WWII 1911 Trigger Work

[88E30M50]

Since today is Veteran's Day, I'm planning on taking one of my WWII 1911s out for a brief range trip. I typically run a couple of mags through this gun on either Memorial Day or Veteran's Day to celebrate the day. One of the WWII 1911s I have is a parts box gun that has an import mark etched lightly in the front strap. It's well pitted and has a nice patina, but the trigger is awful. The original barrel was heavily pitted, so I fit a new barrel for range days. To date, I've done nothing with the trigger but have toyed with cleaning it up a bit.

What is the INGO groupthink's opinion on the trigger? Should I pick up a new hammer, sear, disconnector and spring for shooting, while preserving the originals? Or, should I just lightly stone the hammer, disconnector and sear, adjust the spring to bring it back to where it was when it left the factory? Or, as a third option, should I just leave it be and live with a trigger that makes a Nagant feel smooth?

Replacement is the easy choice, but with the barrel already replaced, I don't feel like I'd be shooting the original gun if everything was replaced. I'm leaning towards the tuning option, but not with a goal of having a great trigger but instead, just trying to restore the original trigger feel somewhat. This is not a pristine gun and would be used as a door stop by a serious collector.

 

[AllenM]

Tune it

 

[88E30M50]

That's where I'm thinking I'll go.

 

[Drail]

I would replace every spring, the sear, hammer and thumb safety and give it a nice 4 lb trigger job. If the trigger is rattling around and it bugs you, that too. The original sear and disco may be usable, maybe not. The original "trigger feel" on a service pistol may have been pretty awful.

 

[88E30M50]

I'm going to start working the trigger on this tomorrow. I put a trigger pull gauge on it tonight and it came in right around 6 lbs with a lot of gravely creep. My goal is to keep it as original as possible, but also to make it a fun shooter. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Gluemanz28]

 

[Indycar:v1.1]

Find a local smith, handle and try a 1911 he's done and if you are happy with his work, discuss what you want done and find out his expectations and yours. If ypo are then satisfied, have him do a trigger job on it.

Never have a smith whose work you never seen IN PERSON work on your gun.

 

[churchmouse]

Call me and I will give you some new MIM pieces I have out of unfired guns that were up-graded right out of the box.
Save the original stuff just because.
I have all the bits you need.

 

[88E30M50]

Here you go:

 

[Drail]

Ohhh...... that is sweet.

 

[churchmouse]

Ohhh...... that is sweet.

Makes me all Giddy.....

 

[indyjohn]

Never thought I'd get to use this smiley.

 

[Mustang1911]

I'd probably take the original parts out and swap in some replacement parts to work on. Never know if you'd want to take it back ot original one day and I'm sure true untouched originals are getting harder and harder to come by. Of course that probably matters more if you're worried about resale/collector value on down the road. Either way cool old 1911!

 

[AllenM]

yea, I wouldnt change anything out. My guess, hammer hooks on that are close to.050 long. Take those down to.025 area polish the hooks and sear and I bet you would have what you are wanting

 

[88E30M50]

I disassembled the gun and things really don't look all that bad. I think it may just need a deep clean, a light stoning on a couple of surfaces and maybe a spring adjustment. I'll work on that and will let you all know what that brings the trigger down to.

 

[88E30M50]

Here's what I'm seeing on the hook / sear engagement.



Looks like it's a bit on the negative side, but the hooks only look to be about .030 in height.

Maybe a better shot:


MODS: Maybe it's time to move this to the gunsmithing thread.

 

[AllenM]

looks better then I would have expected. I like the magnified pic

 

[88E30M50]

That little optic you had impressed me enough to dig out an old 30X magnifier I used to use when I was an aircraft inspector years ago. I'm thinking of putting something together with a web cam so I can document the sear work on my laptop. That shot was done with an iPhone and the optic held in a vise. Low tech, huh.

 

[LARGrizzly]

View attachment 42818 View attachment 42819 Here are my favorite two old war horses. An all original 1911 manufactured in 1915, and a WWII Colt turned into a national match gun by Springfield Armory after the war.

 

[AllenM]

nice