I bought it a week ago today and have only run 10 mags though it so far.

First, the trigger is not smooth. I feel friction as I slowly release the trigger to find the reset point, not a smooth even movement. Is there a particular area that needs lubricating that might solve this or do I have to send it to S&W to get looked at?

Second issue is that I am not used to blacked out sights so I'm having trouble acquiring a good picture. Any advice would be appreciated.

If it's not too difficult I'm gonna remove the trigger and polish it and polish the area on the frame where the trigger is hitting. If it's too difficult to remove I guess I'm gonna have to send it in to get fixed.

1911 triggers can be superb - nothing like striker fired pistols.

Sounds like yours may need work: it should not rub as you describe it.

After many tens of thousands of rounds through my 1911s, I have to confess that I've never paid attention to the 'reset ': they just work beautifully. I'm not sure why you're focused on it.

There are a fair number of gunsmiths who can do a fine job on your pistol: far better than S&W is likely to let out of the shop.

I don't think this is do it yourself stuff: I'm talking about more than polishing the side of the trigger.

As far as you sight issue, I'd guess you have used sights with dots.

The trick is focusing on the front sight. Dots, night sughts etc tend to make you look at the wrong thing trying to line up the dots.

Practice front sight acquisition. Occasionally, having a gunsmith widen the rear sight is helpful when all else (practice) fails.

Spend much more time dry doing dry fire. You haven't shot your 1911 enough to be trying to solve things with modifying your pistol.

Just my opinion, of course.

As far as the sights, I've been practicing almost 100% of the time with both eyes open. Maybe that's why the blacked out sights are giving me problems.

Glad you got the trigger moving smoothly. You're right, it shouldn't stick. I've seen a couple custom shop products with pretty poor fit and finish, so I'm not stunned by what you describe although it's not what most would expect from something coming from a custom shop.

All my 1911's are Series 70 or older Colts and the trigger returns are just fine. Yours may well need some tweaking. If you aren't familiar with the platform I'd have a gunsmith look at it. From your description, it may benefit from a tweek.

I've always shot with both eyes open, so I can't say shooting with one eye closed would solve your problem.

The sight picture you want should include daylight on both sides of the front sight. After you've put more time into dry fire, if you still have difficulty, opening up the rear sight could be in order.

By the way, your targets look pretty good. What distance were you shooting? If you're shooting close (less than 15 yards) you might want to increase the range: close range groups hare hard to draw much from.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the 1911.

More impressive looking that it really is . This was VERY close range because it was at my indoor range and there it's either 50 feet or 15 feet. Nothing in between. Since I was doing an A-B I didn't think the distance was as important as the difference between the two guns. But I guess it depends on what distance the manufacturers use to zero the sights.

I'm mechanically inclined and like to learn how to work on my guns. When I wanted to change out the trigger and hammer springs on my GP100 people were warning me to take it to a smith but I did it myself and it couldn't have been any easier. Now I can do both springs in about 15 minutes. Not saying I can do complex smithing but I don't mind taking things apart if I think I can get them back together.

At one point I was bordering on being a 1911 hater. Now I'm bordering on being a purist . But I have no problem with external extractors aside from being more difficult to remove so I guess I can't be in that club.

A little polishing of the contact surfaces on the trigger boy and the trigger channel in the frame can o a very long way.

You an cut down a piece f 600 wet/dry paper to do the frame and then break the edges on the trigger bow.

Have fun,
Bob

I can offer two suggestions. First, if you are referring to the screw in the face of the trigger, that is the stop or overtravel screw and has nothing to do with how the trigger feels. It should be adjusted inward until the gun will not fire, then slowly turned outward until it does. Then give it another eighth of a turn or so outward so any heat-induced expansion of the parts can't cause the gun to not fire.

Next, learn to use those sight as they are the best combination for bullseye work. If that is not how you plan to use the gun then another sight package might work better but there is a good reason why every handgun manufactured for accurate target work comes with a black Patridge-style front sight and a black outlined rear sight.

That sight combination results in a clear, precise sight alignment that is very repeatable and that yields accurate shooting. Colored sights, especially those "glow worm" front sights, can look like a glowing blob with no easily defined edges. And they can look differently under different light conditions, requiring sight adjustments when the sun is blocked by a cloud or when shooting in an indoor range with different lighting than the last one.

Some people struggle in their minds with a black sight against a black bullseye. Remember, target guns are intended to be shot using what is called a six o'clock hold, meaning the bullseye is placed atop the aligned sights, which leaves the sights against a white background.

It sounds to me that your gun perhaps came a little more tightly fit that some others, a condition that is not necessarily a bad thing and should rectify itself with use. My five-inch PC 1911 initially had such a tight barrel bushing to barrel and slide fit that dissembling and reassembling the gun was a real chore requiring force I felt excessive. S&W suggested increasing those clearances with emory cloth; I elected to use scope ring lapping compound. Now the gun's fit is still tight and its accuracy is unchanged but I can field-strip it for cleaning without using force. The fact that other owners of the same gun have not experienced that simply demonstrates the result of a gun being hand-fit opposed to one that is fit by automation. Each one can be slightly different from the others.

Have patience and enjoy your gun. I'm sure it will smooth out with use. Some 1911 manufacturers say their guns are not broken in until 500 rounds are fired and that likely is the case with yours.

Ed

Thanks for the advice on shooting with the blacked out sights. I will practice and I'm sure I'll the the hang of it eventually.

Kind of scary seeing my $1300+ gun in pieces on my bench... Have no fear. It will be better than new when I'm done with it.

Ultimately, all my 1911's are sd weapons.

I've always felt that trigger work is too important to leave to an amature (me).

I'd rather rely on someone whose done it hundreds of times than someone whose doing it for the first, second, third time (like me).

While I'm not under the illusion that trigger work os so technical, difficult or high tech that I couldn't learn to do it, I'm unwilling to practice on my pistols.

Analogous to doing break work on my car: I've no doubt I could do it, I'm just not willing to practice on MY car. The possibility of committing an 'oops' has consequences too serious to brush aside.

I have a deal with my gunsmith:

He doesn't practice law.

I don't play gunsmith with my triggers.

Just my opinion, of course.

Something you should do is feel for a very small of movement in the trigger in an up and down direction. It is typical for the trigger bows on a 1911 to require fitting to the frame and this is done by sanding the top or bottom surface until there is just a tiny bit of free movement vertically.

After that you'll want to check forhte amount of horizontal movement. that trigger rub you are seeing is likely a result of the bows being a bit too narrow and allowing too much horizontal movement. IF so you need to bend the bows outward slightly but that can be a rather tricky because you need to get both sides moved out a touch while keeping them straight. One gunsmith I know uses bars of hardened steel that he had ground to various thicknesses so he can hammer each bow straight after bending it out a bit. Without an aid like this you'll have to use a good straight edge, a caliper, and patience until you get it close enough to function well.

The final goal is a trigger that slides into the frame that has almost no wiggle in either the horizontal or vertical directions, so that and you'll find you have a marvelous trigger. BTW, I have 3 SR1911's and all of them are sloppy as all get out but I'm just not fussy enough about slop in a 1911 trigger to spend the time it would take to re-fit them properly. So, if you error on the sloppy side of the fit don't sweat it too much, the only time you'll really notice it is when you are dry firing the pistol.


BTW, one of the items on the Hit List for my Rugers is to get some Ed Brown hammers and sears, because they all have a bit more creep than ideal. That really didn't bother me much until I happened to pick up a 5 inch S&W E Series at a local gun show. Whoever did the final fitting on that pistol REALLY knew what he was doing, because the only other 1911 I've ever felt with a trigger that good was an Ed Brown. Probably should have purchased that E series but three 1911's is enough for me and I still have an M1A on my want list.

I shoot as a hobby and pass time and for me cleaning, maintaining and fixing my guns is almost as much fun as shooting them.

Thanks for the detailed explanation of how a trigger properly functions and how it can be adjusted.

In short, I like to tinker .

I got her back together which is a good sign! Function tested with snap caps but haven't gone to the range yet. I hit all metal to metal surfaces and the trigger channels. It's all as smooth as a baby's bottom is what my 7th grade shop teacher used to say .

Now I just have to get used to the blacked out sights.

As for shooting with both eyes open, I haven't shot any other way since I was a kid, including with scoped rifles. As far as I'm concerned you're doing the right thing.

__________________
Oh well, what the hell.

How would you describe the difference in the return spring for each of them? Are they the same or different? Like I mentioned, I only have the Ruger to compare with and I like it's return more than the Smith.

Well done...

There is really no trigger return spring, per se. It is the sear spring of which you can bend the proper leg ( the one that contacts the trigger bow) to increase the tension.

There is a world of difference between polishing the flats and stuff, and a true trigger job.

Most 1911s don't really need a trigger job. a good polish would suffice 95% of them.

Bob

Sorry I forgot that you can't read my mind . I really need to get one of those mats that have a parts explosion on them.

That's the part I was referring to. I thought about bending the trigger leg but then of course I need to know how much. I guess I can just bend it until it feels right to me. Polishing all of the parts was just to make sure it is as smooth as possible.

I think scooter123 was right on and that's what I need to look at next.

Try some whiteout on your front sight. Just a little bit. It may help you concentrate on the front sight. From your accuracy shooting it looks like your pistol shoots right on rather than six o`clock.
Sounds like you did a nice job cleaning it up.
Have fun!
Jim

Thanks I was thinking of putting something on there for now. Didn't think of white out.

Great! Keep shooting it.... a little lube on the feed ramp may help.
Jim

The feed ramp was polished out of the box as part of the performance center enhancements but I did my own polishing with the 5000 grit stuff and lubed it. If it could be polished and lubed I polished and lubed it, especially the rails. Every little nook has been lubed but I wipe it down and blow it out with compressed air so there's no excess.

I'm not interested in off brand 1911's, so I don't have enough experience with S&W 1911's to say how they compare to other 1911's except I've been unimpressed with those I've fired.

As I mentioned, all my 1911's are Colts.

All my 1911 triggers feel very much the same.

All my 1911's have had a very good gunsmith attend to them.

It goes with the territory: tens of thousands of rounds and gunsmith attention.

Just the way I've done things for 40+ years.

If I ever have the misfortune to use one of my pistols in a SD situation , I'm not willing to have anyone challenge my skill as a gunsmith: certainly not regarding trigger work.

I freely admit that a real gunsmith is much more competent than I.

I'm not sure I understand where this idea about admitting that someone else is more competent than me or not is coming from??? I think we just have different goals and interests. This is a hobby for me. My guns are the centerpiece of my hobby but shooting them isn't where it begins and ends. My hobby is shooting, reloading, maintaining and repairing my guns to the best of my ability. Very similar to my motorcycle hobby. That consists of riding, maintaining, tweaking and repairing my bike. I like doing all of it myself to the best of my ability. Whether someone else is better than me at repairing my hardware isn't of concern to me unless I come up with something that I can't do for myself because I don't have the proper tools or I can't figure it out. Then I'm happy to hand it over to someone else. It has nothing to do with admitting that someone else it better at it or not.

Neither of us are right or wrong. We just have different interests.