1911 hammer following slide and gang style shooting

[375RUGER]

I'll put this here becasue it has to do with a firearm malfunction.
The wife's Thompson Custom 1911 has been functioning fine till this weekend. Out shooting with the kids, the hammer started following the slide into battery. Working the slide slowly it is fine. Working the slide fast, the hammer falls. I knew what it was right away but didn't have the tools to fix till I got home. Bent the spring back to it's proper geometry and she's back in business.
This is the wife's primary carry weapon, she'd sooner leave home without money or ID as to go anywhere without that .45.
Can't put her life at risk over an $8 part, so I think I will get a Nowlin Match Spring for one of mine and upgrade her's with the takeout. How lucky is she?

This was a good object lesson for the boys. They were fooling around holding the gun horizontal like some gangbanger when it started malfunctioning. I said, "see, don't get in a fire fight and hold your gun like that, you'll be the loser."

"Yes, Sir. We were just fooing around."

Of course the gun will function just fine in the horizontal position but I just don't need them getting stupid and making a habit out of that.
One of them was my son and the other his friend. Both will be going in to the Marines in a couple of years. I need to get them both to the range for a little in depth instruction on combat techniques with emphasis on accuracy, especially the friend, I don't think his dad does much shooting or much with the boy either.

[Bren R.]

Most (Bullseye/NRA) competition 1911s (Clark, Willings, etc.) I've fired have so little sear engagement, it's normal to hold back the hammer when dropping the slide, so I've just become used to it.

Good way to teach a healthy respect of firearms to the boys.

Bren R.

[375RUGER]

I have an update. I decided to swap the spring out tonight. My old AMT had a much better spring(thicker) but that wasn't the problem. Time to remove the sear. That was the culprit. It was showing wear already and the gun has only had a few hundred rounds through it. I recut the engagement surface and it's doing good now. I guess I'll get her a new sear also. Hammer looked OK, but she might get that too.

Checked my AMT that I've had since '94 and several thousands rounds later the sear looks just like I cut it back then.

At least I found this out now instead of when she really needed it to perform.

[MtGun44]

Drop in an Ed Brown hammer and sear and save yourself some grief.

Bill

[David2011]

+1 for good parts! Be sure to check the over-travel screw if it has one. Too little over-travel can cause the half cock notch to hit the sear and eventually beat it out of shape. This will cause hammer follow. If you feel anything touching as you hold the trigger and lower the hammer with your thumb the over-travel is probably too tight.

If you have the proper tools and skills to cut a sear and hammer notch it's hard to beat Brownell's ceramic stones for the final cut and polish for a first class trigger job. The white ceramic stone leaves a very high polish on the surface cut by it. A defensive hammer notch should be .025- .030 deep. A competition hammer notch can be .020 deep. My own competition gun's trigger breaks at 2 pounds and hasn't malfunctioned at that pull in 10,000 rounds. I shot it at 2 lb 12 oz for about 60,000 rounds before dropping it to 2 pounds even. A light sear spring should not cause following if properly balanced. Brownell's has a great article on how to balance the trigger and sear functions of the sear spring in their Guntech section.

David

[mstarling]

Slide follow is usually either the hammer engagement ears or the sear or both. There are several companies that now make matched hammer/sear sets that give very good triggers. Not cheap, but pretty good.

The Brownell's discussion is quite good.

I have worn out one of these sets in a Super. Can be very exciting when it happens. Requires immediate replacement and destruction of the worn parts.

[scrapcan]

mstarling,

I understand what you say about the fun and excitement when they go. I got to watch one climb the wall as it emptied the magazine. I was not on the trigger but standing by as an RO. Quite exciting and was very glad the lady had only loaded 5 rounds.

[MtGun44]

A properly done trigger will not drop if you slam the slide down on an empty chamber.
All of my trigger jobs are tested against this. 5 or 6 drops of the slide as a test. Not good
to do it all the time, but a great test of whether the gun is set up properly. It amazes
me how shoddy many trigger jobs on 1911s are when they are not that difficult.

Bill

[Houndog]

I just fixed my Colt Commander that was doing the same thing! I replaced the Sear, Hammer and Disconnecter as well as the mainspring and Sear spring with a kit from Cylinder and Slide. According to the paperwork that came with it the parts are made of A2 tool steel and already mated. I wound up with a 3.5 pound trigger pull that breaks like glass.