Inconsistent trigger pull 1911

[TNP]

Hey guys I recently purchased a Rock Island G.I. from a fellow calgunner. He made a few mods to the gun such as adding a wilson combat beavertail and skeletonized hammer. He also added an Ed Videcki Match grade trigger. Now after getting it out of jail I've dry fired the gun, and through feel suspect that it varies from a buttery 2.5 pound trigger pull to a stiff 7 pound trigger pull. Me and my gf have recently bought $250 worth of .45acp and I'd like to sort out the trigger before we start burning through our ammo Can any of you 1911 guru's give me some advice that can help remedy this inconsistent trigger? Thanks a ton!

[ojisan]

Sounds like you need some minor fitting and polishing to the internals done.
My first guess is that the grooves in the frame that the trigger bow rides in are rough or have burrs or crud in them.

Your location?

[redcliff]

Hard to tell without examining it.

It could be the hammer hooks aren't engaging the sear properly, a sear spring problem with it's engagement to the disconnector or sear, the grip safety might be blocking the trigger partially when it shouldn't; a burr in the trigger shoe or trigger bow slot, a problem with the overtravel screw/magazine release or binding between the trigger bow and magazine if one is in the pistol while testing the pull.

Be sure to do the 1911 function tests to make sure it's safe! http://www.m1911.org/technic25.htm

iaoj

[TNP]

I'm located in Sacramento. After further review, the trigger is wildly inconsistent going from stiff to pretty much squeezing as hard as you can to drop the hammer. Should I just take it to the range and see if the parts just need mating? The previous owner said he'd only shot about 100 rounds through it, so it might not be broken in yet.

[Gutz]

Take it apart and clean the crap out of it? Only 100 rounds though, so it shouldn't be that bad. Shoot it at the range, see what happens after.

[TNP]

I cleaned everything except the trigger assembly last night, it was filthy.

[redcliff]

I'm located in Sacramento. After further review, the trigger is wildly inconsistent going from stiff to pretty much squeezing as hard as you can to drop the hammer. Should I just take it to the range and see if the parts just need mating? The previous owner said he'd only shot about 100 rounds through it, so it might not be broken in yet.

Not really no. At a minimum you should do the function tests I linked to make sure it's safe to fire if you insist on shooting it. The function tests might help identify the problem area also. Your pistol has had three major parts changed that we know of, so the problem could be anywhere. There really are no drop in parts on 1911's; almost all will need knowledgeable fitting.

It really needs to be detail stripped and examined carefully. It sounds like you're not too familiar with 1911's yet so you may want to find a competetent 1911 smith to look it over and resolve the issue.

[new1911]

1911forum.c

tons of smiths there with a wealth of knowledge.

[TNP]

@redcliff I did the function tests you provided and the gun passed. Throughout the function test the trigger showed the same inconsistent resistance.

[redcliff]

@redcliff I did the function tests you provided and the gun passed. Throughout the function test the trigger showed the same inconsistent resistance.

Good that you did the tests, thank you. Do you know how to detail strip a 1911? It's a bit involved so I don't want to get you in over your head. And even if you do detail strip it you need to understand some of the relationships in order to diagnose the exact problem.

If you have the proper allen wrench try loosening up your trigger overtravel adjustment screw a couple turns and see if that makes a difference. You can also try removing the thumb safety and see if you have a problem due to a change in the sear position from the new hammer/trigger.

Trying to give you the easier things to check if you want to do it yourself, but I still recommend taking it to a pistolsmith.

[9mmepiphany]

I'm located in Sacramento. After further review, the trigger is wildly inconsistent going from stiff to pretty much squeezing as hard as you can to drop the hammer. Should I just take it to the range and see if the parts just need mating? The previous owner said he'd only shot about 100 rounds through it, so it might not be broken in yet.

That does sounds like they didn't have the hammer and sear engagement fitted when they replaced the hammer.

At first I thought it was a incorrectly functioning grip safety or varying pressure on it...not so much anymore.

As redcliff has already suggested, your best bet is to find a gunsmith to look at it for you. I'd offer a recommendation, but all the local 1911 pistolsmiths that I trusted moved out of town

[CrippledPidgeon]

Hey guys I recently purchased a Rock Island G.I. from a fellow calgunner. He made a few mods to the gun such as adding a wilson combat beavertail and skeletonized hammer. He also added an Ed Videcki Match grade trigger. Now after getting it out of jail I've dry fired the gun, and through feel suspect that it varies from a buttery 2.5 pound trigger pull to a stiff 7 pound trigger pull. Me and my gf have recently bought $250 worth of .45acp and I'd like to sort out the trigger before we start burning through our ammo Can any of you 1911 guru's give me some advice that can help remedy this inconsistent trigger? Thanks a ton!

Did he say that he did the mods himself, or did he have a smith do the mods for him?

Either he swapped parts without knowing enough to do it well, or he chose a really really bad smith.

In any rate, it's probably not a problem that will "just go away" after a while. It's probably indicative of tolerances not stacking properly, and you'll want a pro to sort it out for you.

[redcliff]

That does sounds like they didn't have the hammer and sear engagement fitted when they replaced the hammer.

At first I thought it was a incorrectly functioning grip safety or varying pressure on it...not so much anymore.
As redcliff has already suggested, your best bet is to find a gunsmith to look at it for you. I'd offer a recommendation, but all the local 1911 pistolsmiths that I trusted moved out of town

That was my initial thought too; that the new grip safety wasn't clearing the trigger bow properly while depressed. The other possible problem that jumps out at me is insufficient overtravel on the new trigger and the sear is being moved just barely enough to release which is why I suggested loosening the overtravel screw.

My InTeRwEbZ Gunsmithing Ouija Board has gone about as far as it can without more feedback.

[Press Check]

That was my initial thought too; that the new grip safety wasn't clearing the trigger bow properly while depressed.

First thing I thought as well; the arm of the grip safety is too long and impeding upon the triggers rearward travel.

OP, do you feel pressure against the BT just prior to the break? The varying degrees of pull could be based on how tight your grip on the pistol is, assuming that the arm is in fact too long and needs to be relieved.

[alex45auto]

What's a 1911. You should sell it.