Polishing a trigger on a 1911

Lapping compound is just another tool. Think of it as sandpaper without the paper. The need for it must be determined first and weighed against other options. It'll only help if used where it's needed and can do something worthwhile. Otherwise you're removing material for no reason. And all you get in that case is sloppy fitting parts.

Sanding, stoning, lapping and other abrasive treatments are tools that must be used when they are the best tool for the job. Until you know you need one they are best kept away from any job. We all have to learn but at this point I'd suggest your best use of your time is in reading and watching some of the better You Tube videos. And generally anything that involves a fast "fluff and buff" is not the best option.

There's also a technical article on the Brownell's website about how to adjust the three finger spring. Look that up and read it and then tune your own three finger spring. While you're at it check the bow in the frame for a slick and easy sliding fit with no slop. If you can feel any binding THEN you can consider options for adjusting Many times all it needs is a slight tweak of the trigger bow.
 
Sadosubliminal said:
I have never heard of lapping compound. I will have to look that up.
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You will find it in any automotive parts store. Auto mechanics used to use it on cylinder head valve mating surfaces. It's an abrasive grease, so I used it much in the same way a mechanic would "lap" valves, I stripped the gun completely and added the compound into the slide/frame cuts. I then manually worked the action back and forth. Initially the compound is course, but don't replace it with fresh compound, it's designed to smooth out to a polish abrasive. I used more than needed initially and kept wiping away excess but not in the cuts where it was doing it's job. Only when I was satisfied that the only grit I was feeling when working the action was the now very fine grit of the lapping compound did I clean the slide and frame (varsol or and distillate solvent), and voila! buttery smooth. Then reblue. It was the same for the trigger bow channel, only it didn't take as long because it wasn't as rough as the frame to slide fit.

Lapping compound is used to mate two dissimilar pieces of metal together pretty much perfectly (no gas leak past closed valves in a cylinder head...and that's under psi). You must however bear in mind that a valve is chamfered and clearly this isn't the case with a 1911 frame slide fit and material is removed...but fret not, I'm told that guys like Les Baer would simply vise the slide (pinched) closed slightly if he ran into this situation of a loose Nork after polishing...to all the LB fans don't freak out, it's just what I've been told, but it makes sense.
 
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It is very easy to screw up a trigger. It looks easy on the video because the guy doing it probably knows what he is doing. "Expereince" is another word for "mistakes".

Do you really want to trade one for the other? Send the pistol to Roger Kotanko at dark International. He has done a number of Norc 1911s for me. Cost was around $75, as I recall.

There are two things you can do yourself that will make an immediate improvement.

Remove the mainspring housing (the arched housing at the back of the grip). Remove the hammer spring and clip 3 coils from the bottom of the spring.

Take out the 3 tine spring and bend the two left tines back about a tenth of an inch.
 
I'll look Roger up. Thanks for the info.

I'm assuming your just talking about the sear and hammer surfaces. The trigger bow is OK to polish, isn't it?
 
Sadosubliminal said:
I'll look Roger up. Thanks for the info.

I'm assuming your just talking about the sear and hammer surfaces. The trigger bow is OK to polish, isn't it?
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Of course it is. Polish away. Also do the channel in the frame. The hammer and sear surfaces do very lightly. Don't want to take off any material, just smooth out the surface or machining marks ( go in the direction of engagement of the surfaces - takes more time but the result it better

Doing this basic polishing will really make it a nicer trigger for $5 worth of sandpaper.

Of course if you want a professional trigger job then pay the $100 for a pro smith to do it who already has all the jigs and supplies and experience and you will have a great trigger and you know it will be safe
 
polishing up the frame/slide rails is something i do on almost all my 1911's to make them run smoother, especially that norcs.
i did recently pick up some lapping compound from the auto parts place and try that.
you have to be reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly careful when you do that!
i knew going in that it was really easy to go TOO far with the lapping compound so i went light and only did a little then would clean up the gun and reoil and test my progress, i was shocked by for fast it was to remove what was binding and get it smooth.

after i had used the lapping compound i was talking to a old timer that i know who does gunsmithing (a machinist who makes his own barrels and such) and he told me i was lucky i didnt mess it up.
he said i should have just used some non gel toothpaste to do that fine of work.

i had heard of doing this before and i thought that a lapping compound would have been better, he informed me that the lapping compound is used for more aggressive removal and that the tooth paste is much better for fine work.
i then went home and compared the 2 and ya the toothpaste is about 100 times finer grit then the lapping compound so i can see what he was talking about.

there are also videos on youtube of guys using lapping compounds and totally messing up the guns so much they need to get them welded and start over again.
from what your saying im thinking your at the toothpaste stage, you dont have mass amounts of product to remove you just wanna smooth things out a bit, ya?
for the price of it id say try the tooth paste. strip the gun down, put a bit on each side and sit back and watch some TV and work the action back and forth about 100 times.

i know this also works well with Norinco M305's trigger groups.

you could also do this with the hammer and seer as well but i wouldnt, like mentioned above you really need to know what your doing when you get into the hammer / seer fit, messing around with those is best left for those who do it for a living.
 
Yup, not touching hammer or sear. I'll start with the trigger bow polishing and the channel it runs in, seems like everyone agrees that's safe. I'm interested in the toothpaste idea, I've used it to polish headlights and boat windshields with an electric buffer, does the job. I wonder, though: I have a few sheets of 2000 and 4000 grit sandpaper. Would that be a better choice than toothpaste? Less messy, I would imagine.

Lol what is the grit value of Colgate, anyway?
 
Ganderite said:
Lapping compound comes in two types. Embedding and non-embedding. You must only use the latter. The former keeps working even after you think it has been cleaned off.
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OH CRAP! Now you tell me. How does one tell one for the other? I used lapping compound to install a USGI op rod on my Norc M305.

M
 
plinker 777 said:
tagged...never heard of a lapping compound that keeps lapping after removed. Seems counter productive. (Why create such a thing?)
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Google is your friend:

http://www.newmantools.com/lapping/time.htm

"Timesaver Lapping Compound does not contain emery, aluminum oxide, silicon-carbide or similar charging abrasives.
They are unconditionally guaranteed not to imbed into any metal surface.
Prepared in powder form, to be mixed with oil as used.
Timesaver first acts as an abrasive, then the particles diminish to a polish, and finally to inert material."

"Timesaver Lapping Compounds are formulated to first act as an abrasive, then diminish to a polish and finally to inert material. Other ingredients in the compound conglomerate the fines to prevent imbedding in the metal being lapped.

All compounds have a range of particle sizes with most of the work being done by the largest particles.

The selection of the grade depends more upon the amount of metal to be removed than the finish because the abrasive breaks down to a finer and finer size and eventually to a polish material. TIMESAVER COMPOUND will not imbed into any metal surface and will not continue to cut."
 
I would avoid Mr Kotanko. He Bubba'd my gun something fierce. I sent him a High Standard pistol with a set of new factory springs. I wanted him to clean up the gun completely and replace the springs.

I got the gun back and took it apart to see his work. The plunger which disconnects the barrel wouldnt depress. The barrel was not seated properly on the frame. The gun was not safe to fire.

When I finally removed the barrel, i couldnt figure out why the plunger wouldn't depress. I emailed him and he said the springs were new and they would break in. It didn't make sense to me so I brought it to a local machinist who saw the problem right off the bat: the pin which holds the plunger in wasn't a pin: it was a section of Allen key cut off to fit. Somewhere along the way, he lost or broke the pin (it happens, I get it) and instead of telling me so I could buy a new proper pin, he Bubba'd a pin and sent me the gun in an unsafe condition. Then when I asked about it in rhe email, he lied. Then when I asked why he didnt tell me about the pin, I never heard from him.

I know some ppl swear by him, but I got burned.

FF
 
Ganderite said:
Google is your friend:

http://www.newmantools.com/lapping/time.htm

"Timesaver Lapping Compound does not contain emery, aluminum oxide, silicon-carbide or similar charging abrasives.
They are unconditionally guaranteed not to imbed into any metal surface.
Prepared in powder form, to be mixed with oil as used.
Timesaver first acts as an abrasive, then the particles diminish to a polish, and finally to inert material."

"Timesaver Lapping Compounds are formulated to first act as an abrasive, then diminish to a polish and finally to inert material. Other ingredients in the compound conglomerate the fines to prevent imbedding in the metal being lapped.

All compounds have a range of particle sizes with most of the work being done by the largest particles.

The selection of the grade depends more upon the amount of metal to be removed than the finish because the abrasive breaks down to a finer and finer size and eventually to a polish material. TIMESAVER COMPOUND will not imbed into any metal surface and will not continue to cut."
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Ah. Marketing. This product guarantees not to do something that others don't do anyhow (if properly cleaned off). A fix to a non-problem IMO.
 
If you polish the contact surfaces with a good synthetic lubricant, many experts over the years have confided in me that you can actually take as much as a pound off of the trigger pull.
 
TetraGun said:
If you polish the contact surfaces with a good synthetic lubricant, many experts over the years have confided in me that you can actually take as much as a pound off of the trigger pull.
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Ya but as the lube breaks down you wont have a consistent trigger pull weight.
 
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