Looking for a simple yet satisfying upgrade for your 1911 pistol? Here we take a look at Nighthawk's drop-in 1911 trigger.
One of the joys of the 1911 is that it can have an excellent trigger. “Excellent” is not a guarantee, but even an average 1911 trigger pull is lightyears ahead of the standard polymer-framed pistol. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Glock.) Polymer pistols have gotten better, and yes, you can get a much-improved trigger pull in your polymer pistol—but at a cost.
So, you want an even better trigger pull in your 1911? What if I told you that you could get it with a drop-in kit? Yes, drop in and go, and you’re done. No, not a bag full of parts, but a self-contained unit that made your 1911 all it could be.
Call Nighthawk.
The Nighthawk drop-in trigger assembly is a self-contained packet that you simply install as is. No tuning, short of the three-leaf spring (which in the Nighthawk is now a one-leaf spring) to adjust the grip safety tension.
The big deal in regard to tuning a 1911 trigger is that thousandths of an inch matter: The hooks that the sear tip rest in might only be 0.018-inch tall—18 thousandths. So, if the sear or hammer pin holes of your frame are off by a thousandth or two, the hammer and sear need to accommodate that. (And, there are darned few frames where the holes are absolutely dead-on, by the way.) That’s what your pistolsmith sweats when he improves your trigger pull.
The drop-in trigger system eliminates that potential mismatch, and there’s no tuning on your part—Nighthawk already did it.
When you install the drop-in trigger, the entire packet “floats” on the hammer and sear pins you use in reassembly. The drop-in trigger is set up for a trigger pull between 3¾ and 4 pounds. That might seem like a lot if you think you need an IPSC Grandmaster trigger pull of 2 pounds, but if you’re new to the 1911, that weight will seem like magic coming from your poly-whatever. And even if you are accustomed to nice trigger pulls, the clean and crisp setting Nighthawk builds in will make the drop-in seem a pound lighter than it really is.
And, the beauty of it is you don’t have to send your 1911 off and wait months for a custom trigger job. You can install it yourself. Yes, you could buy custom parts and install them yourself, but if there’s a mismatch—even minor—you’re now deep into fitting, stoning, tuning and timing. Or you could send it off. The cost? Yes, $299 might seem a bit spendy, but have you priced the cost (plus shipping both ways) of a custom trigger job? Yikes.
You might have to fit or refit your thumb safety, depending on what the installer had to do to make it fit, but that’s a lot easier than hammer hooks and sear noses work. Will the Nighthawk work in all 1911s? In my experience, if the frame holes are correct enough that you can fit the pins through the Nighthawk drop-in trigger, yes, it’ll work. If they aren’t, that isn’t Nighthawk’s fault.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
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