What handguns, besides the 1911, use the 1911 trigger?

[Skribs]

I've often seen it said that the 1911 has the best trigger of any handgun. And while I've seen people ask "why?" (including myself) the answer has been explained logically and I've never heard anyone flat-out disagree. Which got me wondering...

1) Why do most handguns out there not use the 1911 style trigger?
2) What, besides the obvious (1911) uses a 1911-style trigger?

 

[BCRider]

There's actually two separate components that make up the nature of the 1911 trigger.

First of all the 1911 trigger uses a shoe attached directly to a sliding bow to connect to the sear. So the motion of the trigger is a direct back sliding motion instead of a hinged one.

Second is that the 1911 is a single action so there's no long takeup travel needed to accomadate the length of trigger travel needed for a striker gun or for a DA/SA style gun.

Now I don't know a lot about the really rare guns but two that come to mind which share both the direct sliding bow design and the single action workings are the Tokarev and the original 1903 Colt which in many ways was the precursor to the 1911. There's likely others out there but these are the only two I know of personally.

Because of how they work I'd be surprised to find someone making a direct shoe to bow DA/SA but I could be wrong. On the other hand there's lots of hinging single action examples.

Much of the feel of the 1911 trigger comes from the simple fact that it IS a single action and so it can be tuned for very little travel to where it allmost feels like a microswitch. But in reality a single action with a hinged trigger can achieve the same feel. I've shot a couple of competition SA semis that have hinged triggers that felt every bit as nice as a nicely tuned 1911. So a really fine trigger does not have to be a 1911 style design.

 

[Skribs]

I am specifically referring to the sliding bow. Whether it's SA, DA/SA, DAO, or SFA.

 

[BCRider]

Well, your first question "1) Why do most handguns out there not use the 1911 style trigger?" is what led me to the discussion of the feel and action styles.

The point is that it doesn't need to be a 1911 sliding bow style trigger to have a nice trigger action. And my second point was that I feel that most of the reputation of the 1911's trigger feel stems more from it being a single action than due to the sliding bow style trigger. For example Brownings later High Power, which is a single action, has a hinged trigger shoe. And many report that it has a wonderful trigger.

 

[rellascout]

The point is that it doesn't need to be a 1911 sliding bow style trigger to have a nice trigger action. And my second point was that I feel that most of the reputation of the 1911's trigger feel stems more from it being a single action than due to the sliding bow style trigger. For example Brownings later High Power, which is a single action, has a hinged trigger shoe. And many report that it has a wonderful trigger.

I love the BHP and am a huge 1911 fan and I do not consider the BHP in the same class as the 1911 in terms of trigger.

The out of the box trigger on a BHP is inconsistent. It can be improved but it is not a 1911. Even a low end RIA 1911 right out of the box is on par with the nicely tuned BHP.

It is not just the SA action which makes the 1911 trigger what it is.

 

[scramasax]

The other guns that I have seen using the 1911 style trigger have all been 1911 copies or knock offs. There are a few vaiations. The Obregon comes to mind. I know there are probably a couple of others that I just cann't remember from my reading. I'm sure given time someone else will think of one or two.

Cheers,

ts

 

[Skribs]

The main point of asking was to figure out why virtually nobody since the 1911 has used the sliding bow instead of the hinged trigger, unless they're doing a 1911 clone.

I guess I should have asked - what is the advantage of a hinged trigger over the sliding bow?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

the 1911 trigger uses a shoe attached directly to a sliding bow to connect to the sear

The sliding bow doesn't touch the sear. It cams the disconnector up, and the disconnector trips the sear.