Webley Senior trigger

[essjay]

Webley Seniors seem to be the flavour of the month - maybe even the year.
I've recently bought one dating from the early 50's and have given it a bit of a service including a new mainspring.
It all works fine, but I feel the trigger pull is heavy. (compared to my Steyr )
I've polished the sear face and greased it all, but this hasn't made much difference.
Has anyone tried modifying the sear angle ?
I wondered if this would ease the pull a little - but I don't want to wreck it.
Thanks.
sj

[CHJF177]

I have stripped and put back together numerous seniors ( and other webleys) over the years.

All I have ever done is when necessary replace a broken sear as tapping out pins is
required.

I would leave it as it is personally, it will never be a match trigger in a million years
whatever you do to it, which has to be limited anyway, heavy it may be but is it
smooth?

Bear in mind it has to hold back a lot of mainspring pressure when cocked that your
trigger finger via the sear has to overcome.

The danger is you may set it dangerously light and make it unstable.

I'm wondering if the sear angle you are referring to is the oblique one at the top of the sear?
This is only there to allow the piston to withdraw over the sear when cocking the pistol and for the collar on the piston to ride over it easily
before the sear drops into engagement in the rebate with 90 degree sear contact on the flat edge of the sear.
Hope my explanation makes sense !

Chris.

[RobinC]

Hi Steve
Why do you want it lighter? Not taking the Vintage spring pistol comp seriously are we?
Robin

[essjay]

Hi Steve
Why do you want it lighter? Not taking the Vintage spring pistol comp seriously are we?
Robin

If I was serious, I'd get some special shoes and socks
S.

[essjay]

I'm wondering if the sear angle you are referring to is the oblique one at the top of the sear?
This is only there to allow the piston to withdraw over the sear when cocking the pistol and for the collar on the piston to ride over it easily before the sear drops into engagement in the rebate with 90 degree sear contact on the flat edge of the sear.
Hope my explanation makes sense !

Chris.

Thanks Chris,
Your explanation is very clear - the sear angle I referred to was effectively the flat vertical face that engages with the collar on the piston. I've looked again at this collar and polished that too - it was quite rough with machining marks. This has smoothed the trigger pull - it's still heavy but doesn't feel like it.
sj

[ashf9999]

Webley Senior triggers can be a bit heavier than modern pistols as they are very basic. Out of interest, before you removed the trigger / sear etc, was there any signs of someone having done that before? (ie marking on the pins or frame where a punch had been used?) Just wondering if it is a re-build from the past, and the person fitted a different or incorrect internal sear or trigger for that particular version, as the spec did change slightly over the years. That could screw up the internal geometry. Easiest thing is to find someone else local who has a Senior and compare trigger pulls. As long as you only polished the components and didn't change any angles, what you did should have only smoothed the pull. I have 4 Seniors of different vintages - I'd say they have triggers on the heavier side, but all are comparable and have a crisp let-off. I haven't polished the internals on them.

[essjay]

. Out of interest, before you removed the trigger / sear etc, was there any signs of someone having done that before? (ie marking on the pins or frame where a punch had been used?) ......

Don't think it had been apart before.
The pins/frame were unmarked and the sear still blued - apart from the bearing edge.
I'm pretty sure the components are all correct.
Polishing the sear and the piston collar has improved the trigger pull.
I realise it's always going to be heavy - but now it's smooth.
Thanks for your help.
sj