Could a worn out sear spring cause hammer follow on a 1911?

[The Wiry Irishman]

I've got a Kimber Custom II that I've turned into a dedicated .22 bullseye gun. About a year ago I took to a gunsmith who fitted EGW fire control parts and tuned them for beautiful 2.25 pound trigger pull. About a month and a half ago the hammer started dropping to half cock after almost every shot.

I figured it was a problem with sear/hammer engagment, so while I waited for when I had time to take it back to the gunsmith, I put the old stock Kimber hammer, sear, and disconnector back in the gun so I could keep shooting it.

On my last trip to the range, the hammer started dropping to half cock again with the old Kimber parts. I found this rather confusing, since no such issue occurred with the stock parts in ~6k rounds of .45 and ~5k rounds of .22 before the trigger job. I left the same sear spring in the gun when I switched the other parts, so I was wondering if that could be the issue. There's probably 20-30k rounds on the spring, all of it .22. Could this be the problem? If not, its something I won't be able to fix myself and it will need to go back to the gunsmith, but I'd still be interested in hearing what the possible problem could be.

 

[Old Fuff]

Uncle Sam's trigger pull specifications for a carry-around service pistol were 5 to 6 pounds. The bottom limit for target pistols is 4 pounds for service ammunition, and 3 1/2 pounds for powder-puff target loads. A 2 1/4 pound trigger pull will meet .22 pistol specifications, but .22 target pistols have trigger systens that are designed to work with 2 pound-plus pulls.

If you really have a 2 1/4 pound pull, it may be "beautiful," but if the sear/disconector/grip safety spring takes a set the hammer is very likely to follow down, and under some circumstances you might find you have an unexpected machine gun! If indeed the spring has taken a set returning the original parts will not necessarly cure the problem. Also to work, the safety lock (manual safety) requires a positive fit between the hammer hooks and sear nose that will stand up to a hard blow on the hammer spur.

If you are using this pistol as an understudy for a center-fire gun, it should have a trigger pull to match,

 

[EddieNFL]

Springs are like engine oil; they require frequent changing.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

Old Fuff - so are you saying a worn spring is the problem? And just FYI, I use the gun for bullseye competition, not as a training aid for my .45 1911.

 

[Old Fuff]

I use the gun for bullseye competition, not as a training aid for my .45 1911.

Yup, I was afraid of that…

You are corresponding with an old competitor that was shooting back in the days when the likes of Bill Blankenship, Bill McMillan, Jimmie Clark and Joe Benner were the top dogs.

Blankenship in particular taught me that it was a mistake to use an ultra-light trigger pull on the .22 pistol, because while you might get high scores in the small-bore match you’d ruin your scores in the center fire matches and mess up any chance of winning the aggregate. But that’s all another story.

The problem you are having, and will likely continue to have, is that the mechanics and design of the 1911 platform’s trigger system wasn’t designed for pulls in the 2 ½ pound range. Oh yes, of course it can be done, but you’ll always be on the fine edge between working and going out. I suspect that two things may be contributing to what's going wrong in your gun. For one thing during recoil the trigger may be bouncing against the disconector and cause the hammer to fall. If you must do what you are doing you should have a Colt Gold Cup sear & disconector system, not one of the kind used in a regular Government Model pistol. Also over time the sear/disconector/grip safety spring may take a set, and a 2 ¼ pound trigger pull leaves you no wiggle room, because as the spring relaxes the pull can drop as much as one pound, leaving you with next to nothing.

And to make things even worse, when the hammer follows down the sharp edges and corners on the sear can get ruined because of battering.

If you want the 1911 platform feel in a .22, you’d be much better off to turn to either a military model Hi Standard, or a S&W model 41, both of which have trigger systems designed to work at light poundage.

Never, ever did I see a top military or civilian winner using a .22 1911 pistol in any serious tournament.