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1911 Tune Up to Lower Trigger Pull

Learn how to tune up your 1911 for a lower trigger pull. You can expect to lower .5 lbs with just some minor polishing of trigger components.

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Here I follow Nic Taylor’s guide to tuning up my 1911 for a lower trigger pull weight.  He’s a competitive shooter and creates awesome 1911 videos.  I started with a trigger pull of 5 lbs and just doing the following I dropped it down to 4.5 lbs.  In his video his drops 1 lb. Please read our disclaimer since this can damage your gun.
Polishing Compound, Sandpaper, Dremel Tool
Polishing Compound, Sandpaper, Dremel Tool
Nic explains and shows things far better than I could for this How-To, so I leave it to him for polishing the leaf spring, disconnector, and firing pin stop.  I’ll have my results after the clip: https://youtu.be/dpiMSZiutT0 Here is my finished leaf spring:
1911 Polished Sear Spring
1911 Polished Sear Spring
My disconnector:
1911 Polished Disconnector
1911 Polished Disconnector
1911 Polished Disconnector Top
1911 Polished Disconnector Top
And my firing pin stop:
Polished Firing Pin Stop
Polished Firing Pin Stop
Part 2 gets into polishing the trigger, hammer strut, and feed ramp. My resultant trigger:
1911 Polished Trigger Bow
1911 Polished Trigger Bow
Hammer strut:
1911 Polished Hammer
1911 Polished Hammer
And feed ramp:
1911 Polished Barrel Ramp
1911 Polished Barrel Ramp
I could already feel the difference after I put everything together, and my trigger pull gauge showed that I dropped 1/2 a lb of pull.  I brought my 1911 to the range and combined with breaking in the frame/slide, it felt like a totally different (and more expensive) gun.

Written By

Eric Hung

Eric Hung

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I'm Eric Hung, the founder of Pew Pew Tactical, and I love guns. For over 10 years I've been soaking up as much information as possible online, in competitions, classes, and from my own testing. Now I hope to bring that info to you! I've written over 250 articles on Pew Pew Tactical that are read by millions a month. I'm also an NRA certified pistol instructor and avid USPSA/3-Gun/NRL22 competitor. Learn more at About Us.

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Conversation

4 Comments

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  • 1
    well i am a 1911 guru, my first sami was a norinco 1911 45 i bought for IPSC comp., a friend of mine introdused me to 1911s and i was hooked, anyway he tought me all the ins and outs about 1911s, one of them was how to lower the trigger pull, do not to try to mess with the hammer and sear unless you have Powers polishing equipment, so all you need to do is polish the parts like mentioned above, replace the mainspring housing spring with a 23lb spring, the key is the leaf spring, looking down on it the leaf on the left is for tension on the trigger shoe it self, the middle leaf is for tension on the sear and hammer, that leaf is key to the desired trigger pull weight you want, another thing i have noticed is most factory hammer and sears are not good enough to have a trigger pull to 3 to 3.5 lbs. so i would suggest buying a match grade hammer and sear, i have them on all my 1911s, in competition my trigger pull was 2lbs, for carry it is 3lbs, 2lbs for carry is to light, possible AD, i have been trained by the professionals at STI, thank you David Kupp, Dave Dawson and Dave Skinner the owner, heck i even bought a 40 cal Edge from them, did some construction work for them for the Edge and the serial no. is victoria1, use to shoot with them. so this is what i do but i was trained by professionals so how do they say it, don't try this at home consult with a professional. my go to pistol is a P14 with a Caspian upper, every dynamic part on her has been meticulously polished and any sharp edges have been rounded over. i got the Edge only because i had bad tennis elbow from my Caspipara 45, then Dave said Victoria you need a 40cal Edge, so i got one and my tennis elbow went away, the only problem was the balance between the two were different and my scores started going down so i went back to my Caspipara, don't get me wrong the Edge is a great pistol. if i had it to do over again i would of bought a Para P16 which is 40 cal. i guess that's all folks... GODSPEED
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  • 1
    You could do all that, or, you could just get a 1911 with an adjustable trigger. My 10mm has an adjustable trigger, I can raise or lower the poundage with an allen wrench if I so desire, as is though, the factory trigger pull is perfect for me, I can deliver crisp, accurate follow up shots without any issue.
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    • Heavy10mm

      What kind of 10mm is it?
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      • ZeWeissAz

        The kind with an adjustable trigger.
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