Shortening the first stage pull on AR triggers

[leroy]

Dear fellow Tinkerers and AR mechanics:_____________

Have just done another AR lower using the usual GI parts. Smoothed the engagement surfaces on both the hammer and trigger. The pull is slick; but a bit too long to suit me. The question is: How would you shorten the first stage pull? Do you bevel the hammer notch a bit; or bevel the trigger?

Please think about this and let me know what you think.
Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,
Leroy

[DMark]

Leroy,

I have known some who put a small spot weld on the underside rear of the trigger. In affect that will stage the trigger a little and shorten the pull.

[leroy]

Leroy,

I have known some who put a small spot weld on the underside rear of the trigger. In affect that will stage the trigger a little and shorten the pull.

Thanks DMark!! I appreciate it. I'll file that one away for future reference.

By the way; talked with one of my AR gunsmith buddies and complained about this. He said: "Gimme the lower"; went back into the tool room, put in another GI trigger, handed it to me, and the problem was fixed. All i need to do is to stone the trigger a bit to smooth it up. I guess the moral of this story is that you can play with parts and fix lots of things on the AR (...if you got em laying around...).

Again, many thanks and kind regards,
Leroy

[LngRngShtr]

I have someone trying this to solve the long pull he has on his M4-gery

Junk Yard Genius.com AR-15/M-16 Pages, page 1.

I can let you know what he thinks when he is done,..

John

[leroy]

I have someone trying this to solve the long pull he has on his M4-gery

Junk Yard Genius.com AR-15/M-16 Pages, page 1.

I can let you know what he thinks when he is done,..

John

Thanks John. I appreciate it. Let me know what he thinks. Looks like what they are doing is shortening the trigger overtravel after the hammer breaks.

Again, many thanks,
Leroy

[Garufa]

The first stage pull is only an issue on the first shot, after that it should all be second stage. More or less.

[LngRngShtr]

Looks like what they are doing is shortening the trigger overtravel after the hammer breaks.

Again, many thanks,
Leroy

Leroy,..

I looked it over a second time and , actually due to being behind the pivot point , it acts as a take up screwan over travel screw would have to be forward of the pivot point say adding some shim stock under the ledge in front of the spring if there is room to do that securely or possibly tapping the lower in front of the trigger with the screw setting upwards..

I am looking forward to the reports and will keep you updated..

John

P.S. here is an X-ray I found.. helped me to see how it all goes together..

AR-15 X-ray photo - Ron N. photos at pbase.com

[leroy]

Leroy,..

I looked it over a second time and , actually due to being behind the pivot point , it acts as a take up screwan over travel screw would have to be forward of the pivot point say adding some shim stock under the ledge in front of the spring if there is room to do that securely or possibly tapping the lower in front of the trigger with the screw setting upwards..

I am looking forward to the reports and will keep you updated..

John

P.S. here is an X-ray I found.. helped me to see how it all goes together..

AR-15 X-ray photo - Ron N. photos at pbase.com

John:____________
You are exactly right. The screw can shorten up the first stage trigger pull. The great x ray picture cleared that up. Looks like it pivots the trigger a little bit and lessens the engagement; shortening the engagement depth between the trigger and hammer. Can't wait to hear about your friend's opinion on this.

Again, many thanks and kind regards
Leroy

[Dolomite_supafly]

I do the 1/4-28 setscrew mad to all my AR's. It works great and you don't have to take the fire control group apart unless you want to smooth things up, which I also do to mine. Something else you can do is take some material off the rear of the trigger under the safety to make it even better. .030" is about the max you want to take off otherwise it can become unreliable. Also, when taking the .030" off the rear of the trigger you sometimes have to take a little off the diconnector hook to get it to release.

Personally, I leave the trigger alone other than giving it a good smoothing on the front where it contacts the hammer.

I have showed a few friends how to do this and they say it works great as well.

Dolomite

[leroy]

Thanks Dolomite. I appreciate it. I tend to fiddle with stuff, and always take the parts apart and stone them smooth or polish them. I make sure everything is smooth and lube the mating surfaces with a synthetic grease. This particular trigger (...standard gi part...) had a large acount of first stage travel before the trigger broke. I think it was that the trigger was at the absolute upper end of the machining tolerance for the part.

Thanks for the info.
Kind regards,
Leroy