Homebrew trigger pull gauge?

[melchloboo]

Is it possible to weigh the trigger pull without one of those $30+ gauges? I am never able to hook up with the club member who has one.

I am not interested in great precision. I just want to figure out if either the factory trigger plunger and spring or the VQ set put me over 2lbs, but under 2.5. Can I just put some small weights or a can of pennies on a string or clothes hangar and see when the trigger breaks?

Currently I have the factory in, it would also help if somebody knows the exact (more or less) difference between the factory plunger and spring and the VQ set.

[recumbent]

Can I just put some small weights or a can of pennies on a string or clothes hangar and see when the trigger breaks?

yes you can, you can even use a jug of water. You put your weight o a table and lift the weight with the pistols trigger.

[melchloboo]

thanks. now i just have to figure out how many pennies in a pound or volume of water in a pound.

[Yleefox]

One ounce of water weighs approximately one ounce. A gallon of pure water weighs approximately 8.33 lbs. Of course, then you need to know what the container holding the water weighs.

Hope this helps

Y

[Rev]

The way I do it is to get a gallon freezer bag to hold the water. I make a hook out of a piece of coat hanger wire with a hook at both ends, one for the trigger and one for the bag. A hole is made in then freezer bag in the unsealed part with a hole puncher for the hook to attach to.I weigh the hook and the dry freezer bag on a postage scale. I get about 1 oz. for the hook and bag togather. Each oz. of water as measured from a measuring cup into the bag is just that, 1 oz.

It's a fairly accurate way to measure the trigger pull weight. It should tell you what you need to know.

Rev

[melchloboo]

Thanks, I will do it that way. I never knew that measuring cups were calibrated to water, or is that just a coincidence?

[melchloboo]

Worked great. Although I used a small coffee can, a hanger (can & hanger =.25), and some .25 weights from an ankle weight.

The results were that my VQ sear, hammer, and trigger swap (but with factory spring and plunger) is somewhere between 2.25 and 2.5. That is pretty much where I wanted it.

Not sure I have anything to gain by putting back the vq spring and plunger back without risking falling below 2 (which judging by the difference in feel after I put the factory spring back, it almost certainly was below 2), but at least now I know how to check it.

This is very cool, I don't know why none of the old timers in the club mentioned this to me before when I was asking around for a scale. Seems to me that properly calibrated, this would be more accurate than some of the devices out there? Plus the suspense as fun as the gun slowly lifted...

[melchloboo]

well, if anybody cares i broke down and reinstalled the vq spring and re-weighed, and it came somewhere between 1.75 and 2#. so i put back the factory spring for 2 reasons:

1. to know it will pass the 2# test required for some matches.
2. i do not like the feel of the trigger return with the vq spring, it seems very slow. i don't think it will fail to reset (as i have attributed that problem before to the pretravel screw) but i think it is a distraction during rapid fire when the trigger feels very sluggish to reset.

[mes44317]

I know exactly what you mean about the sluggish trigger return. It is some what of a pain when you have to makesure your trigger finger isn't touching the trigger at all or it just won't reset.

I found the same thing with the VO trigger kit that the springs that came with it are just a bit to light to consistantly pass the trigger pull test. I fixed it by shimming the VO spring with some brass. I made the shims from 22 rimfire brass. Two shims made mine 2lbs 2-5 ounces. (I have a digital gage)