Have been a member here for a good while but not much of a poster. In fact I forgot I was a registered user until I tried to register and found out I already had. So to the point. I won a SW9V at a Gun Bash last weekend and thought hey nice piece for the little lady.

Trigger an easy 10 Lbs. so a Spring Making I Will Go. I'm including several Links to "How To Make A Spring" which is in fact what all Sigma should do instead of eliminating The Pig Tail Spring as it is referred to by so many. When it actually a Coil Spring to be accurate.

No I'm not going to make springs so please don't ask. But if you follow up on the Link Information you will soon be able to make any desired spring you might ever want. I have made 100's of springs in the almost 63 years I've been on planet and made my first one some 50 years ago for an old H&R Revolver.

Music or spring wire can be found very easily and when you watch the Video you will see just how easy it is. NEVER Use a Ball Point Pen Spring in anthing but a Ball Point Pen. Never cut coils you will just make the spring heaver by mere compression or by more tension when shortening a two end hook spring.


How To Spring Site
How to Make Springs

Bob Dunlop Making Springs With Links To Other Spring Making Videos
YouTube - AGI381 How to make Coil Springs

Now for my Biggest Gripe "POLISHING" Sear Contact Areas!!

If you Polish The Sear Striker Contact Areas you will loose that perfectly straight or angle cut on these surfaces. A real Gunsmith Will Not Polish but he will Stone with the proper grit stone. When you Polish I don't care how careful you WILL Round these square cuts resulting in a Mush Feel before the Sear and Striker disengage. Polish the trigger transfer bar and its stirup and any other metal that touches metal. Just Don't POLISH The Sear And Striker Contact Areas.

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John McCaw
FFL/SOT2

Welcome to the forum!

You just won a sigma last week and you're making springs for it?

Did the factory springs fail or do they not work correctly? Smith will fix them for you.

happy shooting,

Lee

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SD9VE, American perfection!

Factory springs are better. That's what Lee told me! . That and the 16,000 trouble free rounds.

Do yourself a favor, shoot the gun. Put 1,000 rounds through it before you try to turn it into a 2,000 dollar 1911 that jams.

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The kool-aid Sigma drinker

Lee Thanks.

No nothing broke trigger is about 6 Lbs too heavy and needs to be worked. Her Glock 19 breaks very crisp at 3.8 with a Lone Wolf 3.5 Lb. Connector, Wolff 6.0 Lb. Trigger Spring, Lone Wolf Ultimate Trigger Stop and Stock Glock Striker Spring. This Sigma just feels so good to her she wants swap off with the 19 every now and then.

Lee I will let you know how it all comes out and frankly making the springs from a thinner diameter wire will only take a few mins. Smaller diameter wire and more turns looks to be the solution but we'll see what I can get it down to. I know I will drill and tap the trigger for travel and over travel and adjustment set screws you can be sure as this was my first instinct upon handling the weapon.

.357 Mods will cost; 2 set screws I already have 6-8" of Spring Wire I already have and 20 mins of my time I already have.

Thanks Again Lee For The Welcome.

John

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John McCaw
FFL/SOT2

My ball point pen spring is doing great after 7000+ rounds. It's only there to cage the inner spring. As for the coil/pigtail spring. It's a engineering fart of biblical order.

As for polishing the sear. Nobody here encourages anybody to polish sear and striker tang area. But polishing the other parts are fine. I myself did take a india and ruby stone to the sear to deck it out a tad and also fixed S&W's sloppy work concerning sear to striker contact.

My Sigma will function with only the striker spring in it.

Excellent Glad That Is Working Out For You.

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John McCaw
FFL/SOT2

Lee shot the 9VE stock and it will shot if you are willing to Bump And Grind for a well held shot. 200 rds. Fiocchi 123's, some 147's and some 158 Subsonics. Ate them without a peep.

Brought the weapon home and started Springin. After 200 Rds still pullin over 12 lbs.Stock. Got rid of that sharp tongue on the trigger first off the bat. Replaced what you see below with some lighter stock a bit of Med Hard And Hard Ceramic Stone lightly on the striker and sear and now at 6.7 Lbs. All springs were replaced sans the Piggy which went back in stock until wire arrives. Will also order the Wolff RP Striker.

Lost over a Whole Lb. just in the Firing Pin Safety Plunger and that was a given as actually pushing it and you know it was over sprung.

Will let you guys know after Weight Watchers Supplies come in. Have a good one fellows.

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John McCaw
FFL/SOT2

So I am assuming this is NOT going to be a carry gun now that you did the "shade tree mechanic" job on the innards?

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NRA Pistol,PPITH,PPOTH&TASER

See there you go assuming again. Why is it that I can see someone's choice to Live Without Improvement. Yet there are those who would condemn ones improvements have they the knowledge and experience to do so!

Had you closely read the OP the weapon is to be switched off by my wife with her Glock 19 as she likes the 9VE feel. As to Shade Tree Mechanics ALL Replaced Springs are of Firearms Quality Stock. I will let her put another 200 Rds. through the weapon when I receive the Wollf RP Strike Spring and if No Hiccups it surely will be carried.

Not Much Shade Due To Too Many Lights. And I apologize for shooting the Pics with a Cluttered Background and I promise to do better in the future.

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John McCaw
FFL/SOT2

I read the OP, I just figured that since you were going to completely gut the factory innards of your new firearm with home shop fabricated springs, that you'd reconsider having your wife carry your now, possibly untrustworthy, and certainly higher-liability, firearm that she is going to be betting her life on every time she takes it with her.

Your experience/lack of experience making springs notwithstanding, it's just a bad idea.

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NRA Pistol,PPITH,PPOTH&TASER

Very nice, John.

Thanks for the info.

LP

Thanks John for the post....hope to see more as you continue your work

You are welcome fellows and here are a few other nice tips to help out the other Sigma Shade Tree Mechanics.;-)

A 1/4" Punch inverted in a small vise makes swapping out the Stock Striker Spring for a Reduced Power Striker Spring a lot easier.
Buy a half dozen Hockey Pucks at a local Big Sporting Goods Chain Store after Hockey Season when they go On Sale. They help keep the weapon you are working on off the bench for easy pin removal and provide to a good degree a slip free work platform.
If you are going to work on a variety of weapons have a good selection of Springs and Spring Making Material handy.

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John McCaw
FFL/SOT2

Nice job...
I read that the reduced pressure striker spring for Sigma can cause light fires on some ammo. I've been shooting S&B ammo and was concerned it might be one of the brands that wouldn't like light hits. I ended up using a reduced pressure spring 4# for Glock by Wolf Spring. It went from a 12.5# pull to a 10.75# pull. It's eaten 600 rounds with no problems. Still a little heavy when shooting 200 rounds at range but doable.

The only way to know is to try the given Striker Spring for a couple hundred rounds and see how it works in your weapon. It is not like you have invested in a High $$$ item and can't undo what you replaced. Give it a try.

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John McCaw
FFL/SOT2

I'm sure that Sigma will shoot very well. S&W left quite a bit on the table concerning Sigma IMHO. They take basic clean up, spring, polishing and stoning work very well. And there are benefits to be found in all.

To screw up the safety of a current Sigma. One would have to make the trigger ridged. Completely screw up the spring and interface for the striker safety and take way to much martial off the top of the sear.

The only way one could truly screw up its reliability is to way under spring the the sear and striker. Heck my Sigma will run with no springs in the sear! You just have to not let the trigger go to far past the break point and let energy do the rest.

There is something to be gained in the trigger transfer bar also. Wish I could spend some more time on my prototype.

Happy Tuning John

Nice Shop and spring work.

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Protected by Sigma 40VE

Wow, although I do a lot more reading that posting I just couldn't help responding to this thread.

Really cannot believe how rude some of you people are. Here is a guy with loads of experience, taking the time to share some things that might help someone else and he gets treated like this; for shame.

Hey if you don't like something, that is your right, just have the good manners to shut up about it.

Mr. McCaw, we don't know one another but thank you for this great information.

GHEN

Thanks GHEN, I couldn't have said it any better.

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US Army 1965-1971

It's a good thing the Internet wasn't around back when Jim Clark opened up shop. Can you imagine all the awful things that would have been said about how he was tampering with 1911s? Of course many of Clarks "unsafe, unreliable, liability courting" modifications are now industry standard, but what does that prove?

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I need ammo, not a ride.

It's still a 1911.

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The kool-aid Sigma drinker

If you have a real BRIDGEPORT in your shop, you are not a shade tree mechanic, even if you work in the shade with AC and lights on!

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S&WHF 366

Sure wish the OP would post up again.

Gentlemen some guys still have Flat Tops,Pen Protectors,Wing Tip Shoes and that is ALL Good. They are Not Going To Change no matter where we go in the way of advancement and that is good also. Had we not these individuals we could not look back upon our own strides to make things somehow better. It is like the "Gritty Feel" that pops up concerning the Sigma. Most ALL of this Gritty can be traced back to the Sear and the elongated hole that the 2 Retaining Pins ride in. Trust me it is not the smoothest area of the Sigma. But has it been looked at or refered to as the source of The Nitty Gritty? Maybe touched on by some but truely discussed or addressed. The debris left in the Firing Pin Safety Plunger Channel. The Firing Pin Safety Plunger being Oversprung.

You see the Sum of Small Details addressed when totaled makes for some significant Improvements.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

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John McCaw
FFL/SOT2

John:

Agree, that was the area in my Sigma that was the worst, the cam surface was smooth compared to the slot. Rolled up a 1" wide piece of 600 wet or dry and polished as much as I could. 100%, no, 200% better trigger pull! Trigger is still a little heavy, but without the grit, totally acceptable for a SD gun IMHO. Don't have any problem with you changing the springs, but I'm leaving the springs stock in my gun; shock, surprise, adrenalin, fear, nerves, I don't want an AD or ND in a SD or perceived SD situation.

Thanks for your tips and knowledge!

Great thread! It does seem to me that John knows what he is doing. Me, I wouldn't try it, but that's just me. I give John credit for taking on this project. Looks like he's set up for it as well. That helps I'm sure.

Great job John.

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Sigma 9mm/XD 9