Finally Got A Range Officer!

First impressions of this gun out of the box new - they give you a lot of stuff! I got a plastic holster, a plastic dual mag pouch or holder, two mags, a cleaning brush, two different size Allen wrenches, keys for that safety lock in the main spring housing, take down pin for use in the mainspring housing, and a ton of brightly printed fancy flyers and advertisements. I received a coupon, that if I fill out the required information, and send it in with a photo copy of my purchase receipt, then Springfield Armory will send me two more new mags, another dual mag pouch or holder, and SA branded range bag for FREE! Right off the bat - you get TONS of stuff. A lot of bang for buck here and I haven't even gotten to the gun. Granted the mag holders and holster are useless to me but to have four mags, and a range bag - that's pretty cool. 

The gun is tight as a drum. In battery and cocked the barrel hood is rock solid, the barrel has no play in the bushing, and there is very little play in the slide to frame fit. In fact, getting the slide back on the gun is a little tricky because they're so close together. I took the barrel bushing out and by hand you can do it but id love a wrench. It measured inside diameter of .5815. The outside diameter of the barrel was .5810. I'm no expert but to me that seems pretty much well fitted and probably couldn't get any better. 

The trigger was not overly heavy but could stand to be lighter tripping at 5.25 pounds. The trigger had a clean snap or break to it but if pressure was applied slowly you could feel the rigger move then stop, then move some more. Grit perhaps? A bur maybe? After full disassembly and inspection I found the trigger bow to be relatively smooth but could be better, and a bur on the back side of the bow. So with a ceramic stone and glitz I polished up the trigger bow. 

Putting just the trigger back in the frame and applying forward pressure with one finger, with another I pulled back on the trigger and still felt some grit. Looking at the top and bottom of the trigger itself I saw it was rough as all get out! Lines like a heavy file or cutter where very present and noticeable. I polished out that and tested again this time to feel a nice smooth pull with no resistance or grit. I also polished the face of the disconnector that rides against the trigger bow. I believe more could be done but this work alone cleaned up my trigger pull and dropped it half a pound. After tweaking the springs a little I got it down to 4 pounds. I'd like it just a little closer to 3.5 but I'm just gonna leave it for now and shoot it as is to get acquainted. I did set the over travel screw up too but that's all. I did all this last night after buying the gun. Today will be first firing. 

By the way the revolver in the back of the box is a S&W M17 (K22) not a center fire gun in case anyone was wondering.

Nice looking setup. Now go make that RO work for you. And if you don't have one already be sure to get a clamp to hold the lid up.(or 2)

Len

Congrats on the gun.

When I got mine a few months ago, Midway had a sale of the factory Springfield magazines. I gota few of them cheaper there even with shipping than through the coupon. Those factory mags have been 100% reliable through about 1000rds so far.

So ... Problems.... I tweaked the sear and disconnect spring legs to reduce poundage on the trigger. Got it at 4lbs or there abouts. I only have a spring loaded trigger gauge and I suspect it's not exactly accurate. Probably 4 to 4.25. But any way, the trigger was great! Smooth, crisp. But after my first shooting session when I was putting the gun up I dropped the slide with the slide release and the hammer followed the slide stopping at half cocked. Empty chamber no mag. But it never happened with Ammo. I did some reading and supposedly I really shouldn't drop the slide on an empty chamber. Any ideas?

I did not touch or do any work to the sear or hammer.

Stock gun (untouched parts) shouldn't fall to half cock. Your springs aren't applying proper pressure. You need approx 2# on venter leaf of spring. To check this remove grip safety and allow hammer strut to rest out of frame. With mainspring housing in test trigger weight. It will only be pressing center leaf. Make it 2#. Adjust left leaf until pulling 4# when reassembled.
Jon

I brought my 9mm RO down to 2 1/2 lbs but the hammer fell to half cock when I dropped the slide. I didn't like that so I took it to a real GS to let him do it. A hundred dollars later I got a really nice trigger and some new parts inside. When I picked it up he cautioned me to not let the slide drop when empty because it would drop to half cock. Hmmm. I will probably tweek the middle leaf a little bit. It will increase my pull but I really don't like the hammer following the slide.

Len

YJon Eulette wrote:Stock gun (untouched parts) shouldn't fall to half cock. Your springs aren't applying proper pressure. You need approx 2# on venter leaf of spring. To check this remove grip safety and allow hammer strut to rest out of frame. With mainspring housing in test trigger weight. It will only be pressing center leaf. Make it 2#. Adjust left leaf until pulling 4# when reassembled.
Jon

I'm sorry I tried to follow but didn't understand completely...

Typing on phone.....hammer needs to be free from mainspring when testing center leaf weight. Could take hammer out of pistol. Put sear spring in frame (sear and disconnector in) slide in mainspring housing. Check weight of pressure on trigger. Should take 2# to push sear/disconnector back. Adjust if necessary. Now reassemble pistol and adjust left sear leaf until you have 4# pull on trigger.
Jon

Gotchya - thanks.

If you Google brownells 1911 trigger job, you will get a page that has pictures explaining what Jon is talking about. Very helpful page. Not sure if it'll work, but here is the link.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/learn/learndetail.aspx?lid=10297

Weigand's  2 1/2lb  trigger pull does work. I use it on my Nelson conversion without any issue.

jglenn21 wrote:Weigand's  2 1/2lb  trigger pull does work. I use it on my Nelson conversion without any issue.

I tried the 2.5 pound trigger by Weigand. I have a power custom sear jig, just like instructions, of course I tried to get the springs right for a 4 pound trigger pull. The hammer doesn't want to follow with snap caps, and a mag. Empty mag, still no follow. No mag, empty chamber, the hammer follows. No mag, empty chamber, but holding the trigger forward - hammer stays put. So the trigger is "bouncing" I think from force of the slide slamming forward. Now I understand I shouldn't drop the slide on an empty chamber but just to test and see if it holds - and the hammer DOESNT hold... Makes me nervous. Could the sear be too short?

I personally don't worry if the hammer follows on an Empty chamber... it beats the sear nose pretty good so I avoid it. As long as the pistol Never follows on a live magazine feed round I feel it is safe..

When I first got into BE the rule was to always hold the hammer when loading the first round from a mag... I don't see this as much these days
 on the range.. Better Jigs and processes I guess.. I still hold the hammer on my old Clark long slide just because ..

I too have used the power jig for many years as I have both a 41 and a high standard so the jig allows me to work on many pistols... I have recently moved to the TR jig for all my  home built 1911s. With the Power jig I find the "normal" setup for the 1911 sear to be just fine for any pistol using a 3 1/2lb trigger and above. Typically my hammer hooks are set at .018 for BE guns and .020 for carry 

Just my experience