Colt Defender Trigger

[auberg]

Okay, I need some help. I bought a Colt defender today, and got a great price on it. Anyway, the only thing I don't particularly care for is the plastic trigger. Call me old fashioned, I think a trigger should always be metal. So here are my questions. Does the defender take a standard 1911 trigger? and What should it generally cost to replace the trigger on the Defender?

Any other advice about the Defender would be appreciated. ie, the ammo it likes the best.

Thanks

Frank

 

[Wildalaska]

My almostfinishedassoonasigetaroundtofinishingit Defender wears what I consider the best 1911 trigger, the Ed brown "copy" of the Videki.

Make sure you run it properly lubed. Steel feed ramp is nice too...and beavertail...and Novaks.....and checkering and...

heres a pic of one we did a while ago mine will EVENTUALLY look like it as soon as I do the last polish and send it off for Bear Coat

WildlittleblackgunAlaska

 

[Dave Sample]

Does it have a firing pin safety? If it does, you have to be very careful when you set up an after market trigger.

 

[auberg]

Yes, it has the firing pin safety. But, I plan on taking it to a gunsmith that I trust. I was just wondering about the rest.

 

[Wildalaska]

Intallation of a trigger in a series 80 gun is not difficult as long as you:

1. ensure it does not bind (usually a bit of judicous stoning on the bottom of the shoe)

2. ensure that the overtravel is properly set.

Wild$30gunsmithjobAlaska

 

[Dave Sample]

You are wise to not use the overtravel screw in an '80 series gun unless your smith knows enough to let the trigger raise up the little lever .100 of an inch so the firing pin does not get battered. I never reccomend after market triggers in '80 series guns because very few people that install them know how. I have done it a few times, but I know how.

 

[Wildalaska]

Agree with that sentiment, we do it all the time and the exact set of the overtravel is critical

WildpreciseisniceAlaska

 

[RickB]

I usually take the S80 bits out, but decided to leave them in one gun, sort of as a test of the system, and as a test to see if I could ever actually detect the presence of it when firing (I've been reading, for twenty years, about all the awful things S80 does to the trigger feel). I installed a Greider "v-series" trigger, and when adjusting the overtravel screw, I tested both for sear drag on the hammer, and free firing pin travel. I'd turn the screw a quarter-turn then, restraining the hammer, try to depress the firing pin. Then I'd check for sear drag. To my surprise, the firing pin freed up about one-half turn of the screw BEFORE the sear drag disappeared, so the trigger overtravel screw is one full turn "tighter" than required for proper S80 function. I'd heard about using a #2 lever to ensure enough lift, etc., but in this case, the problem never materialized.

 

[Bill Z]

Very wise process Rick. There are no cookie cutter solutions to any of these things. You have to have the whole system working together, and even if two pistols came off of the line behind one another, there could still be some differences. Sounds like you have a handle on the situation.

Wild, you ever gonna get that hair cut? BTW, nice Defender, too nice for you, can I have it?

 

[Wildalaska]

Bill my hair is chopped in fact, if anyone knows where I can donate a 14 inch grey braid to some cancer wig place let me know....

You can have that Defvender, that one is for sale

WildteflonfinishAlaska

 

[Bill Z]

That's one hell of a gesture Ken. Give these people a whirl. Locks of Love It's where a friend of mine donates his to. I think he is on his third donation right now.

 

[Dave Sample]

If you are careful, no problem. I like to put those parts in a plastic bag and tell my clients to put them in a drawer where they belong. My issue with them is NOT the trigger pull, but one of reliabilty. It is one more thing to wrong at Mr. Murphy's time and place and they do nothing for a 1911 but create another potentiial problem. I used a shim next to the hammer and kissed that stuff goodbye! Believe it or not, I have had my clients mess about with my guns after I delivered them. Oh well..............

 

[Wildalaska]

Dave I know you have an issue with Series 80 parts, but in the interests of fairness, at least around here, we have never seen a problem caused by them....

Unlike Kimbers system

That being said I prefer Series 70s myself since they are easier for an idiot like me to put together

Plus retro is cool

Plus its an I dont live in California thing
\

WildlittleleverAlaska

 

[Dave Sample]

Let me quote my last living Hero, Colonel Jeff Cooper. "A wonderful solution for a non existant problem." I like the old stuff, Wild North Man! Or if you will, the KISS Program. (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Me, not you! I hate that slave pin crap and all those extra parts are hard on my old fingers! Sorry, but I have lived without them all my life and am too old to change that horse now! I would rather fade the heat with a lawyer than a widow.

 

[Brian D.]

Getting back to the plastic triggers for a moment...Haven't changed out the one on my Defender, because I'm temporarily out of all-metal ones. (Haven't been bored enough to hit a gun show lately.) Since it's just the front part that's plastic, is it just a personal preference to ditch them, or is there an actual durability problem I'm not aware of?

On the other hand those plastic/nylon mainspring housings bug me enough to swap out asap, but again I don't know exactly why I feel that way, since it seems only by dropping the gun butt-first onto a hard surface could actually break the MSH(?)

Or , have you guys actually seen a plastic MSH crack/fail under the duress of the spring it's holding back? Hasn't come up around here--that anybody will admit to--so I'm curious as to others' experiences.

 

[Dave Sample]

Those trigger are pretty nice. They are black, they are tough, and they are there!
Plastic Mainspring housings are OK if you don't care about your 1911 much. I think they look cheap and tacky, but they work just fine. I also like the weight of a metal one right where I need it for fire control. It is just personal taste for me.

 

[Wildalaska]

Ditto, hate plastic, like nice checkered ed brown flat housing meself

WildmetalmetalAlaska

 

[RickB]

I kind of like the idea of a lightweight MSH on a carry gun. My Commander has the old aluminum MSH, and it works fine. My Delta Elite has the stock, plastic MSH on it, and it takes a much greater beating on that gun than it would on a .45; so far, no problems in maybe 2000 rounds. I swapped the silver plastic one for an Ed Brown, on a stainless gun, and that makes me happy, too.

 

[Dave Sample]

I have a LW S&A mainspring housing flat 20 LPI housing on my LW carry Commander. I gave the arched to Bill B. for a Commander he was working on and he also has the original grips that came with it. I view my 5" 1911's as more like Game Guns that I do Carry Guns nowadays.

 

[auberg]

I appreciate all of the advice. I'm still wondering about ammo though. Everything I carry has Federal Hydroshocks in them. Any thoughts, good or bad, with the Hydroshocks and the Defender?