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I own a Para Stainless LTC, which just so happens to be my wife's favorite pistol in our gun safe. She says she's "one" with the pistol; and indeed, she does seem to shoot this one better than anything else. So I decided I'd semi-customize it for her. A few months back I installed a set of slim grips and a Wilson Combat 19# mainspring. Over this last weekend, I wanted to install an Ed Brown short trigger to complete the grip reduction process, and add a Wolff sear spring as a finishing touch. The weekend ended up being a lesson in futility.
The long story (skip below to cut to the chase)
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The trigger is semi-drop in. No problem, I can file (sort of)... and I did. I shaved the trigger height and even had to trim down the width a bit. It still wouldn't fit correctly, even though I could see light all around the trigger when viewed from the rear. Got out the calipers and discovered that the stirrup on the new trigger was about .007" too wide (height wise). Filed the forward portion of the stirrup down and got it to where the trigger would slide freely in and out of the frame under gravity alone. I admit it wasn't the best fit in the world (took too much off the sides), but honestly it wasn't all that bad.
So with the difficult part of the job out of the way, it's smooth sailing from there, right? I bevelled the bottom of the stirrup so the mags wouldn't catch when inserted, deburred, sanded, polished, and pretty much brought the entire trigger assembly to a shiny finish. I mean, I must have spent around (literally) eight hours this weekend working on that stupid trigger. I proudly reassembled the pistol, and then the bubble burst.
I barely managed to get the thumb safety in place, and its operation was rough. The trigger took an incredible amount of pressure to pull, was really gritty/jerky, and would not reset. Further, the grip safety wouldn't reset either. Everything was stuck. I disassembled the pistol again, pulled out the calipers one more time, and started measuring EVERYthing.
The short story:
---------------
It turns out the Ed Brown trigger's stirrup is about 1/16" longer than the Para's!
Well, 1/16" is also about the thickness of the stirrup, so there's no way I can even file it down to size otherwise there won't be a rear to the stirrup anymore. All that work for nothing.
So I'm at my wit's end. What are my options, folks? The way I figure it, I can either refit the grip safety, thumb safety, etc to the new trigger--which I do not want to do--or I can throw in the towel and admit defeat. I could try buying another brand of trigger, but I gotta believe that the 1911 master guru, Ed Brown, manufactures his triggers to spec and that it's my Para's trigger that is out-of-whack; so any quality trigger I purchase is going to be the same length as the Ed Brown and won't work in my pistol. I could cut out a small section of the stirrup and then weld it back together to shorten the length, but I have neither the tools nor skill level to attempt a precision job like that. I'm stumped, and leaning heavily toward admitting defeat. The wind has been taken out of my sails, as the analogy goes, and this post is a last-ditch effort for ideas to salvage the short trigger installation.
Oh, and the Wolff sear spring? It doesn't reach the sear leg! The description on the Brownell's website says, "Fits all 1911s," and the product packaging says, "Colt 1911/1911A1, Commander Officers series, MKIV, Defender, and most copies." Most copies... but apparently not mine. Again, I have to believe that a best-quality outfit like Wolff manufactures its springs to spec, so it's gotta be the Para that's out-of-whack again. At least I can return this part.
Overall, a very frustrating and depressing Easter weekend. [Ironically, it's also the best Easter I've had in a decade... didn't have to spend this one with my wife's family!
]
The long story (skip below to cut to the chase)
---------------------------------------------
The trigger is semi-drop in. No problem, I can file (sort of)... and I did. I shaved the trigger height and even had to trim down the width a bit. It still wouldn't fit correctly, even though I could see light all around the trigger when viewed from the rear. Got out the calipers and discovered that the stirrup on the new trigger was about .007" too wide (height wise). Filed the forward portion of the stirrup down and got it to where the trigger would slide freely in and out of the frame under gravity alone. I admit it wasn't the best fit in the world (took too much off the sides), but honestly it wasn't all that bad.
So with the difficult part of the job out of the way, it's smooth sailing from there, right? I bevelled the bottom of the stirrup so the mags wouldn't catch when inserted, deburred, sanded, polished, and pretty much brought the entire trigger assembly to a shiny finish. I mean, I must have spent around (literally) eight hours this weekend working on that stupid trigger. I proudly reassembled the pistol, and then the bubble burst.
I barely managed to get the thumb safety in place, and its operation was rough. The trigger took an incredible amount of pressure to pull, was really gritty/jerky, and would not reset. Further, the grip safety wouldn't reset either. Everything was stuck. I disassembled the pistol again, pulled out the calipers one more time, and started measuring EVERYthing.
The short story:
---------------
It turns out the Ed Brown trigger's stirrup is about 1/16" longer than the Para's!
Well, 1/16" is also about the thickness of the stirrup, so there's no way I can even file it down to size otherwise there won't be a rear to the stirrup anymore. All that work for nothing.So I'm at my wit's end. What are my options, folks? The way I figure it, I can either refit the grip safety, thumb safety, etc to the new trigger--which I do not want to do--or I can throw in the towel and admit defeat. I could try buying another brand of trigger, but I gotta believe that the 1911 master guru, Ed Brown, manufactures his triggers to spec and that it's my Para's trigger that is out-of-whack; so any quality trigger I purchase is going to be the same length as the Ed Brown and won't work in my pistol. I could cut out a small section of the stirrup and then weld it back together to shorten the length, but I have neither the tools nor skill level to attempt a precision job like that. I'm stumped, and leaning heavily toward admitting defeat. The wind has been taken out of my sails, as the analogy goes, and this post is a last-ditch effort for ideas to salvage the short trigger installation.
Oh, and the Wolff sear spring? It doesn't reach the sear leg! The description on the Brownell's website says, "Fits all 1911s," and the product packaging says, "Colt 1911/1911A1, Commander Officers series, MKIV, Defender, and most copies." Most copies... but apparently not mine. Again, I have to believe that a best-quality outfit like Wolff manufactures its springs to spec, so it's gotta be the Para that's out-of-whack again. At least I can return this part.
Overall, a very frustrating and depressing Easter weekend. [Ironically, it's also the best Easter I've had in a decade... didn't have to spend this one with my wife's family!
]
Yeah, the one saving grace that I have in all of this is that it was only a $20 part... and I used a gift card to boot. So at least I got off cheaply. [To be honest, I'm more upset about the time/effort I put into the project going to waste than I am about the price of the part.] I'll keep my fingers crossed, though, and hope this isn't the start of a big box of expensive 1911 parts that I destroy over the years. 
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