1917-1911M
Member
I added a bunch of detailed pictures of a disassembled BG in the thread about the making a P22 type bible for the BG so I'm not posting a bunch of pictures in this thread.
I had a Ruger LCP, 371- series, 2nd series or something. I fired it over 4,000 times with 0 failures. I sold it and bought a new one with a stainless steel slide. I also bought a new Bodyguard because it looked good, had some features I wanted and at $300 for both pistols with an extra mag thrown in.....I just couldn't resist. Dang gun shops.
Went to the farm Thanksgiving and everyone took turns shooting this and that. All firearms performed 100%, Shield in .40, Colt .45, even my P22. The most fun pistol that wasn't a .22 was my '69 Walther PP in .32 cal. Shooting...a lot of fun.
Two things bothered me about the BG though. The new LCP measured a bit over 7 lbs on my Lyman trigger pull gauge while the Bodyguard was over 11 lbs. The other thing was that the trigger broke just in front of the frame....now I'm no stranger to not wanting a lot of overtravel.....but this was too close for comfort. So what to do about these two items....if anything.
I disassembled the pistol again, again studied my options. I had already smoothed everything up, the worst spot being on top of the trigger bar where it engages the lower rail as it is forced down to disconnect with the hammer hook. But, first things first. Trigger pull. The mainspring in my pistol measured 1.9" in length...again digital caliper. So, I shortened both ends a bit. 1.88" in length dropped the pull to 10 lbs +/-. I wanted less, so I shortened the spring to 1.84". Ah, 7 lb 10 oz. over a 10 pull average. That felt better. But what about light strikes? I'd test that later.
The next thing I wanted to do was shorten the distance the trigger had to be pulled to drop the hammer. Now all of this kind of work is tied together. If you lower the mainspring tension...you can end up with light strikes. If you shorten the pull, the hammer might not develope as much momentum...light strikes again. That certainly will not be good in a carry firearm.
So what to do. The bottom rear edge of the right rear rail forces the trigger bar down so it will disconnect from the hammer hook as the trigger is pulled. Could I modify it somehow? That looks a bit too tricky and might make for a rough trigger. Next, I could peen the front edge of the hump on the top of the trigger bar to create more metal height so the rail would force the trigger bar down quicker....nah, still not a good solution. I could lower the hammer hook height 0.010". That would help a bit...so I did. Next I decided that I could thin the pull/sear area of the trigger bar. Stock it measures 0.046" thick. What happens is as the trigger is pulled, the trigger bar sear pulls on the hammer, rotating it rearward until the hammer is pressed back and the sear edge of the trigger bar slips under the hammer hook releasing it. So, removing some material from the top of the sear should release the hammer a bit earlier also. I took 0.004" off the top. The combination of these two actions moved the release point of the trigger appx 3/16" forward of the previous point which was too close to the frame for me. I would like to take another 1/4" off the pull....but that is going to prove a bit difficult with the stock trigger bar. Perhaps if someone comes out with an aftermarket trigger bar. S&W could even do it. A long trigger pull is good for safety....but, enough is enough.
Enjoying the BG and it is still running 100%. Firing tests of a few rounds does not show any reduction in firing pin strike depth. I'll give it a good workout this coming week. Don't do this kind of stuff if you aren't good at it and know prezackly what you are doing. This is a bit safer on a DAO pistol than a SA pistol but, you still need to know what you are doing and proceed slowly. Ah, new parts aren't expensive...but you want a safe and 100% dependable firearm when you are finished playing around. M1911
I had a Ruger LCP, 371- series, 2nd series or something. I fired it over 4,000 times with 0 failures. I sold it and bought a new one with a stainless steel slide. I also bought a new Bodyguard because it looked good, had some features I wanted and at $300 for both pistols with an extra mag thrown in.....I just couldn't resist. Dang gun shops.
Went to the farm Thanksgiving and everyone took turns shooting this and that. All firearms performed 100%, Shield in .40, Colt .45, even my P22. The most fun pistol that wasn't a .22 was my '69 Walther PP in .32 cal. Shooting...a lot of fun.
Two things bothered me about the BG though. The new LCP measured a bit over 7 lbs on my Lyman trigger pull gauge while the Bodyguard was over 11 lbs. The other thing was that the trigger broke just in front of the frame....now I'm no stranger to not wanting a lot of overtravel.....but this was too close for comfort. So what to do about these two items....if anything.
I disassembled the pistol again, again studied my options. I had already smoothed everything up, the worst spot being on top of the trigger bar where it engages the lower rail as it is forced down to disconnect with the hammer hook. But, first things first. Trigger pull. The mainspring in my pistol measured 1.9" in length...again digital caliper. So, I shortened both ends a bit. 1.88" in length dropped the pull to 10 lbs +/-. I wanted less, so I shortened the spring to 1.84". Ah, 7 lb 10 oz. over a 10 pull average. That felt better. But what about light strikes? I'd test that later.
The next thing I wanted to do was shorten the distance the trigger had to be pulled to drop the hammer. Now all of this kind of work is tied together. If you lower the mainspring tension...you can end up with light strikes. If you shorten the pull, the hammer might not develope as much momentum...light strikes again. That certainly will not be good in a carry firearm.
So what to do. The bottom rear edge of the right rear rail forces the trigger bar down so it will disconnect from the hammer hook as the trigger is pulled. Could I modify it somehow? That looks a bit too tricky and might make for a rough trigger. Next, I could peen the front edge of the hump on the top of the trigger bar to create more metal height so the rail would force the trigger bar down quicker....nah, still not a good solution. I could lower the hammer hook height 0.010". That would help a bit...so I did. Next I decided that I could thin the pull/sear area of the trigger bar. Stock it measures 0.046" thick. What happens is as the trigger is pulled, the trigger bar sear pulls on the hammer, rotating it rearward until the hammer is pressed back and the sear edge of the trigger bar slips under the hammer hook releasing it. So, removing some material from the top of the sear should release the hammer a bit earlier also. I took 0.004" off the top. The combination of these two actions moved the release point of the trigger appx 3/16" forward of the previous point which was too close to the frame for me. I would like to take another 1/4" off the pull....but that is going to prove a bit difficult with the stock trigger bar. Perhaps if someone comes out with an aftermarket trigger bar. S&W could even do it. A long trigger pull is good for safety....but, enough is enough.
Enjoying the BG and it is still running 100%. Firing tests of a few rounds does not show any reduction in firing pin strike depth. I'll give it a good workout this coming week. Don't do this kind of stuff if you aren't good at it and know prezackly what you are doing. This is a bit safer on a DAO pistol than a SA pistol but, you still need to know what you are doing and proceed slowly. Ah, new parts aren't expensive...but you want a safe and 100% dependable firearm when you are finished playing around. M1911
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