 pound range. Much better.
Two things you can do that are easy and no risk. If you screw up, a spring is cheap to replace.
First, take the mainspring housing off, knock out the little pin that holds the hammer spring (Catch the spring - don't let it fly across the room). Clip 3 coils off the bottom of the spring and re-install the spring and pin.
Note that the pin has a head on it, like a little nail, so you have to pop it out from the correct side. It comes out real easy if you push in one the hammer spring, to unload the pin.
The sear spring has three tines. Bend the left two back about a tenth of an inch.
The result of these two changes will be a lighter trigger.
Two things you can do that are easy and no risk. If you screw up, a spring is cheap to replace.
First, take the mainspring housing off, knock out the little pin that holds the hammer spring (Catch the spring - don't let it fly across the room). Clip 3 coils off the bottom of the spring and re-install the spring and pin.
Note that the pin has a head on it, like a little nail, so you have to pop it out from the correct side. It comes out real easy if you push in one the hammer spring, to unload the pin.
The sear spring has three tines. Bend the left two back about a tenth of an inch.
The result of these two changes will be a lighter trigger.
Oh man that was sweet. This gun is awesome now. thanks. I had watched a youtube vid and it said to do the centre spring which I did. It helped but made the disconnect a little 2 mushy. I put the centre back a little bit and did a little on the left, also cut the mainspring as you said and wow like a whole new gun. slide runs easier due to mainspring change hammer is easier to #### as well yet is not weak and trigger pull is now much nicer where I don't feel like i'm cranking on it and disconnect is also better. The trick is to do a little on the centre and left and the mainspring change just makes the gun flow so much nicer.
Glad it worked out for you.
If you're going to alter the mainspring, I personally recommend replacing it with a lighter version rather than cutting it down. They're cheap. While you've got it apart, polish the mainspring plunger and the mainspring plunger channel in the mainspring housing. These are often exceptionally rough, and smoothing them up will give you a smoother hammer cocking feel (and smoother cycling) and more efficient energy transfer from the spring to the hammer strut.
This might not matter to you, but maybe you want to know: Lightening the mainspring changes the spring balance of the gun, which is generally not ideal unless you're doing it to change the cycling characteristics of the pistol. However, this is probably splitting hairs unless you're seriously into performance and reliability. The mainspring's job is to power the hammer, not adjust the felt trigger pull. The reason it's as heavy as it is is to give reliable ignition of hard milspec primers in the dirtiest of conditions. It's probably fine to simply reduce the mainspring weight somewhat without considering anything else, and many people do this and don't notice any negative effects. Lots of manufacturers do exactly this at the factory as a cheap and easy way to reduce the felt trigger pull of their 1911s. Of course, lots of 1911s don't work terribly well from the factory... Trigger pull weight should be adjusted by a combination of tweaking the sear spring, careful polishing of the fire control group, and changing the sear nose and hammer hook angles.
BTW, if you get into more tweaking of your 1911, here's a great resource on safety checking the 1911:
w ww.cylinder-slide.com/1911safetyck.shtml
If you're going to alter the mainspring, I personally recommend replacing it with a lighter version rather than cutting it down. They're cheap. While you've got it apart, polish the mainspring plunger and the mainspring plunger channel in the mainspring housing. These are often exceptionally rough, and smoothing them up will give you a smoother hammer cocking feel (and smoother cycling) and more efficient energy transfer from the spring to the hammer strut.
This might not matter to you, but maybe you want to know: Lightening the mainspring changes the spring balance of the gun, which is generally not ideal unless you're doing it to change the cycling characteristics of the pistol. However, this is probably splitting hairs unless you're seriously into performance and reliability. The mainspring's job is to power the hammer, not adjust the felt trigger pull. The reason it's as heavy as it is is to give reliable ignition of hard milspec primers in the dirtiest of conditions. It's probably fine to simply reduce the mainspring weight somewhat without considering anything else, and many people do this and don't notice any negative effects. Lots of manufacturers do exactly this at the factory as a cheap and easy way to reduce the felt trigger pull of their 1911s. Of course, lots of 1911s don't work terribly well from the factory... Trigger pull weight should be adjusted by a combination of tweaking the sear spring, careful polishing of the fire control group, and changing the sear nose and hammer hook angles.
BTW, if you get into more tweaking of your 1911, here's a great resource on safety checking the 1911:
w ww.cylinder-slide.com/1911safetyck.shtml
