Best method for polishing trigger(s)

[TrueBlue711]

Aside from getting new trigger parts or new trigger entirely, I know polishing your engagement areas in your trigger will help lower the pull weight. But I haven't seen any "best methods" to do that. What material do you use? Do you use a tool such as a dremel (with a cloth tip of some sort) to do it or by hand?

[T. O'Heir]

Polishing is not about reducing the trigger pull. It's about making the trigger smooth.
No Dremel(just a brand name like Kleenex. If attachments say Dremel on the package they just cost more.) or any rotary tools with grinding/stoning tools. A cloth wheel and jeweler's rouge is used for polishing. Low speeds. THOU SHALT WEAR EYE PROTECTION!
There's a bit of an art to it too. Starting with a light touch.

[Goatwhiskers]

Rotary grinding/polishing tools should be banned from the same room as firearms. For trigger polishing you are talking about smoothing the engagement surfaces. Use a fine small square stone, no oil, and be dang careful not to alter the engagement angles. Lots of good guns have been screwed up by Bubba. There are jigs available, particularly for handguns, that keep you from altering engagement angles, they can be critical. GW

[HiBC]

Think about what it is you are trying to achieve.

You have a sear with a face that was supposedly cut to a precise angle squarely across the sear.
Depending on the gun design,you may have a hammer notch,cut with similar precision in a machine.
These two surfaces should precisely mate across the width of the hammer and sear.
Do you,or OHeir,really believe you will "improve" surface finish by spinning some grit filled ball of rags over these surfaces?
What you must preserve is precise geometric form. Rags (buffs) don't do that.

Its done with precisely shaped hard stones. Generally ceramic,these days,though high grade hard Arkansas stones work well.

These stones are controlled for a square,straight stroke and precise angle by a sear jig.

I have these tools,and 20X magnification to set them up. I get my final "shine" off of a black Arkansas stone that is dressed true on a DMT diamond plate.
No rags,no felt,no Dremel. OK,I have been known to use an optical comparator and a surface grinder,too.

Rounding,eroding,washing out sear and notch geometry reduces engagement surface and tends to make dangerous triggers.
"Polished shiny" is ONLY beneficial when precise geometric form is maintained.
That is done with precise hard stones that are controlled ,not a formless buff held in the free hand

[Don Fischer]

For myself there is only one real way to polish trigger's. Take it to a good gunsmith!

[stangbangr]

Dremel with a cotton wheel and Flitz or Mother’s.

[Bill DeShivs]

Let me be gentle about this-
DO NOT USE DREMELS OR OTHER MOTORIZED TOOLS ON TRIGGER MECHANISMS!

[5whiskey]

Rotary grinding/polishing tools should be banned from the same room as firearms.

And here we go again... A rotary tool serves a valid use in gunsmithing. I've fashioned small parts here and there that would take forever with a file, and a bench grinder is too big to be of use. I've made sights, an ejector, a pawl for a revolver, and a few other things that I can't think of at the moment. I'm not independently wealthy, nor am I full-time machinist, so I don't have a CNC machine or the ability to MIM a part. So... I shape it by hand. A rotary tool is all but a necessity unless you want to spend hours/days with a file.

DO NOT USE DREMELS OR OTHER MOTORIZED TOOLS ON TRIGGER MECHANISMS!

This is good advice.

Aside from getting new trigger parts or new trigger entirely, I know polishing your engagement areas in your trigger will help lower the pull weight. But I haven't seen any "best methods" to do that. What material do you use?

If you like to tinker, proceed, but I will give you some advice. Take it or leave it. Engagement surfaces between the sear and hammer can be dangerous to alter. You can create a situation where the gun goes FA or fires without pulling the trigger if you get it wrong. If you want to try some light polishing, there are often many areas that will give dividends besides the sear/hammer hook engagement surface. Based off of the content and how you asked the question, I do not believe you are ready to attempt any alteration (however slight it may be) of the sear engagement. Other areas you can look into is the hammer strut (this often helps take out some stacking and "grittiness" in the trigger), the trigger bow (or connector if it is not a bow), the surface of any firing pin block that fits into the slide, the edges of any firing pin block that fits into the slide, the sides of the hammer that come into contact with the frame at it's pivot point, and even the sides of the actual trigger itself at it's pivot point (least likely to help anything IMO, but I've heard of it helping some hammer-fired designs). 1000 grit sandpaper is cheap and is an appropriate means to polish most of these surfaces.

I say this as someone who thought he was going to be a world class gunsmith 15-20 years ago and I jumped headfirst into a bunch of projects that... well... didn't turn out so great. I've had to replace a number of parts that I butchered in my younger days. So I'm not insulting you, I've been there.

[FrankenMauser]

Hard Arkansas Stones.
I use Nortons. They are far from cheap. And they'll shatter if dropped. But they'll also last a lifetime in the hands of someone that only does a little stoning every couple years.


As mentioned by others, a rotary tool can be useful for certain firearm-related tasks, but they don't belong near sear/trigger engagement surfaces that are intended to be kept safe and precise.