I will now explain why I have not yet addressed mag wells and mag catches.
I am working at putting some of the trigger groups together and checking pull weight as 'dropped in. I have the Dawson Precision "Signature Series Super Trigger Group" for my Essential Arms lower. This you will recall is to be my 'back up' for my Para 9x23 Open division pistol. I bought the kit from Dawson at the 2004 USPSA open nationals. My health went south and it has not been installed yet (the trigger group).
For my 1911 it will get my picks from the section on "Hammer Group". The parts are:
Trigger- STI Titanium bow with carbon fiber shoe. They don't make it anymore. It was in Brownells #57 but not #60. STI no longer lists it. It weighs 47gr. Even lighter than the Dlask Ti/Mg 72gr trigger.
Hammer- Koenig Premium Match Low Mass Hammer
Sear- Extreme Engineering-Extreme Ultra Low Mass Sear
Disconnector- Extreme Engineering Extreme Race Disconnector
Hammer Strut-C&S Titanium
Mainspring Cap-C&S Titanium
Mainspring-ISMI 17# Chrome Silicon
Sear Spring- Infinity Triglide Titanium sear spring
Extreme Engineering makes many of the hammers, sears and disconnectors for Cylinder and Slide. C&S charges more.
I selected the Triglide titanium sear spring because it was the only one that said it could be used down to a 1.5# trigger pull. No other went lower than 2#. Most stated 3.5#
I want to assemble and test as many 'drop in' trigger/hammer groups as I can afford. I do not have a sales tax# so I must pay retail. I have found 6 groups I want to test but the parts cost over $1,000. I will buy one or two sets at a time, test them and then sell them to pay for the subsequent sets.
The groups are made by EGW, C&S, Nowlin, Pistol Dynamics (Paul Leibenberg),and Ed Brown (he does not have a kit but I will use his HARDCORE and PERFECTION parts.
Brazos makes a nice kit but it pretty much duplicates the C&S/Extreme Engineering parts.
You will notice I named 5 manufacturers, My selections make #6.
I had planned to include Burns Custom Pistols; he had an interesting hollowed out hammer in his set but now it looks like he went back to an ordinary Nastoff type Commander hammer. (no offense Steve. It was cool when you started it but now it is pretty much standard. Not a bad legacy.)
All sets will use a 17# ISMI chrome silicon mainspring, C&S titanium hammer strut, C&S TIN hammer and sear pins, BreakFree CLP lubrication and C&S sear spring unless they come with their own parts. For instance EGW includes a sear spring, Nowlin has a sear and mainspring (19.5#), Ed Brown includes Perfection hammer strut and a mainspring at 19#. Pistol Dynamics is complete. All will be retested with the 17# ISMI chrome silicon mainspring.
I will also test hammer/sear treatments. EG: STP, Trigger Slick, Brownells Action Magic II and others I or readers can find. Of course there will need to be a certain order so one treatment does not assist another ie; Action Magic II being applied, then adding Trigger Slick, etc. For consistency and to save me huge amounts of time all hammer/sear treatments will be tested on MY group.
All groups will be tested on my 1911 except of course the Dawson Precision I bought for my EA. A Brownells hammer stop block will be in place and trigger pulls tested with a Lyman Electronic Trigger Gauge. The Lyman electronic gauge uses strain gauge technology and is accurate to 1/10 of an ounce. All pulls will be the average of 5.
This is very time consuming and expensive. I will be selling some guns and parts to help finance it. Now for the pitch. If anyone would like to help, by buying a set and sending it to me, I will test it, include it in the article with a note of thanks to the web page member, and return it ASAP.
Right now, with 2 trigger groups, a trigger, small parts/pins, the hammer block and Lyman pull gauge I am in for approximately $562.77.
These 2 groups I will keep. All of the others I will sell, so if you like one of the groups and would like to help please contact me. If you are worried know this; the feds take interstate internet fraud seriously and I have no intention of having tax paid room and board.
Back to the trigger kits. In the EGW web page they state Mickey Fowler dropped in their Ultimate Trigger Group, tweaked the sear spring, and had a trigger pull less than 2#.
In Brownells catalog 2007-#2, they write that the C&S Ultra Lite set can give a 2# trigger pull "without shortening the hooks to less than 0.018".
Brownells again; Nowlin Speed Demon- 3.5# "these will exceed the demands of all styles of competitive shooting"
Ed Brown, in not having a 'drop in' kit, makes no claims.
Pistol Dynamics rates their Comp II Ignition System at 2.5-3.0#. This a very involved kit containing, hammer, sear, disconnector, hammer strut, hammer strut pin, sear spring, mainspring and firing pin spring.
I, in my infinite wisdom (tongue firmly in cheek), am quite sure that I know better than some of the best pistolsmiths in the world, and have selected the best parts that will give the lightest trigger pull, without doubling, while having no creep,grit or excessive overtravel. In any case, I will stand or fall based on my selections. Heck, without my cane I fall anyway.
I am hopeful that my group will produce a trigger pull of 1.4-1.8#. Doncha jus luv predikshuns!
