lighter hammer spring for lighter trigger, 1911 ?

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SASS#23149

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Just took my Norinco 1911 apart for the 1st time, and got to thinking, .I know,I know...
anyway ,the slide is hard to manipulate and the trigger is HEAVY,and both can be attributed to a heavy hammer spring,I think.

I see that Brownell's sells reduced power hammer springs,and other sites say that it can reduce trigger pull by using them.

Has anyone here replaced their 1911 trigger spring, and did it help reduce trigger pull ?

thanks !
 
Yes it will reduce your trigger pull. Order some extra springs so you can fine tune by clipping a coil if possible and still getting reliable operation. Do a through check for free and easy movement of the trigger, sear and disconnector and pins.. I have had parts that hung up on the frame or tight or loose pins.
You might consider a lighter recoil spring after polishing the face of the hammer and the firing pin stop.
 
While you can get a very small reduction in trigger pull by using a reduced power mainspring, there are good reasons not to do that. The mainspring has far more to do with correct operation of the gun than just pushing the hammer. I am easily able to get a sub 4# trigger pull using a standard 23# mainspring, aka hammer spring.

The correct way to lighten the trigger is to first clean up the hammer and sear interface, stone the hammer hooks to no lower than .020", stone the front and back of the disconnector paddle, and do other general cleanup of burrs and roughness. Then, the big deal, tune the sear spring. Specifically the left and center legs. The center leg has to have enough tension to resist trigger bounce when dropping the slide with finger off the trigger, and the left (sear) leg can be lightened up to the point that it still provides tension to the sear throughout the sears range of operational motion. Under 2# is possible if everything else is done along with tuning the spring. 4#-5# should be doable even with just tuning the spring. Of course the quality of the pull won't be nearly as good as doing a proper trigger job. In fact creep and gritty feeling may become more apparent. As usual, when doing anything to the fire control parts, you must reverify correct safety function before you call it done.

If you are not comfortable, skilled, and/or equipped to do the other work you can still tune the sear spring and you will get more out of that than playing with a lighter mainspring. The 1911 forum will provide as much detail as you care to absorb on this subject and anything else 1911 specific that you care to know.
 
Not meaning any offense, but by the nature of the question I would suggest you not mess with any part of the FCG. It is dangerous by nature and in a 1911 each part must be fitted.

Now, for what you can try:

1. Buy a new Colt sear spring. No other brand. Colt.

2. Check you firing pin stop. These are sometimes replaced with square bottom versions which require more effort when manually racking the slide. I have included a picture of a radiused version which exerts force at a higher point on the hammer for better leverage (requiring less force).

3. Consider a lighter recoil spring, something in the 12-14 lb range. Ideally the rate will compliment the ammo.

There are far more things that can be done but barring a true pistolsmith I’d not recommend anything else.

FPS with bottom edge circled. The bevel allows the slide better leverage when cocking the hammer.
D673B746-4D3E-4FBF-98EC-D6277412CAF2.jpeg
 
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