Rem R1 1911 hammer follow

[graycrait]

I was over at a friend's house yesterday and he was swapping out the stock hammer/sear for a Wilson Combat sear/hammer set. Rack the slide with the trigger pulled and held with the OEM trigger/sear, no follow, do the same thing with the WC hammer/sear and the hammer follows the slide.   Any ideas? 

[DWARREN123]

Spring or parts not right. I would also say to try one part at a time to see which is the problem (may be both).

Edited July 16, 2015 by DWARREN123

[plinker4life]

Ok...... Just stumbled on this thread... I just happen to be the friend graycrait is referring to.

Disconnecter does not seem to want to work with WC hammer and sear. Take the thumb safety and grip safety out of the equation for now because they are not installed at this point. I can install WC hammer and sear rack the slide and the hammer will cock. I can pull the trigger let the hammer drop while still keeping the trigger pulled rack the slide and the hammer will not catch just follow the slide back down.

I can reinstall factory hammer and sear and everything works great even with the thumb and grip safety uninstalled.

At this point I am thinking I need to try a WC disconnecter. And new sear spring because it is cheap.????? Edited July 16, 2015 by plinker4life

[timcalhoun]

As dolomite said, first thing is the check your sear spring pressure. Just because it's right with one hammer and sear set does not mean that it is OK with another. Should have about 16 ounces of pre-travel and the rest should be on the sear. 3-5 pounds total usually.

It's easy enough to check if it's your disconnector. Remove your grip safety, pull the slide back slightly so that the disconnector/stripper rail is depressing the disconnector. Look at the sear and disconnector and see if there is distance between the bottom of the sear legs and the pad on the disconnect. If so it's not the disconnecter.

I have seen guns where the slide will not push back/down on the hammer far enough to cock it with different sears and hammer combos. So cock the hammer, walk the slide back and see if the slide actually is pushing down on the hammer. It doesn't happen often but it's worth a check.

You also have to make sure that you have enough pre-travel and over travel in your trigger. That can also change with different sear and hammer combinations. If that is not correct you can have all kinds of issues .

[plinker4life]

I did tweak the middle spring slightly to give more pressure on the disconnecter I will try tweaking the sear spring and check disconnecter as you stated.

I already backed my overtravel screw on the trigger all the way out to insure I was getting a good sear engagement.

[timcalhoun]

Backing out the overtravel screw all the way is often not a good idea at all. Triggers with overtravel screws are not mill spec type triggers with a screw added for adjustment. Often it is possible that if you back out the overtravel screw too far it will allow the trigger bow to actually make contact with the sear spring taking pressure off sear Itself and causing hammer follow. Depending on the trigger it may be fine but often they can cause trouble. You can check that at the same time with the grip safety out though. Edited July 16, 2015 by timcalhoun

[plinker4life]

I will check that also. I believe I have a spec trigger in my pile of parts and worse case I can try it also.

Thanks for all the suggestions I am all ear's.

[plinker4life]

Update....Tonight was the first night I have been able to get to my workbench without kids running around.   Conclusion is the Wilson Sear just will not work properly in my gun. I was able to use the WC hammer and Remington sear. I also added a Wilson full beavertail. I cleaned up the hammer and recut the Remington sear using the brownells sear jig I acquired from graycrait. Trigger is a lot better but not quite as good as my old Kimber.

 

Thank you all for the help.

[timcalhoun]

What is wrong with the wilson sear?

[plinker4life]

I have no clue? Other than the profile near the sear edge on the Remington was slightly thinner. I have a hammer & sear jig and in the jig they both seem fine. But once installed in the gun the WC would not reset with trigger pulled.

I tried different spring pressures. Nothing helped.

The WC sear did sit taller in the Brownells cutting jig but I left it alone . One day I might try cutting and profiling it and see if works then. Edited July 20, 2015 by plinker4life

[timcalhoun]

It probably has nothing to do with the sear. It is the related parts I'm betting.

[plinker4life]

I am sure you are right. You know 1911's inside out and upside down.

It did seem like the disconnecter didn't move quite as much with the all Wilson parts. But it was hard for me to see what was going on. And once I saw the Remington sear would work I went ahead and stoned it just for the fact it was my first time on a 1911 trigger job and I would rather junked the Remington sear first.

[timcalhoun]

I am sure you are right. You know 1911's inside out and upside down.

It did seem like the disconnecter didn't move quite as much with the all Wilson parts. But it was hard for me to see what was going on. And once I saw the Remington sear would work I went ahead and stoned it just for the fact it was my first time on a 1911 trigger job and I would rather junked the Remington sear first.

 

I totally get it. As long as it's safe and you are happy with the trigger…..nothing else matters.

 

It's funny when I hear this kind of stuff I want to work on the gun just to figure what is going on……I don't have time to do that……..but I want to. LOL

 

Glad it worked out for you.

Edited July 20, 2015 by timcalhoun

[plinker4life]

Also I did notice as you stated above with all the WC parts in and the hammer cocked. I could pull the slide back but couldn't really see it making contact with the hammer in the full cock position.

[plinker4life]

I have not given up......... I know that I can do a better job as the 1911 is new to me to tinker with. And like you said my main concern is it being safe.

I have a CZ 75b that I converted to SAO and filled with Cajun Gun Works parts.

It is just a new learning curve on the 1911 for me. And tinkering around with my guns is just a fun a shooting for me.

Thank you again for all the help.

Next time I tear it down I will try the WC sear and post a Video and maybe that will give you pro's some more insight on my problems.

[timcalhoun]

Also I did notice as you stated above with all the WC parts in and the hammer cocked. I could pull the slide back but couldn't really see it making contact with the hammer in the full cock position.

 

That's the issue then. The Wilson sear is longer than your stock sear. EGW, Wilson Extreme etc.. will all be a little longer but still are in spec. However, your guns slide to frame relationship are out just enough that it can't cock the gun. 

[plinker4life]

I guess it is just right on the edge of too long. It will fully cock the hammer as long as the trigger is not depressed. But it may just be riding on the fine edge and barely engaging. Edited July 20, 2015 by plinker4life

[graycrait]

Tim,  It is nice that a real expert like you takes the time to give us kitchen table armorers a hand.

 

V/R,

 

Craig