1911 Trigger

[doubleaes2]

I have a 1943 Rem Rand 1911a1. Its in great shape and is all original. The only thing is, the trigger could use a little help. Is there any way I can lighten it without messing up the gun? I wouldn't mind replacing a spring or something, but I would like to keep the original trigger. I would keep any parts that I take off so I still have the originals. I would also like to replace the barrel with something better down the road. Any suggestions? I would like to keep the gun as original looking as possible. It was issued to my great uncle in WW2. Thanks.

[Toney]

Yes! The trigger spring will make a big difference. I found a thread on the 1911 Fourm . They bent the middle arm of the trigger spring using a spring scale to check the trigger pull.
You will have to to find the thread

[Harry Bonar]

Dear shooter:
Your 1911 trigger is far, far more involved than replacing the three leaf spring.
The left leaf presses on the sear only!
The center presses on the bottom of the disconnector and thus on the trigger bow!
The third leg takes care of the grip safety!
The "balance" between these three can be upset and be very dangetrous if not set correctly by someone who understands the action of them.
Yes, the trigger can bne eased up in weight of pull but please don't try this yourself unless you totally understand all the vagaries of this system!
Hope this saves some trouble.
Harry B.:)

[cntryboy1289]

I would take it to a smith and let him do a trigger job on it for you. There is a lot more to lightening the trigger than just bending the spring out. I would let a smith stone the hammer and sear and avoid bending or changing any springs.

[Lycanthrope]

You can buy a matched trigger/sear set from Dawson Precision and keep your old parts.

[DT Guy]

With a classic like that, I'm with Lycanthrope-keep whatever you do totally reversible...


Larry

[cntryboy1289]

A smith can do an excellent trigger job for you using the original parts. You don't have to change out parts to do a trigger job, although that is exactly what a lot of people do these days.

[XavierBreath]

It is possible for someone who has a little mechanical knowlege to do a decent trigger job. The first thing to do is reduce friction of the moving parts by cleaning, stoning and lubing them. This includes the trigger bow, the sear spring, and the small parts. If that does not get you where you want to be, then you can try adjusting spring tension of the sear and mainspring. Be aware that to light a mainspring can lead to light strikes, but I have never had a problem with an 18 pound mainspring in any of my guns for years of shooting. The sear spring can be tweaked, or you can purchase a Nowlin sear spring and get the same result.
Here's a page (http://www.blindhogg.com/gunsmith/triggerjob.html) that might help you out. Here's another. (http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/GunTech/NewsletterArchive.aspx?p=0&t=1&i=349)

[cntryboy1289]

I only use the spring to reduce the trigger pull down a liitle bit, like a few ounces, but no more than a 1/2 pound. If you want to reduce it more, either have a smith do it for you or learn to do it. Even swapping out parts is no gurantee that the pull will be reduced.

[doubleaes2]

I cant find any smiths around here. I am mechanically inclined, so I don't mind doing this myself, after the proper research. If I did change out parts, I would definately keep the old ones. I would like to stick with the original parts though. Thanks for all of the replies guys.

[cntryboy1289]

There are some videos out there as well as some other sites that will teach you how to do the trigger job on the 45ACP. I wouldn't hesitate to attempt it if you had the knowledge of how to do it and what you are looking for.

You will need to have the stones and a few other tools as well as a trigger pull gauge to use to check the pull with. I wouldn't recommend that you buy a stoning jig unless you plan to use it everyday, but they are available from MidwayUSA as well as Brownells.

Look at AGI for the videos, this is one I would recommend:


http://www.americangunsmith.com/view.php?id=21

they have several that deal with the 45ACP.

You might come over to :

http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?

On this forum, you can read all about how to build up a 45 ACP into a very good carry gun. Frank Roderous has recorded most of the things that he did when he built a pair of Siestmas into a pair of very good shooting carry guns. It details a "how to" on the trigger job as well. If you go there, look at Roderous Custom Guns and then find the Siestema project.

Good luck with it. You could change out the parts and get a decent trigger pull if you get lucky. A lot of the parts are custom cut using CNC, but that doesn't equate to great trigger pull all the time. Some will give a crisp pull, but a crisp pull isn't all there is to a good pull. Most of the time, you will end up having to do some stoning. You can try to play with the spring, but like I said earlier, I only try to get the spring to reduce the pull by 8 ounces or so.