After I finished the connector test detailed in another post, I took the gun apart, installed a Glock 4.5# connector, polished the trigger bar, connector, and firing pin safety, and installed a heavy trigger spring. I also replaced the sights with some decent carry sights.
Then, just for the heck of it, I ran the trigger pull tests again. Remember, the changes were (a) polish, (b) Glock 4.5# connector, and (c) heavy trigger spring. I took another 20 trigger pull weight measurements.
The word around the campfire has been that the heavy trigger spring reduces trigger pull, right?
Not so much.
The effect of these changes was to increase the trigger pull weight to an average of 5.816 pounds from 5.580 pounds, with a standard deviation of .220.
Hmmm.
My explanation for this unexpected result is that the heavy trigger spring, while it does help pull the trigger back, only does this after the shot has broken. Up to that point the heavy trigger spring is increasing friction by pulling the cruciform of the trigger bar back harder against the nose of the striker. You have to overcome that increased friction by pulling back harder on the trigger, not exactly what we are trying to do.
While I polished the trigger bar including the cruciform, I did not touch the nose of the striker because I just normally avoid that area. So, absent any better explanation of what is going on, my conclusion is that putting in a heavy trigger spring might not reduce trigger pull weight. I'm using the term "might" because I only ran this test with one connector, although I did run it the full cycle of 20 times.
In the meantime, I put the Glock OEM trigger spring back in the gun. With the 4.5# connector, OEM trigger spring, and some polishing, the results are now: trigger pull 5.539#, Std Dev .20. It looks like the polishing did have a very minor effect on the trigger pull weight, but the difference is so small that it could be chalked up to operator error.
I'll bet that if anybody from Glock is reading any of this they are probably getting a pretty good laugh from it.
If any of the readers of this post have a different understanding of how a heavy trigger spring could increase trigger pull weight, please reply and let me know. The only explanation I can come up with is the one I have offered here, and I may be missing something obvious. When I'm zeroed in on a problem I tend to do that.
Chris
Then, just for the heck of it, I ran the trigger pull tests again. Remember, the changes were (a) polish, (b) Glock 4.5# connector, and (c) heavy trigger spring. I took another 20 trigger pull weight measurements.
The word around the campfire has been that the heavy trigger spring reduces trigger pull, right?
Not so much.
The effect of these changes was to increase the trigger pull weight to an average of 5.816 pounds from 5.580 pounds, with a standard deviation of .220.
Hmmm.
My explanation for this unexpected result is that the heavy trigger spring, while it does help pull the trigger back, only does this after the shot has broken. Up to that point the heavy trigger spring is increasing friction by pulling the cruciform of the trigger bar back harder against the nose of the striker. You have to overcome that increased friction by pulling back harder on the trigger, not exactly what we are trying to do.
While I polished the trigger bar including the cruciform, I did not touch the nose of the striker because I just normally avoid that area. So, absent any better explanation of what is going on, my conclusion is that putting in a heavy trigger spring might not reduce trigger pull weight. I'm using the term "might" because I only ran this test with one connector, although I did run it the full cycle of 20 times.
In the meantime, I put the Glock OEM trigger spring back in the gun. With the 4.5# connector, OEM trigger spring, and some polishing, the results are now: trigger pull 5.539#, Std Dev .20. It looks like the polishing did have a very minor effect on the trigger pull weight, but the difference is so small that it could be chalked up to operator error.
I'll bet that if anybody from Glock is reading any of this they are probably getting a pretty good laugh from it.
If any of the readers of this post have a different understanding of how a heavy trigger spring could increase trigger pull weight, please reply and let me know. The only explanation I can come up with is the one I have offered here, and I may be missing something obvious. When I'm zeroed in on a problem I tend to do that.
Chris
