Tricky triggers and such!

[G.T.]

I'm writing this little segment on triggers, cuz I'll do most anything to take a break from revising snail drums! But, that being the case, there is a lot to learn, and retain, on how to improve Luger triggers! Now most look at lugers as a gun where the trigger wiggles, and somewhere between full forward, and full back, it goes off? And some where between full back and full forward, the disconnector allows us to do it again, and to be truthfull, sometmes I'm real happy to just get that! But, lets look a little deeper. When studying the Luger trigger, you have two distinct values, and they are, "range of motion/travel" of four parts, and,"spring tension" which affects 3 springs, (four if you count the disconnector spring)
Let's start with the trigger. Most Lugers will sear break, or release the firing pin when they get clear back to the frame? If you're lucky, just slightly before hitting the frame itself. This travel can be tested by installing the trigger, less the spring and checking as to what actual distance from the frame you have. You then might reinstall the spring and confirm that the travel is the same spring installed or no? When releasing the trigger, you want to verify it is going all the way forward as well. This is important to make the disconnector work properly, but it just has to work, no tuning needed. Which brings us to the trigger lever and side plate assembly. Without the top half, install your sideplate just as you would if you were re-assemblling you Luger. Make sure the sideplate is snug, and also when looking down from the top, the sideplate is square parellel with the frame rails. Now when you squeeze the trigger, the trigger lever top pad part should come out and be perfectly flush with the front edge of the sideplate. When you have that, you have done all that you can do in the travel department, and as long as we're still in that area, you can make some, actually one, improvement by trying different trigger springs! A big part of the trigger pull weight, or lack of, can be tuned with different weight trigger springs. Keep in mind, they have to be short enough to allow the trigger to pull back all the way, and strong enough to allow the disconnector to work!
If you get a little to overzealous with your adjustments, and the tripper lever pad comes in too far, it will rub on the receiver during recoil, and cause those nasty streaks on the receiver in front of the sideplate, soooo, don't do that, make it flush.
Now we go to the top half, barreled receiver! First thing is DO NOT grind some off the sear bar, or the firing pin sear block. The over lap and travel of these two parts are critical to SAFE and reliable function, again, don't modify these parts! It's hard enough to make them work when they are right! But, you can polish the sear areas as long as you stay away from the sear lip/edge area.
That being said, we have two springs that have a pretty big influence on trigger pull, and they are the firing pin spring, and the sear bar spring. One you can mess with, one you shouldn't.
The firing pin springs are usually pretty stiff, and put considrable tension on the sear surfaces which can be reduced with the weaker, shorter, clipped or nearly worn out spring, until you reach your desired trigger pull weight. The sear bar spring is a no-no! All you'll get with weakening that is a full auto Luger. Last but not least, you may need to alter the sear bar slightly. You need to support it between to plastic blocks and tap it so it bends right where it pivots in the receiver. When it is correct (on most lugers) the edge of the sear bar is flush, or just a little proud of the protective rail right above it!! Now, If you do any of the work I've suggested above, you're on your own! I want to say right now, I am not responsible for any of the results of these suggestions! They are for sharing knowledge and I personally do not recommend them to anyone with out prior knowledge or skills in this area. If you make the change, you ARE the manufacture!!! Ok, so much for the disclaimer,
If you do go into the Luger forest, at least go slow, and change little... Best to all, til....lat'r.....GT....

[G.T.]

Hi to all, made some small changes, mainly about the firing pin spring, please reread... best, GT