Introduction:
A week or two ago I asked whether any of you had any experience regarding the Springer Precision or Powder River Precision trigger job kits. I did not get many answers and Googling for comparative reviews did not return a lot of results.
There were many reviews to be found on each trigger job. Most received many praises. Both had those that had a lot of trouble installing them. Overall, people seemed to be happy with either product. I decided that I would purchase and install the trigger kit from each manufacturer to see which I felt was better.
Both products claim to reduce take up, over travel, reset, trigger weight, and provide a crisper break.
Springer Precision: $130
The Springer Precision trigger kit comes with a replacement sear, sear spring, trigger bar, and trigger spring. It does not come with any written instructions. There are videos on YouTube that help to an extent, but they are done with an XDM and if you have an XD, it's a little bit different. The Springer Precision replacement trigger bar is of very good quality and milled out of a single piece of stainless steel. The trigger bar has more material at the front end where it makes contact with the frame. This area is over-sized and will need to be filed down until you have enough movement in the trigger to fully release the sear.
That part can be a bit of a pain as you have to remove and reinstall the trigger bar each time to make sure that you don't over do it. Unfortunately, that was not the most difficult part of the Springer Precision kit. The biggest problem for me was that the new sear did not match up properly with striker safety lever. It took me a bit to realize what was actually happening here. I had enough movement in the trigger bar to release the striker, I could see it releasing through the small gap in the back of the gun, however it wasn't moving all the way forward and was instead getting caught on the striker safety lever which was protruding up above the sear and catching the striker. I had to lock the slide back and disassemble the slide so that I could get the slide off of the gun to continue fitting. This proved to be especially cumbersome due to the striker retaining roll pin which I had to hammer out via a punch dropped down into the magazine well.
Once I finally got the slide back off and the frame disassembled, I could see exactly what the problem was. After finding this issue and searching, it seems that I'm not the first one that had this problem. I found another post and these photos on XD Talk.
XD Sear with striker safety lever:
SP Sear with striker safety lever:
In order to allow the striker safety lever to sit flush (or slightly below) the edge of the sear, I had to grind down the tab on the bottom of the sear where the striker safety lever makes contact to rotate the sear. This task wasn't especially difficult, but it wasn't something that I was expecting to have to perform.
Once I finally got everything fitted properly and installed back into the gun, the end result was indeed a nicer trigger pull. It didn't feel like it removed a great deal of pre-travel, but I didn't mark where it was before and after the installation. The trigger is definitely a bit lighter, and over travel was reduced. The gun shoots well and I can say that the trigger kit is worth the money and will be a nice improvement upon the stock trigger. Make sure that you remove the roll pin from the slide BEFORE starting. That way if you do have to disassemble the slide, it will be relatively easy. It's a good quality trigger kit, and aside from the complications that I had, the gun shoots nicely.
Powder River Precision: $145
The Powder River Precision kit comes with a replacement sear, striker safety lever, sear spring, trigger spring, and trigger with integrated over travel stop. According to PRP, this is actually a Springfield Armory OEM replacement trigger available on custom competition guns. The PRP kit comes in a better packaging than the Springer Precision kit and also comes with printed instructions on what parts you might need to fit. Other than the over travel stop on the trigger, the only part that I had to fit was the bottom of the sear to allow for proper grip safety clearance. Everything else slide into face just perfectly. There was no extra play and they weren't too tight. This really reinforced the impression that the Powder River kit is of top notch quality.
I put the gun together before modifying the over travel stop on the trigger to get a feel for where it was and how much I would need to removed. After that, I took it back apart to grind down the tab to an approximation of where it needed to be using a grinding disc on my Dremel. Reassembled the gun and the stop was just a little bit too long to release the sear. Using a flat, smooth file, I was able to work it behind the trigger while still installed. I tested frequently and eventually got the exact right amount of material removed so that the trigger stops at the exact moment that the striker is released. There seems to be less pre-travel, zero over travel, and a soft, clean break, with a very short reset as well.
I have not gotten this gun to the range yet, but I expect it to shoot very well. The trigger is spectacular.
Conclusions:
My conclusion is that both trigger kits are good and certainly improve upon the stock XD/XDM trigger. My impressions are that the Powder River Precision kit is of better quality, easier installation, and more improvement than the Springer Precision version. The $15 increase in cost for the PRP kit over the SP kit are more than worth it - even if only for the improved over travel stop method.
One thing that might be of use is just to buy the Springer Precision trigger bar simply for it's quality. That may, or may not be worth it to somebody.
In any case, I am impressed with the results of both kits, but I would give my recommendation for the Powder River kit over the Springer Precision kit any day. I hope that this review will help someone like me who is trying to figure out which kit to chose.
Comments and Questions are welcome.
