1911 triggers

Status
Not open for further replies.
5

51Cards

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
554
I'm looking for a "medium" trigger for a Colt Defender --- but I can't seem to find any sites that actually give dimensions. (A "short" (C&S) is too short, the "factory" one is too long.)

Short of getting a "gunsmith blank," carving it, and getting it grooved --- any ideas?
 
Been there ... and Chip, C&S, Brown, Nowlin, Wilson, Numrich --- but no trigger-pad to back-of-trigger dimensions. I've got some emails out, but I'm surprised no one has actual dimensions or dimensional drawings.

Man, it's like buying shoes online ...
 
Been there...sometimes, I feel like Goldilocks on my perpetual quest for the right parts :rolleyes:
I feel for you my brother!
 
I seem to reall reading somewhere that (I think it was WWI) half the guys thought the trigger was too long, half too short.

I mean, that one dimension would make life so much simpler. What's with those guys?
 
hi 51,, i have the same problem as you short is a little to short and long is a little to long,,

a while back i took the plunge and put a med. length Greider trigger in my commander,,,,,,Brownells prt. no. 377-000-003,,, i like it,,,, says it is 2 1/8" long,,it has a solid pad so i guess you could trim it a little if you needed to,,,, says the short one is 2" long ,,, and the long one is 2 1/4" long

hope this helps some

ocharry
 
Just heard from Wilson Combat. Very helpful, rapid response.

This is what they had to say:

"I measured the width of three "never installed" trigger pads, the
standard #190 trigger measures .485", the medium #190M measures .400"
and the short #190S measures .310". The standard #190 trigger installed
in a pistol frame measures .425". That is a difference of .060". If
you subtract the difference from the medium and the short trigger, you
will get a rough idea how long the short and medium trigger will be in a
pistol."

My C&S "Short" measures .310" from the pad front to the back surface of the trigger block (where it meets the bow). The visible part of the original Defender trigger is .475", (I'm not disassembling it again until I get a new trigger) so it's probablyin the .485" class.

I think I'm going with the Wilson #190M (.400").

Yippee. More parts.
 
ocharry ---

Thanks! Just got off the phone with Wilson. The fellow who emailed me actually put a caliper on all of them. I asked why no one publishes that one little dimension, and he said that each trigger will fit each gun differently. Well, of course, since frames can vary. But the position of the bow won't vary in your gun. Which means that all you should have to do is measure the bow-to-pad face on yours, and compare it to a new one. Which should give a relative measure.

Now that I think I have a definitive answer, maybe we'll start seeing some dimensions in the catalog listings. Judging from the conversation this AM, the Wilson folks sounded like they thought it might be a good idea. :)

And ... no one else tried. :(
 
51,, you got me curios so i went in to the parts drawer and measured the original trigger i took out of my commander,,,,it measured 2.040 from the back of the bow to the hollow of the pad

i can't measure the Greider trigger with out taking the gun down(didn't think of doing that before i put it in) but if i use Greider's dimension of 2.125 for the med. trig. that is .085 diff.(don't know how they measured the thing)

i used that short trigger for a long time,,, but now after giving this a get used to time i like it purty good

my TRP has a long trigger in it and i think i am going to change it just to get similar trigger lengths on the two carry guns,,,,and if the solid trigger is a little different from gun to gun i could shave some off the one that is the longest to make them the same...

also i measured the distance of the Greider trigger from the frame to the hollow of the bow in the colt and it was .348

just some thoughts,,, good luck on your quest

ocharry
 
It just seems easier to measure the "thickness" of the pad.

What got me started is that I think, with the short trigger, I'm "clamping" onto it and messing myself up. I'm sure there are folks out there with first-basemen's mitts for hands, but I'm not one of em. :D A lightweight micro .45 feels like it should come with a seatbelt. This is the only one I have trouble with, sometimes, so I figured a longer reach will get me back on the bottom three finger grip. Magazine/extractor/ejector/ghost-o'-Browning issues aside, a couple of guys with bigger mitts seem to have fewer last-round stovepipes. My quest is to eliminate them. I think a better hand fit will help.
 
It's funny how much variance there is in hand sizes. I don't have exceptionally large hands, and yet, I can reach the front of the trigger guard just as easily as I can the trigger itself. Other folks talk about not being able to get on even a short trigger. Hard for me to imagine, really.

~~~Mat
 
Joe --- thanks. Those are beautiful! Also, er, p-r-i-c-e-y ... ! I've seen some ball bearing triggers, but the extra parts bother me. I'm not a match-grade shooter --- just a pretty decent shooter with a short index finger :eek:

Mat --- it has to be the mechanics of the hand as well as the size. My wife is a little bitty lady, but she can actually get her finger on the Defender's stock trigger, with a pretty comfortable grip to spare.
 
Wilson #190M, perfect. Plenty of extra metal on the pad, too. Took longer to fit, but worth it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top