1911 Trigger Job

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

dlbleak

Sharpshooter
Staff Member
Supporting Member
Special Hen Administrator Moderator Supporter
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
22,480
Reaction score
29,724
Location
edmond
Crying shame CY isn’t still around to complete this thread.
He had an incredible thread on dissembling a S&W revolver back in the day.
He knew his way around guns but got out a little far with politics.
Don’t know if he got a permaban or just quit posting.
He’s still around. Was on last June 10th. Hope he comes back around.
 

Boehlertaught

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Oct 6, 2010
Messages
3,957
Reaction score
784
Location
Coweta, OK
You can change the spring as Gunbuffer mentioned which can help. And it's really cheap so if that isn't the issue there's not. Much lost. Depending the detent notch on the safety will definitely increase the feel. Maybe too much so be careful. If you remove the safety to work on the detent you can easily change the function of the safely in a bad way. Folks like Brownells sell a long indent dressing tool, a fancy description of a drill bit, that slips through the spring plunger tunnel to dress the safeties detent with the safety in place. Do this by hand not with a drill motor.
 

Tailgate

Marksman
Joined
Oct 30, 2023
Messages
17
Reaction score
13
Location
Quantico, VA
My 1911 is a nice crisp 3 to 4 pound pull. What I really want is a more positive safety release. In my opinion, it is too easy to take off safety and needs a firmer detent.
Which safety? I am assuming the thumb safety. The problem is in how the various engaging surfaces are filed...one could be on the plunger tube detent shoulder, but the most likely is the blocking lug. You have to be careful when working on this, because once you remove metal you can't put it back. But you CAN do it yourself, just be very patient.

This is actually a very good instructional, even better than Kuhnhausen's book:
 

jackary

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
499
Reaction score
587
Location
Guthrie
I recently finished up a trigger job on my 1911. It is sitting at a nice crisp 4.5 lbs. I went slow when removing material and checked often until I got it where I wanted it. Watched several videos and did lots of reading before starting. I got to compare it side by side with another 1911 that had a trigger job by a long time gunsmith and was happy with how my work measured up against the other.
 

Russ661

Marksman
Supporting Member
Supporter
Joined
Mar 27, 2023
Messages
25
Reaction score
54
Location
Broken Arrow
I’ve done 2 1911 type trigger jobs: 1 on my Colt Combat Commander and 1 on my Prodigy. I was able to get ~2.5lbs on the Prodigy and ~3lbs on the Colt thru careful manipulation of the sear spring. .050 take-up, barely perceptible movement at the break and .050 reset. I also installed an ambi safety on the Colt since I am a lefty and replaced the MIM safety parts on the Prodigy with an EGW machined unit. The Colt safety takes ~1lb to put on,~3lb to switch off. The Prodigy safety takes 2.5 lbs to switch on, 2.9lbs to switch off. Both are very positive with no over travel or looseness. Neither job was all that difficult although both required assembly/disassembly of the weapons multiple times until I was happy with the results.
If you have the patience, time and average or better motor skills you should give it a try. A positive outcome is very rewarding!

ETA: I just noticed that this is an old thread, my bad!
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Top Bottom