Hello all.
I have a FN marked Hi Power with the SFS system, and I absolutely love it. It's by far my favorite gun to shoot. Unfortunately my trigger pull is somewhere in the neighborhood of six pounds or so, even after removing the mag safety. I was hoping that after a fair bit of use the trigger would smooth out, but after 4-5000 rounds it seems that the pull has stopped improving. It's crisp, but heavy.
After hearing good things about different gunsmiths that do trigger jobs on the Hi Power, I contacted several of them - only to be told that they cannot work on the SFS system at all, and I'm basically stuck with the current trigger pull. I love the SFS system and don't want to remove it, so am I completely out of luck?
Maybe someone who has a more intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Hi Power can explain to me why the SFS is so hard to work on.
I consider myself a decent shot, but I feel that I'm at the point where the trigger pull on my Hi Power is hindering my ability to improve my skills. It's very frustrating, and any help would be appreciated.
Thank you in advance, and I apologize for the long post.
+1 on Cylinder and Slide (www.cylinder-slide.com). I had their SFS kit installed in my "classic" 9mm Browning Hi Power, and I love it. I would say that, possibly excepting FN itself, C&S is the premier expert on SFS gear (which includes 1911s, by the way). However, C&S's backlog guarantees a months-long wait.
I know you have discovered that you cannot lock the slide all the way back with an SFS handgun. Have you figured out yet that you don't have to hold the slide back to withdraw the slide release? Ya just cock it -- flip the hammer control up -- push-pull the slide release out, and ease the slide off forward. An SFS-equipped handgun is one of the easiest to field strip that I know of.
Incidentally, the gunsmith who installed the SFS kit in my Hi Power had no idea what it did! I had to show him. He was dumbfounded.
Cordially, Jack
I had Alexander Hamilton of Ten Ring Precision in San Antonio work on my SFS Hi Power, and he had no problem with it. He has been a gunsmith for quite a few years, I am guessing something like 40 or so, writes a gunsmith column for one of the magazines. Advertises both 1911s and Hi Powers in particular on his website (as well as a lot of other guns). http://www.tenring.com/
Had him refinish it, remove the mag safety, and tidy up the trigger to 5 lbs. Was about $275 for the whole deal. (I have a post on it somewhere on this forum.).
I waited about 6 weeks for him to be ready to accept the pistol, then it took, umm 2 or 3 weeks as I recall until it was ready.
Good luck.
elb
(and yes, I find my SFS Hi Powers to be very easy to field strip).
C&S was actually one of the gunsmithing services that I contacted regarding a trigger job. I asked if they could do anything for my trigger pull, and whether or not their improved sear lever could be installed into the SFS system. Here's the email I got back:
This is a great question, which is asked a lot.
With the SFS system, the trigger pull you have with it is what you get.
The SFS system is part of the trigger system, and we cannot change parts
in it and still have the SFS work properly.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask
Dan
ELB, thank you for the heads up about tenring.com, I'll contact him sometime this week. Do you happen to remember what he did that reduced the trigger pull, or did you just send it in to let him work his magic?
The reason that I ask is that I've heard that it's possible to get a better trigger pull by reducing some of the spring weights in the gun and I'm not sure I'm comfortable having that done. If he reduces the pull by other means then that's fine.
I specifically told Alex that I did not want to compromise reliability, and wanted to go no less than 5lbs on the pull. The pull measured a bit over 7 lbs before I had it worked on, and it was never a "bad" trigger, just not as slick and crisp as I would like. I had 2000 rounds thru the gun at the point I gave it to him, and I asked him to put in new springs as well (part of the $275 he charged me). As for what he specifically did beyond taking out the mag safety, I know he put in a trigger stop, and polished various surfaces. That may have been enough to drop the trigger pull to five pounds, I don't know, would have to ask him. But given my emphasis to him on maintaining reliability, and being less interested in a light trigger and more on a smooth one, I don't believe he tinkered with any spring weights.
The pistol was absolutely reliable before I gave it to him, and absolutely reliable afterwards; the trigger was indeed smoother, a bit shorter pull, and the reset a little better defined too. (Not like the 1911s I have tried, but better than it was). So I was happy.
He is easy to talk to, so give him a ring. He did have an assistant at the time I had him do this work -- talked to the assistant first, but Alex himself called back later to make sure he understood what I wanted.
C&S was actually one of the gunsmithing services that I contacted regarding a trigger job. I asked if they could do anything for my trigger pull, and whether or not their improved sear lever could be installed into the SFS system. Here's the email I got back:
This is a great question, which is asked a lot.
With the SFS system, the trigger pull you have with it is what you get.
The SFS system is part of the trigger system, and we cannot change parts
in it and still have the SFS work properly.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask
Wow, that doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe I just don't understand, but the sear lever has nothing to do with the SFS parts. I'll try calling them in the morning and see what they tell me. I was thinking about installing the lever in one of mine, so I'm definitely interested in what they have to say.
Thanks for the info!
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