From the Archives: Tips on Trigger Control

One of the issues that most people have is that they don’t understand trigger control. Learning the pin and reset technique will help you learn the distance of the over-travel and reset which are most important parts.
****
There are four parts to a trigger.
1. Pre-travel
2. break
3. over-travel
4. reset
Warning: Do not mess with the trigger of your gun unless you know what your doing. Take it to a qualified gunsmith and let them do the work.

Pre-travel is the amount of “play” the trigger has before engaging the sear.
I like a lot a pre-travel. This gives my finger the opportunity to engage the trigger and get a feel for it. It is almost nec. to slap triggers that have no pre-travel since you can’t interface with it. I like about 14 ounces of pre-travel on my 1911 type triggers. On a 1911 you can check this by having the gun fully assembles but without the beavertail in place. Lift the left side of the three leaf spring (the sear leaf) and then use a trigger pull gauge to check the pre-travel. On a Glock this is almost impossible to measure because you are partially cocking the firing pin during the trigger pull.

The break is the actually disengagement of the sear and hammer. I prefer my triggers have about a 21-26 ounce pull on a 1911. The Glock triggers I use are set-up by customglock.com and they break right about two pounds.

The over-travel is the distance the trigger moves from the break to the contact with the frame. On a 1911 this is set by the screw at the bottom of the trigger face. I prefer a bit of over-travel. This helps keep my finger from running into the frame especially weak or strong hand.

The reset is the distance from the contact of the frame to the reengagement of the sear and hammer.

A well set up trigger should feel clean with no dragging anywhere. It should bounce back to the reset.
I have Don Golembieski of Kodiak Precision set up the triggers with a slight rolling break on the sear. The way he does them is pretty amazing. Most people can’t feel the roll on his triggers and think that they are a crisp break. Too crisp of a break for me and I can see movement in the sights.