New BHP Impressions

T

Tom B

New member
My new BHP (polished blue-adj sights-walnut grips) has been to the range twice now. About 300rds thru it 124gr FMJ and JHP+P without a bobble. Accuracy is quite good limited only by the stock trigger. BHP owners did you find that the trigger will smooth out with use?
 
Sorry, the trigger won't improve much if at all. I had a smith take the mag safety off which improves it about 50%. He also did some light stoning and it's now a fairly crisp 4lb. It will never be as good as a 1911 but it's close.
 
There are four things you can do to improve your trigger pull. First and second, buy a new sear and sear lever from various sources. You see, the sear lever has a raised surfaced on it that activates the sear, which also has a raised surface. These surfaces will vary depending on manufacturing tolerences. You need to find the right combination. You'll be surprised how sweet the trigger can be even with the mag safety intact. Thirdly, you can order a special sear lever from Cylinde and Slide. Theirs already has the raised surface set higher. And finally, you remove the mag safety. This will lighten your pull, but make your trigger mushy. You'll need to replace the spring with an extra power one from Wollf. Go to www.fnhipower for more help.
 
You know, half the battle with the forces of evil is semantics. Nowhere in my owners manual does it mention a "magazine safety." It does mention a "magazine disconnect." Perhaps we would have less problems with a litigous society if we all decided not to use the terms of the enemy.

Off my soapbox,

Scott
 
Aheeem... You must remove the "Magazine Disconnect" by driving out that pin that holds it in and then removing the crap that some lawyer put in a John Browning concept. Don't get on me about this one, I don't think Mr. Browning intended any gun to have a magazine 'disconnect' in it.
 
Sorry--I think this was NOT one of the foul lawyerly stunts.

I believe the magazine disconnect on the 1935 Prowning was put in at the insistance of a military customer, and it just kind of stayed, because it IS so easy to disconnect the disconnect "safety." Somewhere in one of my parts boxes I have three or four of the lil' rascals I've taken out over the years--or had others remove for me before I learned how easy it is.

Best,
Johnny

------------------
---The Second Amendment ensures the rest of the Bill of Rights---
 
It is possible to get a good trigger with the existing hammer and sear. I recently acquired two HPs one is a '78 model the other is a '63. The sear and hammer hook angles are very critical on HPs. I have left the '63 model stock as I plan on selling it. The newer one has a nice 3 1/2 lb. pull now. One thing you must watch is the amount of engagement between the sear and hammer. Some HPs have a sloppy thumb safety to sear fit. If this fit is too loose the hammer will follow if you squeeze the trigger with the safety on, then release the safety.
 
It is also possible to get a good trigger while leaving the magazine disconnect in. I discovered this when I started using magazines from different manufacturers in my FEG BHP clone. With some mags, trigger was nice. With others, gritty. Depends on the finish of the magazine, where the magazine disconnect contacts it. I got out the ol' Dremel and polished the "gritty mags" magazine disconnect area, and now have a nice trigger with all my mags. I'd estimate it at 4-5lbs (sorry, no scale) with very little creep. I feel no need for a trigger job.
 
My BHP's have had the archaic magazine disconnects removed to bring them up to the standards of many high-quality modern pistols, which lack this infernal device. ;)

Trigger pull is reasonably crisp for a service pistol; the only thing I can fault is the LONG reconnect distance. I understand Cylinder & Slide can shorten this on *some* variations of the BHP.
 
Alpha Precision did a great trigger job on my other BHP 9mm without removing the mag safety. He says he can do them on the 9mm but not very well on the 40cal BHP. I am gunshy now on BHP trigger jobs. My last 9mm BHP I had a well known BHP specialist gunsmith do a trigger job. Afterwards I started having occasional lite primer strikes. It went back to the gunsmith several times and I even replaced the hammer spring with a Wolff+ spring but reliability was still spotty and I finally got rid of it. Now I don't want to have the trigger worked on unless absolutely nessasary.
 
Tom B, some 'smiths replace the stock hammer spring with a lighter one, but forget to replace the firing pin spring with a lighter one also. The stock spring is way too heavy in most HPs. A shortened 1911 hammer spring works well in the HP.
 
Greetings All-

TomB.; My "Practical Model" BHP may be one of
a kind; cuz the trigger pull seems to be getting better with age. :) :D

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member
 
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