Trigger tuning

[No second place]

The most simple part of trigger tuning I use on all my guns, Match type or any other is "Pressure Burnishing" . No special tools or skill required. Just simple thumb pressure on the hammer as you squeeze the trigger. Block the hammer with a piece of wood, hard rubber or lead. Thought I would share this tuning tech. as I have not noticed it mentioned anywhere. How much it improves each trigger is not the same but all my tunes are finished in this way...c

 

[sekiar39]

The most simple part of trigger tuning I use on all my guns, Match type or any other is "Pressure Burnishing" . No special tools or skill required. Just simple thumb pressure on the hammer as you squeeze the trigger. Block the hammer with a piece of wood, hard rubber or lead. Thought I would share this tuning tech. as I have not noticed it mentioned anywhere. How much it improves each trigger is not the same but all my tunes are finished in this way...c

I've used it on several of my Ruger SS and just did the same on one of my Lyman pistols. It does help in most cases.

 

[duca]

?? I don’t get it. Please go into more detail

Anthony

 

[necchi]

as I have not noticed it mentioned anywhere.

Yeah, I get that part.
But if you dig around in the forum some. You'll find instructions to dis-assemble and properly polish each individual piece of the trigger/sear mechanism to fit into a fine and smooth trigger action without having to burnish the metal components at all
There are, and have been some pro's here. And easy to understand link's to pro's information can be found here.

 

[No second place]

Yeah, I get that part.
But if you dig around in the forum some. You'll find instructions to dis-assemble and properly polish each individual piece of the trigger/sear mechanism to fit into a fine and smooth trigger action without having to burnish the metal components at all
There are, and have been some pro's here. And easy to understand link's to pro's information can be found here.

My suggestion of pressure burnishing is just a little bit of tuning for someone just starting out. My credentials can be found my name on the NMLRA.org website and by general search results under National championship match results Charles Garvey. I only pass on tech. taught by the champions that came before me and used to win by me...c

 

[No second place]

?? I don’t get it. Please go into more detail

Anthony

Instead of just dry firing you are adding some pressure to the hammer to burnish or wear in the two metal parts. Nothing redneck about it. It helps me get my fine match trigger tunes but anyone can do this simple tune tech.

 

[necchi]

My suggestion of pressure burnishing is just a little bit of tuning for someone just starting out.

Ok.

My credentials can be found my name on the NMLRA.org website and by general search results under National championship match results Charles Garvey.

Congratulations.

 

[Artificer]

Folks, first time I ran across this, a world class NM pistol shooter showed it to me in the early 1970's ..., he correctly warned me to only do it two or three times as doing it more than that risked chipping or breaking the nose of the sear.

A serious word of caution, folks. The Ruger Old Army, and many modern firearms all have well made parts of good steel and more importantly are extremely well heat treated. So you can do it on such guns.

However, many of especially the Italian made Black Powder Revolvers' parts are not as well made and not heat treated nearly as well. Think about it, for the cost of them vs modern revolvers, this should not be a surprise to anyone. I would only do this carefully maybe once or twice and with not much pressure .

For many years at the NSSA Spring and Fall Nationals, I would explain these things as we sold revolvers and especially after I did a real/complete trigger job on them. I warned them NOT to do it anymore after the trigger job was done. MOST of the customers paid heed and so did not have problems with the Italian made repro's. Of course, SOME guys "knew better" and proceeded to break parts even in brand new revolvers.

Gus

 

[william l evans]

yep went through that S&W Armorer's class myself, Marriage of parts. Been doing that since 1976

 

[morehops52]

The most simple part of trigger tuning I use on all my guns, Match type or any other is "Pressure Burnishing" . No special tools or skill required. Just simple thumb pressure on the hammer as you squeeze the trigger. Block the hammer with a piece of wood, hard rubber or lead. Thought I would share this tuning tech. as I have not noticed it mentioned anywhere. How much it improves each trigger is not the same but all my tunes are finished in this way...c

Thank you for this wonderful piece of knowledge.

 

[Robby]

Instead of just dry firing you are adding some pressure to the hammer to burnish or wear in the two metal parts. Nothing redneck about it. It helps me get my fine match trigger tunes but anyone can do this simple tune tech.

I did this on an unfired Navy with a very poor, not horrible, trigger. It is now an excellent, not perfect, trigger. Such a small thing to do with such large results, thank you.
Robby

 

[No second place]

Glad it helped you Robby. Have been considering the next easy tuning tech...

 

[45D]

I did this on an unfired Navy with a very poor, not horrible, trigger. It is now an excellent, not perfect, trigger. Such a small thing to do with such large results, thank you.
Robby

That's fine unless it has a negative engagement. If your sear/ full cock notch engagement is positive, that's a "safety" for you. Positive means that the hammer rocks to the rear as the trigger is pulled. Some say a neutral engagement ( no movement forward or backward) is ok (maybe more for experienced target shooters) but I always defer to positive.
Of course negative engagement means the hammer is moving forward as the trigger is pulled and that is very dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. It doesn't fix itself and only gets worse!
Just so ya know . .

Mike

 

[david w]

That's fine unless it has a negative engagement. If your sear/ full cock notch engagement is positive, that's a "safety" for you. Positive means that the hammer rocks to the rear as the trigger is pulled. Some say a neutral engagement ( no movement forward or backward) is ok (maybe more for experienced target shooters) but I always defer to positive.
Of course negative engagement means the hammer is moving forward as the trigger is pulled and that is very dangerous and an accident waiting to happen. It doesn't fix itself and only gets worse!
Just so ya know . .

Mike

I refrain from working on my guns unless I know everything about the modification, and not something I "heard" works.

 

[No second place]

"and not something I "heard" works" I would tend to agree when "heard" from someone with no references. Not anymore than legal advice not verified by my lawyer. In this case though the advice in question is verified by an expert with national championship winning creds...c

 

[Artificer]

There is also a lot of work on BP Revolvers that can be done to improve function or trigger pull, but much of that work should also not be attempted unless well trained.

Gus

 

[M. De Land]

The most simple part of trigger tuning I use on all my guns, Match type or any other is "Pressure Burnishing" . No special tools or skill required. Just simple thumb pressure on the hammer as you squeeze the trigger. Block the hammer with a piece of wood, hard rubber or lead. Thought I would share this tuning tech. as I have not noticed it mentioned anywhere. How much it improves each trigger is not the same but all my tunes are finished in this way...c

I have tuned a lot of triggers in pistols and rifles over the last 40 plus years since gun school and have settled on sear lifts where applicable to be one of the best remedies after sear angles and engagement surfaces have been trued and squared where necessary. Jigs work well if and when pins are parallel in the actual gun but are next to useless if not.
I believe all sear engagement angles need to be lightly stoned or (broken) as the term goes to remove any rolled over or wire edges left from working while truing. The pressure burnishing works because the parts are in the gun and the actual angles the pins are holding are being worked. It won't usually remove a rolled over edge but can break off a wire edge if the steel is hard enough.
In one of my Pietta's , and 1860 model, I had to make a new trigger of tool steel as the factory trigger would not hold an edge even after 3 Kasenite treatments to harden it.

 

[M. De Land]

There is also a lot of work on BP Revolvers that can be done to improve function or trigger pull, but much of that work should also not be attempted unless well trained.

Gus

I think we are pretty much in agreement but when revolvers come to me for a tune up it means folks are not happy with what the factory gave them and that is a product of factory trained armorer's which are not trained for peak performance. Also changing to an after market part voids factory warranty in many if not all cases.

 

[No second place]

Most of the stuff Smith and Wesson armorers school teaches is correct but they don't know everything about what makes their own guns work to peak performant as has been proven by people like Bowen, Galiger, Kuehausen and few others who take S&Ws to the next leveL. They know what the factory trains them to know which is geared for mass production, reasonable service life and liability protection, not peak performance .
It's very much like automobiles from the factory that are then sent over to a high performance shop for upgrades.
A low pin boss needs a shim under it or replacement not just a pin bend from the hammer install and whacked with a lead bar at half swing position. Virtually all of them can stand two coils clipped off the factory rebound slide spring and all the square corners stoned smooth.

Sorry, I must be on the wrong site.I was looking for pre. 1865 guns...c

 

[M. De Land]

I got sent to the S&W armorers school many years ago. Good information and learned a lot. They did cover the legalese lawyer stuff and factory tolerances. They also covered what considered a reliable ’work’ gun, and not ‘race’ guns.

I don't make "race guns" personally but do tune single an double action revolvers along with 1911 single action semi's and am able to make a factory gun much smoother and probably more reliable than when it left the factory. I know they will last longer when proper tuned.
The one thing I need much more experience on is Colt double actions but have studied up the Kunhaussen manual on them which is one of the very best in my opinion.