Saturday I attended a gun show at the TN State Fairgrounds in Nashville, TN. When I go I am generally looking for older collectible firearms, and any type of memorabilia. Unfortunately I didn’t find much of either that was all that interesting. What I did see was plenty of people walking around not buying a whole lot. Maybe it’s because it’s so hard to find anything from our distributors right now. I have had two sales walk out of the shop because no one could fill the orders for me.

The interesting thing is that there were so many people trying to sell lowers for AR’s. I didn’t see any of them moving, but everyone there was working a deal. One place offered a “free” t-shirt with the purchase of a lower. Others offered out the door prices or tax included prices.

What was missing was the it factor that we all look for at shows. That certain piece for our collection. The latest greatest gadgets. Maybe just something to splurge on. I guess I wasn’t the only one because none of my friends bought anything either.

One of the questions that we get asked a lot is why the Glock trigger doesn’t feel as good as a 1911? The short answer is that the two systems are fundamentally different and cannot produce anything close to one another. Think apple and orange juice. Both juices, not the same. 1911 and Glock. Both have triggers, not the same. So what’s the difference?

The Glock is striker fired. In the animation you can see the striker being moved during the trigger pull. What you don’t see is the trigger bar in contact with the connector on the other side. To lessen felt pull on a Glock you must first change the angle of the connector. Here is a picture of the trigger bar in contact with the connector.

Notice where the two angles meet. The trigger bar must slide down the entire length of the angle. That doesn’t look like a long way, but in reality that is quite a bit of movement that must take place before gun will fire. What you have is a perceptual creep that leads to the spongy feel of the Glock trigger.

Now let’s consider the 1911. The 1911 has far less movement because the sear and hammer design. When you pull the trigger as seen in the animation it contacts the sear which releases the hammer. Study this picture of a 1911 hammer and sear as they would be engaged inside the gun.

You can see that the distance required to release the hammer is much smaller than the Glock. What’s more, your gunsmith can tune that trigger to a precise pull by adjusting the relationship between the hammer and sear. He can give you a crisp trigger that breaks suddenly, or he can add a small amount of creep to make it feel even lighter than it actually is.  It is a game of angles.

Because of these differences it is impossible to make the Glock feel like a 1911. Does that mean it’s not a good trigger? Not at all, but it does require some transition from the 1911 to the Glock. If the Glock was the first gun you ever trained with, it seems natural. Just remember if you are a 1911 shooter, you have been using what most consider the best trigger pull in handguns, and a Glock will never feel that way.

Here is the animation of the Colt 1911. Notice again from the beginning the trigger movement. You should be able to see the sear and hammer. This is one major difference between the 1911 and Glock.