The newly packaged spring & sear kit.

This is a follow up to Part 1. If you don’t want to read the entire blog post, the final verdict: new trigger weight after replacing the springs and the sear: between 4 3/4 and 5 pounds.

Part 2:
I finally received the Spring & Sear kit from Powder River Precision. It comes in a more costly but more professional looking package compared to the original spring kit. More to throw away after you unpackage the parts.

To install the sear, you have to take everything apart again that you disassembled to replace the springs. It’s non-trivial and frustrating to get everything lined up exactly right.  I find this review from the Powder River website to be dead on:

” The video is pretty good, but in several places the demonstrator is holding the gun out of the camera range. Also the focus goes in and out. It’s obvious that he has done this a number of times, he goes really fast. There are a couple of parts that could use more clarity. A few of the springs are hard to figure out just because the kit is not marked for what spring goes where. Most importantly, when reinstalling the grip safety, there is a little lever that needs to be put in the exact right spot and the video doesn’t really show where. I put my gun back together with the lever off somehow and had to force the gun apart because the trigger would not trip. I then moved the lever around until it felt free, he tells you how to check it by having the grip safety locked by moving the trigger bar. Great trigger now, 4 hours later.”

So be sure to have an open block of time before attempting this. Here’s a comparison of the old and new sear:

Old and New Sear (with spring)

We re-tested the “before” weight with a calibration set of NRA certified Weights (always the most accurate way to measure). Previously we used a trigger pull gauge
but that is less accurate. We did take 3 measurements and averaged them to be as accurate as possible, but it appears that measurement was high, I had it listed at 6.5 pounds. When we measured again with the more accurate weight set, it tested at 5 3/4 pounds with the original sear.

NRA Certified Weights

You basically stack up weights until you can no longer pick up the stack with your trigger. Here’s the final test for my updated gun. Yes, I’m impressed by the simplest things:

Here’s a summary of the different trigger weights

• Trigger weight before the spring kit: 8 lbs
• Trigger weight after the spring kit: 5.75 lbs
• Trigger weight after the sear replacement: 4.75 – 5 lbs
• Trigger weigh of my S&W 1911: 3.25 lbs