Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom S.
99.999% of firearms owned by civilians will never be used in a life and death fight so your analogy really has no bearing here. What makes it unreasonable to be concerned about a bad trigger? When self cocking firearms were first introduced, they were notorious for having atrocious triggers but nowadays, manufacturers who turn out pistols with gritty, rough, long take up triggers with inconsistent pull are either lazy or sloppy and don't deserve our business. Why should I have to dry fire a gun 100 or 500 times to wear in parts that should have been properly designed, manufactured and fitted in the first place? I can remember a time when people bought Colt 1911's knowing they were going to have to work on them. In fact, many went straight to gunsmiths without the buyer ever having fired them. I thought it was unacceptable then and is unacceptable now.
Accepting a firearm with a bad trigger is like accepting a new car with a rod knock.
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Triggers need break-in because components are mass produced in highly automated fashion, and most customers would not be willing to pay for hand polishing. Since S&W sells revolvers with and without PC tuned actions (they just stone/polish the sears in a jig and put in a lighter rebound spring), they have a very good idea of how many people are willing to pay an extra $1-200.
My father told me about sending Colt 1911s to gunsmiths right after buying them. They worked fine out of the box if you just wanted a defensive handgun, but he did it to improve them for competition. Of course, there were also some gunsmiths that went a little too aggressively on the stoning and made guns that would sometimes go bang when the slides were racked.
A lot of people don't realize/appreciate that aftermarket and modified trigger components are not meeting the safety, mass market, and duty market demands of factory triggers. With service pistols like the M&P, a lot of agency buyers will insist on >5lb triggers, at least when new.
Oh, that out of the box CZ Shadow 2 3.5lb SA trigger wasn't good enough for you, and you couldn't wait for it to break in to 3.0lbs? 'Fixed' it with a different hammer sear and lighter mainspring? 'Fixed' the light strikes with an extended firing pin and lightweight firing pin return spring? Well, your gun is no longer considered drop safe by factory standards.
I personally saw an aftermarket Glock trigger that wasn't drop safe back when I worked at a range. That was from just being banged on to a neoprene mat covered wooden workbench, let alone being dropped on a concrete floor. My co-worker, who'd seen a lot of aftermarket Glock triggers over the year, told me that this was far from the only one he'd seen fail that not remotely abusive test.
Here's a car analogy from personal experience:
I had a first gen Miata, and the time came to replace the clutch. I started thinking about replacing the heavy steel flywheel with a lightweight steel flywheel. Some people had a, 'if it was better, Mazda would've done it' mindset. I listened to a mechanic who said to go for it, and it was a great mod. Engine response was great, and I got a slight gain in fuel economy. However, if you were just learning to drive a manual transmission, I could see it being a bit too lively for you. It also added some noise and buzziness since there was less mass to dampen vibration.
It was the right mod for me, but that doesn't mean that it was right for everyone.