SR9 Trigger Mod

[john16443]

+100 on doing the general polishing of the parts in Josh's write-up. This made a huge difference after I installed the Ghost Ultimate. Upon initial installation, I was disappointed with the feel of the trigger due to the bump/click mentioned, even after 400 rounds. Did the polish on the yellow part shown in the write-up, and this thing is smooth as silk now.

John

 

[jhearne]

I put the Ghost Ultimate in my SR9c and the trigger is much better. Not sure its 3.5 lbs as advertised (seems more like around 5 lbs) but I dont have a trigger gauge to measure it. Its still acceptable to me. I also did the polishing that Josh showed in his excellent write up in the How To sticky. I even polished the Ghost even though I really didnt need to. The one thing I did different was I also polished the raised parts of the striker where it contacts the channel. My trigger is very smooth now and I dont notice any "bump/click". Not sure if mine had any before the work was done as I never checked.

5 lbs is the average pull I got from a rest/vise setup. 6 lbs was average for my original trigger bar and just over 6.5 lbs for the factory bar, no polish....aside from my other internals of course....those remained polished. I don't notice the bump unless I'm actually trying to feel for it, otherwise I just pull. I have videos of the pulls that I did months ago, but just haven't sat down to do them, my computer's been tied up with other things ATM.

Josh

 

[agentadam]

Upon further investigation the slight bump half way threw the trigger pull seems to be when the the trigger bar contacts the firing pin safety plunger/block and starts to push it down. You can see it threw the magazine well without a magazine in it when you pull the trigger. The same thing happens with some of my glocks but less pronounced.

I am going to polish all of the contact area including the bearing surfaces on the firing pin. I still think the grityness comes from the ridges in the firing pin channel.

The safety block plunger seems to be where the spring stacking 'sproing' noise comes from also, not the firing pin spring. I am going to remove the block temperately and am willing to bet it gets rid of the slight bump/click and spring noise. Its not safe to run it like this though so i will just polish it while its out.

 

[Gizmo42]

5 lbs is the average pull I got from a rest/vise setup. 6 lbs was average for my original trigger bar and just over 6.5 lbs for the factory bar, no polish....aside from my other internals of course....those remained polished.

Are those with the older lighter striker spring or all with the new heavier one. After thinking about it I was wondering if their "3.5 lbs" was with the lighter spring and now its 5-6 lbs with the heavier striker spring. Either way, 5-6 lbs is fine for a CC weapon. Not trying to put 20 shots in the space of a dime at 100 yds LOL.

Nice to know my trigger finger is fairly well calibrated though :lol:

 

[jhearne]

Well YMMV. I only have the original striker spring that came with the gun. 5 lbs is fine though IMO.

Josh

 

[fmcgraw]

After reading the positive comments on the forum I also just installed the Ghost Ultimate and am impressed. I don't know if it's truly 3.5lb as advertised, but it's definitely lighter than factory. I put 150 rounds on it today and did not have the jump on my first shot of each magazine as before. It just feels like a more consistent pull to me on all shots. Thanks all for your thoughtful comments that helped me make the decision.

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

i polished all the parts as mentioned by John
still feel that bump but things are smoother now.
i took out a lot of the machining rough spots but still have that bump
after looking really close at it, i am sure that it is the striker/firing pin assembly that is causing that. the spring in the striker assy. is making spring noises as i pull the trigger back and i located the spot on the striker assy. that is causing the "bump" feeling. at least i think that is what is causing it

if you look at the assembly, near its rear as you compress it, you will notice that one part of the striker moves inside another piece. as the smaller end (the one with the rounded section) pushes into the firing pin housing, it will push up against its wall and i believe that this is that bump...
i dont know, i could be wrong

as for John's firing pin, its all steel looking, did you (john) remove all the paint from it?

my trigger feels light but i swear that it keeps feeling worse....

 

[jhearne]

Josh I assume is what you meant by John

The bump is from the Striker Blocker we think, you can polish it to a degree. A few have been bothered by 'the bump' enough to clip a coil from it's spring. Haven't seen anything bad from it's modification, but it's not something I think is fully necessary. Polishing the blocker allows smoother travel against the Trigger Bar (which you can also polish more if you'd like).

All the SR9/c firing pins are steel with a plastic back end. The first 2/3 of the assembly is steel, while the last bit is just a 2 piece plastic cup and dowel covered with the spring. The dowel just serves as a method of visually telling if the Striker is 'cocked' and you can see it move backwards when you pull the trigger. The plastic Cup just retains the spring and acts as a bushing to the dowel as well.

At one point Ruger blackened the metal strikers, never painted. Ruger's blackening process add's wear prevention to the metal while changing it's physical appearances (blackened) with a chemical heat treat. This process changes on the surface, but does not add any thickness to the steel, the treatment penetrates the surface. Where I work we send parts out to get Nitrided and the process and finish is very similar. The results are quite nice when done properly and the wear prevention is quite nice when the gun isn't abused.

Josh

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

haha, sorry about that josh
(oops)

and yep, i am thinking you are right about the striker blocker...
i see what you mean, yeah its blackened and not painted

i have a fairly early new one, right after the recall.
thanks for pointing that out, i think you are SPOT ON!
i am going to go back and see if i can polish that some but i dont think i will go as far as to clip a coil off the spring

awesome!

again, sorry about the name mistake

 

[jhearne]

No problem man, hope you get the trigger to your liking.

Josh

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

well after working on m sr9 again today i can Confirm that it is not the striker blocker that is causing this.

against better judgment i tested the trigger out without the striker blocker in at all and i still felt the trigger bump leading me back to my original hypothesis that it could be the striker/firing pin assembly itself that is causing this.

i think that the bump occurs when the striker shaft (26) moves past the striker cover (21)
or, perhaps it is related to the striker spring cup (25)

these numbers respond to the exploded view of the sr9 in the back of the instruction manual

i am going to keep looking into it....

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

ok, i was wrong about the striker parts

i am 100% sure of this, i spent some time working the trigger without the slide on and the Ghost Trigger Bar Reset is rubbing against the ejector

100% sure of it

 

[jhearne]

Can't be the Ghost Trigger Connector (it's stationary), you mean the actual Reset Bar? The Reset Bar (#44) is the main moving part of all the internals to push the Striker back before it breaks. I don't think the geometry of the new Ghost Connector is enough to make the small contact between the Reset Bar and Ejector exaggerated enough to be the bump.

I don't normally notice the bump, but tonight after work I can look into mine and see what I can feel....no guarantees though.

Josh

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

i think the ghost bar lightened it up enough to feel the pressure from the trigger bar pushing up against the ejector.
i noticed there is a small (looks intentional) bend in the ejector, along the whole top of it that pushes to the left of the gun (when you have it in your hand pointing away from you).
the whole ejector wiggles with the trigger bar pushing against it when the trigger is actuated

so 40 is pushing against 42

the edges have gotten sharp on mine so i am going to polish them and see if that helps
the trouble is, i think that bump that people feel has to be there due to the design of the gun. the channel that the trigger bar rides in has a drastic change of direction, the trigger bar has to go over a bump in this channel.
so, i am thinking that the whole bump might be a characteristic of the design...

well i am going to go look at it some more later today when i get free time...
if anything, at least i am having fun taking it apart and looking at its innards...

 

[jhearne]

The ejector being slightly bent is common and nothing to worry about. Some have one that looks bent, other's have one that sorta leans one way or the other and the rest don't notice anything odd.

40 doesn't push against 42. The only contact between them comes from the crescent slot cut in the profile of the Ejector and the tiny tab that kicks out and rides in that slot. 40 pushes against 22.

I'd say polishing could do some good since it's worn in some.

Josh

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

i hope this isnt starting to sound silly but i think its 40 pushing on the Ghost bar. the curved part of 40 that comes in contact with the Ghost bar is riding at that new angle than the original bar and is the cause of the bump.
i have polished those parts and they are smooth as a baby's bottom but i still feel the bump.
after looking at it hard and close i determined that that slight bump is nature to the design of the ghost bar and unavoidable.

it in away, it makes it function like a 2 stage trigger, a gradual light take-up and a heavier break at the end.

unfortunately now i can feel the spring compress within the striker assembly...
:lol:

its really not that big of a deal, it is fairly smooth now....

is this what you noticed too? dont take the trouble to look at it again, i feel like i am putting you to trouble

thanks again,
this sure has been a learning experience for me
just going to go shoot it some more and start working on my MKIII trigger again.

thanks Josh

 

[jhearne]

:lol:

You only sound a little silly.

I understand what you mean about the 2 stage trigger, extremely light take up and then loads up before breaking.

I just spent a few minutes dry firing and looking at it all, but I don't feel the bump. I only notice a minute click before it loads up. If I hold and don't break the trigger, and then release it all it clicks back louder. Nothing that bothers me, just all I can notice. If I'm shooting it, I tune that out.

No trouble at all, I honestly enjoy helping folks with what I can, when I can. Plus I like to consider myself mechanically inclined, so tinkering comes naturally.

Josh

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

:!: got it working 100% perfect now,
nice, smooth, even, and fairly light (a lot lighter than stock, even the new ones) trigger pull

what i noticed is that i would feel the bump when i pulled the trigger with my right hand but not with my left.
it boils down to the trigger bar being pushed to the right or to the left depending on what direction force was being applied from the trigger to the trigger bar (minute pressure)
sometimes even when i squeezed it straight back i would feel that bump

so, after fiddling around and pondering i decided it would be a bad idea to bend the trigger bar and ended up making a spacer out of teflon that i placed between the trigger bar and the frame to keep the bar from wiggling around. it kept the bar oriented straight up and down too without any leaning to the left or right

so that piece of teflon (and i mean really really thin) kept my bar straight in the gun and everything aligned properly..... removed the hitch/bump

the trigger bar was riding heavily on the ejector, twisting slightly in that groove. it would happen when force to the trigger was applied coming from the right side of the gun
(i know its bad trigger control when you apply pressure from the right or left of the trigger, it needs to be squeezed straight back to keep your shots consistent and accurate, but i am talking about just a small amount of pressure to the left of the gun from your right handed trigger finger)

the spacer i made tightened the tolerances a little and stopped the trigger bar from being twisted and riding too heavily on the ejector groove

(sorry about this being incoherent and seemingly redundant, i am using a hangover currently i dont have my glasses on to see what i am typing that well)