Build Your Own Trigger
Once you’ve shot a fine trigger, you’re ruined forever. After joining the proud ranks of Trigger Snobs United, you’ll have zero tolerance for a gritty take-up, a mushy break, over-travel, and uneven or excessive weight. I’m thinking designing your own trigger specs, based on your personal preferences, is one of the greatest advantages to designing and building your very own pistol from the ground up.
For this project, I envisioned a fun range and competition handgun, so I wasn’t worried about a trigger safe for concealed carry. With a striker-fired platform like the GLOCK-inspired GSX100, part of the inherent safety design is the trigger pull weight itself. Pistols like 1911s and others with manual safeties can safely sport a light trigger as the shooter has to consciously disengage the safety before the trigger will operate. Ipso facto, e. pluribus unum, a “standard” GLOCK-compatible suitable for defensive or duty use will come equipped with a 5.5-lb. or greater trigger weight. When lawyers get involved, some agencies (we’re looking at you New York) dictate triggers like the NY1 and NY2 ranging in pull weight from 8 to 12 lbs.!
For this build, the Performance Center folks at the GlockStore design shop recommended their Basic Pyramid Trigger System. This part consists of a “drop in” trigger face, leaf safety and trigger bar to replace, or in this case, supply, those components.
The Pyramid trigger bar is coated with Titanium Nitride, a gold-finished substance that’s extremely hard and friction free — helping to smooth the trigger movement through its length of travel. The face is available in about a billion different colors, as is the safety leaf itself. Do take advantage of this cosmetic bonus as it creates a nice visual accent to any custom pistol build. For this pistol, we elected to go with a red trigger and black trigger leaf to match the overall pistol design. The Basic Pyramid Trigger will run you about $139.99 and boy does it make a difference.
You’ll also find the Pyramid Trigger adjustable for pre and over travel. Using a tiny included Allen wrench, you adjust pre- and over-travel distance. The tiny Allen screws are set with red Loctite, so you’ll need to heat them with a heat gun or lighter before making adjustments. That’s a good thing, as they won’t come loose during operation.
There are a couple of other parts enhancing the overall trigger operation. We chose the Double Diamond 3.5-lb. connector, a 4.5-lb. competition striker spring and 6-lb. trigger spring. Keep in mind the heavier trigger spring assists trigger movement, so the heavier spring spec weight may seem a bit counter-intuitive. Oh, and the connector is NP3-coated for slick operation over the long haul.
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