[pknight]

My 1911 has trigger about 1/4" travel, before engaging.
what do most Masters / Experts use as far as trigger travel. is there no travel and trigger starts to pull immediately?

 

[waktasz]

1/4 inch is a lot. Hard to say what mine is but probably less than 1/16". Does yours have an adjustment tab on the front of the trigger bow?

 

[motosapiens]

I think for a lot of folks it doesn't really make much difference in actual shooting. my trojan has very little slack. my sig (with FPB) has a considerable amount since it has to activate the fpb. I can't tell a difference in shooting them.

 

[Paxson]

1/4" is excessive. Don't know what folks are exactly doing now but back when zero take-up was popular for awhile but folks got away from that as there was a problem that the trigger might not always reset when the gun got dirty and there was a little bit more safety margin if you had a little take-up left in. My best gun (my old worked over Michigan Armament that I made Master with) was/is about 1/32" and my worked over Colt comp/pin gun was/is a little more. Personally, I was never comfortable with the zero take-up triggers.

 

[Rwehavinfunyet]

Take-up and triggers.....

Years ago, gunsmiths would often reduce take-up by soldering a thin shim on the back of the trigger bow. Today, some triggers, like STI triggers, have bendable tabs at the front that can reduce the desired amount of take-up.

Most gunsmiths allow a slight bit of take up to allow the trigger to reset properly. Most shooters adjust their over travel screws in the trigger pad so the trigger can not move further to the rear the moment the trigger breaks....then loc tite the over travel screw......

 

[EvolutionArmory]

A quarter inch is excessive and I think the OP is exaggerating/guessing/estimating what it actually is. Pretravel is usually measured in thousandths of an inch. The general consensus seems to be that you need at least .040 for safe operation. The OP suggests that he has .250 of pretravel which is 6.25 times the minimum. Not likely. Your trigger should reset when held back and the gun is cocked to the half cock position. I haven't come across too many factory production guns that pass that test or had too much pretravel. The vast majority don't have enough.

Pretravel is VERY necessary to the safe operation of the gun. Removing it completely can be dangerous.

 

[pknight]

Thanks for all your input