Trigger Shoes for 1911's

Where can I find Trigger Shoes?, I have two that were made years ago but I can't remember the Brand Name. I like the feel of the shoe over the bare trigger because the hole in the face of the trigger for the over travel screw causes me discomfort. The two I have are made of steel and I would like to find some like them.

I'm betting you have Ace trigger shoes. There is someone here that makes them and i'm sure he will post in this thread.

That the name I've been racking my PEA-BRAIN to remember, getting old sucks.
ThanksRobert

Well I know where you can get a better than Ace shoe I make them! Look on ebay (don't buy) for custom trigger shoes My ID is Frank9647. Quite a few shooter love them and I've yet to have anyone complain. Not sure how to post photos here, last time I tried I got a message stating the file was too big.
 Look at Toney's Bullseye Blog, scroll back quite a bit to his Blog about items he found at Perry. They were also in last years March edition of the Shooting Sports USA digital magazine.
 I make them from Tool steel, Stainless Steel, Titanium (expensive) and the Favorite with most shooters is Aluminum Bronze, a very strong Bronze Alloy. I do not recommend Aluminum. I started making them for myself because I didn't like the Ace.
 If interested I sell you one here and save you 10% (ebay fee)

Ambidextrous?

Contact  our member Froneck he builds the best trigger shoes made today, he offers many sizes metals and even offsets. Dj precision sells a plain aluminum shoe that works well too but itd s one size fits all deal

james r chapman wrote:Ambidextrous?

Well They fit will either side. I normally make them so that when installed the screws are away form the hand side. Since I want as much finger area as possible I make the finger area as smooth as possible (buffed to mirror finish) I cut a radius on the hand side and a small radius on the other side so  there's no sharp edge but it will work ambidextrous. A right handed shooter at my club tried the center cut and the offset (offset has the trigger slot cut .015" off center) He said he liked the offset so I made him 4. Later seeing them on his gun he mounted them backwards, has the set screws on the hand side as well as the longer side of the offset. I told him he mounted them backwards, nope he liked them that way! 2600+ shooter so who am I to tell him he's wrong. So they will work from either side, However if requested I'll cut the same radius on both sides.
 The standard shoe is 17/32" wide (same as the Ace), the same height as the 1911 trigger less a few thousandths (not stubby like the Ace). No grooves, flat mirror finish. Aluminum Bronze is best! On my guns and most of the bullseye shooters at my club the Aluminum Bronze extra wide is preferred . I do have many different shoes in 2 types. One type will fit the solid trigger the other for the trigger with 3 holes. Gold Cup shoes are also available. For non bullseye shooters I make widths down to 7/16" Offset or center cut slot for the trigger with heavy web to add length as well as width and extra thin web to add as little length as possible yet provide width.

I shoot with one of Frank's. They are top shelf!

Joel

I've purchased from DJ Precision in the past. I found their products top drawer. http://www.djprecision.com/product/1911-products/1911-short-and-long-trigger-shoe

I also ordered one from Frank(Frank9647) on eBay. Fantastic product. It's amazing how much of a difference it made. I'll be ordering a few more in the future.

I also would like to endorse Frank's trigger shoes.    He is the only person who can make them truly custom for those of us with shorter reaches.  
    Frank's shoes are superior in every way to the aluminum ones, and he has bent over backwards to make sure they are exactly what I want.

For shooters with very short reach, do you machine off the existing trigger..??
You can accommodate some really small hands by doing so.. I machine all the triggers off flat to have a good solid base line to make the shoe thickness from. Several shooters have a number of shoes of various thickness to change out to suit the needs of a particular day..Hot/cold etc.

Most of my shoes will fit the short, medium and long triggers so that the trigger need not be modified. I make them with as mentioned a heavy web for those that want to add length and very thin web for those that do not want to add length but want width. If someone wants to send the trigger I can make it to anything they want. I have some very short shoes out there, much shorter that you would think possible.
 It requires the solid type trigger without holes and fitted in the gun. Scribe a line where the trigger is when the hammer is released so I know where it has to be. I then need the desired width, any offset desired and distance from the scribed line to the face of the shoe where the finger is placed. I don't recommend Aluminum! Blued tool steel is good, Stainless Steel is better and Aluminum Bronze is best.
 Thought I would describe the photo. It is of the 17/32" wide shoe that's for a solid trigger and has 2 setscrews, The finger surface is polished to a mirror finish. The mirror finish seems to make the pull feel lighter. The main reason I made the shoe was to make the pull feel lighter. Having a machine shop I can make the trigger pull length any length I wanted but adding width seemed to make the pull weight feel lighter. After a while guys at my club liked it and asked me to make them one. Aluminum Bronze a very strong Bronze Alloy and is very slippery! I think I drop every shoe 100 times before completing it! I really think that is why it makes the pull weight seem even lighter. So Mirror finish and Aluminum Bronze combination make a great trigger shoe! Most that get one eventually get more and put them on all their guns which makes more work for me fitting shoes to various ,22's

If you want to see one on a gun, here is mine.

If you plan on shooting with that shoe in the match Dave I would take it to the range and shoot a few rounds. Quite a few that put that Bronze shoe on said they had an early shot the first time they fired having the shoe on the trigger because it felt lighter.

Thanks for the picture, I'm looking forward to trying them. As I said before I have the Ace Shoes on both my .22 And .45 and like the feel, it does make the trigger seem lighter, so these wide ones should be even better.

Froneck wrote:
 I make them from Tool steel, Stainless Steel, Titanium (expensive) and the Favorite with most shooters is Aluminum Bronze, a very strong Bronze Alloy. I do not recommend Aluminum.

I'm curious as to why you do not recommend Aluminum ?

I would think that Tool Steel, SS and  Bronze Alloy would be heavy and possibly cause trigger reset problems with the added weight ?

In my mind Aluminum would cause the least problems with trigger reset (if that is in fact a problem at all).


Virgil

Virgil Kane wrote:
I'm curious as to why you do not recommend Aluminum ?
Virgil

Well, I didn't want to counter Frank's post, but I have never used anything other than 6061 Aluminum stock for shoes.
I do think that machining the existing trigger face flat and mating that to a light press fit, flat groove in the trigger shoe is superior to trying to mate two radii. It also establishes a definite zero from which to calculate distance, should future shoes be required. Every doctor has a different therapy..

I don't recommend Aluminum because it's soft. In the application Jerry described it's OK but when made like the Ace it will eventually fail. Being one of my backgrounds is Mechanical Engineering (I was never employed as a machinist always in engineering) Aluminum especially 6061 is soft and will creep. In time it will spread and require tightening. If I were to use Aluminum it would be 7075 the Alloy I make my scope bases from. Furthermore Aluminum will "rust" faster than steel. Aluminum Oxide will quickly form on the surface. However this oxide is very strong and grayish in color so it gives the aluminum a protective coating (BTW Grinding wheels are made from Aluminum Oxide) However to be completely protected it should be anodized. Black, Red, Blue and other colors are dyes used after anodizing and are not required for complete protection. Eventually unprotected will continue oxidizing and form that white powder everyone has seen. Another issue is that rubbing aluminum will put aluminum on the finger sort of gray color and supposedly not good for health. However my main reason is because it is so soft. Furthermore because of it's expansion rate the creep problem increases when used on steel triggers. This is one of the main reasons aluminum wire fails when connected electrically without the special connectors for aluminum.
 I agree Jerry's method is good for making shorter trigger pulls but the typical shoe up to a limit will allow the average shooter to widen their trigger by attaching a shoe  without the need of a smith. That's why I make different ones so as to lower the cost and offer free modification.

 As to making a very short trigger the photo is of one currently being used made of Stainless Steel but additional shoes are being made of Aluminum Bronze. As shown it's as far back as it will go in an unused Caspian Frame I have laying around with all the other needed parts to make 2 Bullseye pistol for myself. The trigger is solid Aluminum cut to match the frame radius. Installed in the shooters gun it has about 1/32"more than as seen between the shoe and the frame when the hammer falls. Width is a requested 10mm.

I just picked up a shoe from Froneck. It feels so smooth I had to weigh the trigger to make sure it still pulled 4 lbs on the ball (softball,EIC ?)gun. I guess were still calling them ball guns. Maybe EIC pistol should be the new term. Anyhow this is what it looks like.

That Aluminum Bronze will make the pull feel lighter! They are slippery buggers I drop each one at least 100 times while making it!!
 I'm glad you like it!

 Frank

Received mine from Frank last week.
Been dry firing a lot.
Feels fantastic.

Thanks;
Clarence

Frank, did my message get to you?
4 shoes. .180 dimension bronze

Got my 4 new shoes from Frank today.
Nice. Great service

I'm glad you like them, that wide surface polished to mirror finish will make the trigger pull feel lighter. I just added another type. Frank