Trigger Creep and Sear/Hammer Polishing

[cmparrish]

I've got a tiny bit of trigger creep on my Kimber Team Match II. I was thinking about lightly polishing the sear and hammer hooks with a little Flitz to smooth them out and take out the tool marks. I really don't have the proper tools to start stoning and messing with the sear and hammer angles. I just want to knock down the tool marks a little. I think this should take care of the creep. Any negatives to doing this? This is just a range and competition gun. It's not for defense so I don't mind playing around a bit with it.

Thanks,
Chris

[niemi24s]

Polishing with Flitz (or any other polishing compound) - even backed up by some flat hard surface - won't remove any tool marks. It'll just make them shiny.

How many rounds through this gun with this hammer & sear installed?

[wichaka]

I would advise against messing with the hammer & sear contact surfaces unless you have the proper tools to do it with.

Creep can be a combination of sear thickness, hammer hook depth, and smoothness of both contact surfaces.

[cmparrish]

Polishing with Flitz (or any other polishing compound) - even backed up by some flat hard surface - won't remove any tool marks. It'll just make them shiny.

How many rounds through this gun with this hammer & sear installed?

Only about 150. I know I could wait until it smooths out on it's own. I'm just a little bit impatiant and with the cost of .45....ouch :)

[cmparrish]

I would advise against messing with the hammer & sear contact surfaces unless you have the proper tools to do it with.

Creep can be a combination of sear thickness, hammer hook depth, and smoothness of both contact surfaces.

So would I be better off to invest in the proper tools or pick up a drop in kit (nowlin, c&s, etc).

[niemi24s]

"Boosting" the hammer might help a little. It involves no tools or gun disassembly. Do an advanced search of this site for "boosting" - the procedure's in there somewhere.

[kcshooter]

Bingo on the boosting trick, but I wouldn't do anything beyond that until you had a few more rounds thru it, best to let these things settle in on their own.

[Hill]

Only about 150. I know I could wait until it smooths out on it's own. I'm just a little bit impatiant and with the cost of .45....ouch :)


You don't have to use any ammo, dry fire the pistol. Get a double benefit by aiming the dry fire shots. Good practice and maybe good for your trigger too.

[AK625]

.45 ammo is costly? Maybe you would like to try reloading? :D

After spending about $500 on equipment you can reload a box of 50 for about $5 - $6... thats if you saved all your brass or scrounged it off the range... ;)

[wichaka]

So would I be better off to invest in the proper tools or pick up a drop in kit (nowlin, c&s, etc).


If all you're wanting to do is smooth things out at the contact surfaces, purchase two stones from brownells........a Medium fine, and an Extra Fine.

Also check out our tech section, where you'll find instructions on the "Poor man's trigger job"

[Ping Ping]

My personal rule is 1000rds before any smithing (assuming the gun runs). Today's creepy trigger, or disconnector click, might be tomorrow's favorite trigger.

Tools and stones are nice things to have around, but if you're only talking about one trigger on one gun, you're probably better off to take it to a smith and drop $50-80 on a trigger job.

[John]

Go to our Technical Issues section and open up an article called "The Poor Man's trigger job". Go through it, and do it. I am sure it will give you a great trigger with no creep.

[bobthewelder]

I have questions about that article. Are all of the stones and files from Brownells? I realize that the glass and sandpaper are not, but what is a 5/16ths? And the ceramic stone and lathe blank? I'm wanting to do this to my PT1911 sometime soon.

[wichaka]

Yes, you can get all the tools thru Brownells.

[John]

I am using a Larsky knife sharpening kit. It has the stones you can use, but sure, Brownells has all the tools you need. Click on their banner above, in the Sponsors Panel.