I'm building a 1911. I just want to make sure to put the best parts in for the trigger pull as I want a crisp trigger pull and I know putting the right parts in will help that out a lot. So in a 1911 which parts do I need to focus on to ensure this happens? I would imagine the sear, hammer, hammer spring, trigger, but not sure on all the rest or am I way off the mark on that?

If you have any gems to share on this on things that can be done or best deals in parts for those parts pleas share. Thanks!

I have used the EGW sear and Colt sear spring with good success.

The part where you pay real money to a real gunsmith to do a real safe and reliable trigger job is pretty important.  

This.

 


Or the part where you learn a little machining/tool making and the tolerances and proper sear engagement angles.



I know a lot of guys who build 1911's. It's not hard to do right.  It's EASY to fuck up and build a dangerous gun.  

If you have a set of stones you can do all of it yourself. Go to YouTube and watch at least 10 of the 1911 trigger job videos. then think about all the things they tell you, then go back and watch all 10 of the again. Then give it a go.

The only unconventional tool you might need is a magnifying glass.

Yup, this.  Most sears and hammers in all but the cheapest 1911s are GTG.

The thing that makes a 1911 trigger "crisp" is back beveling the sear after you've squared the hammer hooks and put a perfect edge on the sear (perfect angle and perfectly mated to the hammer -- ALL the way across).  The back beveling is the final touch and can be incrementally adjusted to get a very clean break.

The thing that makes the trigger light is the sear spring.  But, you don't have to buy a new one, you just have to properly "adjust" (i.e. bend) the one you have.

You need a gunsmith, not a parts catalog.

I'm going to overlook the fact that you are probably going to have some significant challenges ahead of you to build a safe, accurate 1911 since this sounds like your first time, and just focus on your question for now.

Smooth and crisp means minimizing creep.  Creep is movement of the sear across the hammer hooks.   The usual method is to reduce the amount of sear face the hammer hooks have to drag across.  This is done by adding a relief (aka "secondary") angle to the edge of the sear, which is really just removing part of the sear engagement area.  For safety's sake, the minimum width of the remaining sear engagement area should be no less than .030".  Hammer hooks should be a minimum of .020" high.