1911 Trigger

D

Dis-1-Shooter

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I have a Kimber Ultra Compact 1911 with a stock trigger of 3.5 lbs. What is the lowest trigger weight that the factory trigger can be adjusted to without causing function issues. Was thinking about a 2.5 lb trigger pull weight, is this possible.

Thanks
 
trigger pull

yes 2.5 is possbile but generally not wanted on a carry weapon.. you can get to 3lbs easily by reducing the pressure of the middle finger of the sear spring or installing a lighter main spring in the weapon..

anything else requires someone that knows what they are doing....

if you aren't familiar with 1911 have a smith do it for you...
 
Even three pounds can mess you up, depending on the mass of the trigger. That's why 3.5 lb. was chosen to be as low as a bullseye wadgun trigger can be set and still be competition legal. These days, with lighter skeletonized aluminum triggers with titanium bows or the composite triggers, more people can get below 3.5 lbs and still be safe than used to be the case.

I do a simple safety check. I pack a short piece of soldering wire into the halfcock notch on the hammer to protect the sear nose. With the slide back in counterbattery and the magazine removed, I balance the gun muzzle up by grasping it between my thumb and index finger at the bottom rear corner of the grip frame (over the mainspring housing retaining pin). With the other hand making minimum necessary contact with the frame, I depress the slide release. If the slide slams home without the hammer following or dropping to half cock, and you can do it ten times without failure, then the trigger is safe.

If your gun won't pass that test, you risk having it go off when you depress the slide release to chamber a round. Don't ask how I know? Let's just say that trigger work is a learning process best done with the muzzle pointing downrange (which it was). With such a gun you have the added burden of remembering always to press the trigger while operating the slide release so the disconnector can't come up in front of the sear. It's not a bad habit to cultivate, but can cause conflict with Rule Three, which is more important to cultivate, IMHO.

Also, with a two-stage trigger, there is an alternative to improving trigger feel without lightening it and making the gun dangerous. That is to increase the portion of the total trigger drop weight that is in the first stage, while lowering that in the second stage. Because nerve ending sensitivity is logarithmic, breaking the shot with the last third of the total trigger release weight makes the trigger feel significantly lighter than having half the required force remaining when you get to the second stage. Obviously the sear and hammer engagement have to be properly shaped and stoned and the left leaf of the leaf spring has to be properly tensioned for this to work.
 
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I've found that I grip my compact pistol tighter than larger, heavier guns, and so I like the trigger pull weight to be a little heavier, too. My 5" guns are all in the 3.25#-3.75# range, but the compact is 4#. Keeping the trigger finger "disconnected" from the rest of the hand it tough enough, but wrestling a sub-compact pistol while trying to keep a feathery 2.5# of pressure on the trigger? I usually tweak my sear spring so that I get a half-pound of pressure on the disconnector/trigger, and a half-pound on the sear, and that usually results in a ~3.5# trigger (stock components). I don't know that you can go much lower than that without messing with the hammer hook depth, sear angle, etc., and then you can start running into issues with hammer follow, etc., as noted above.
 
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