Bond Arms Trigger Work

The most important choice in selecting a firearm for personal defense is to pick one you can and will use. If the selected firearm is uncomfortable or difficult to use (i.e. trigger pull too stiff) then you won’t use it. However, if on someone else’s advice you have already spent the money, the next course of action is to see if what you bought can be made to work for you. In this case, the purchaser was a lady who wanted a "snake charmer" to carry along when walking her property.

I’ve been there and she needed one. She had been encouraged to purchase a Bond Arms Rowdy .45LC/.410 derringer. Her problem was the heavy trigger pull required to fire the steroid-enhanced compact pistol was more than she could manage when trying to aim at the same time. The stiff trigger pull limited her ability to use the pistol effectively. Her request to me was to at least make the trigger feel smoother when used. I have very little experience with the concentrated cannons and so conducted a little research.

Bond Arms deliberately produced a pistol with a heavy trigger pull—about 8 pounds. Their concern is that a heavy trigger is recommended to be safely carried in such a hostile environment as a pocket or a purse. The 45LC/.410. Big punch, small package. manual also states that the trigger will be smoother with use. The logical error in this case concerns the belief that with a trigger pull too heavy to comfortably use, that the owner will ever bother to cycle it enough to improve the feel.

I agreed to examine the pistol and do what I could without altering the springs or sear engagement as these are critical to safe operation. The Bond Arms "Rough Series" line of derringers are built to meet an entry-level price target. From the company’s website, "[W]e do minimal clean up and deburr to make sure there are no sharp edges and then we bead blast the finish. With this gun, part of the ‘cool factor’ is that you can actually see the parting lines in the metal frame and trigger guard.

As a final touch we left in some of the swirly tool marks on the barrel just to give it that more ‘rough & tumble’ look. Also, since we are not sanding and polishing the frame, you may see tiny casting imperfections and rough areas that would never be acceptable for our current line of products." Many labor-intensive (and, therefore, expensive) polishing steps are left out. Where it is believed to have no user impact, the frame is less polished as the casting marks show on the inside of the grip frame.

The stainless steel barrels are not brightly polished and show some tool marks. The lower frame is beadblasted inside and out as a low-cost alternative to several additional polishing and finishing steps. Removing the grips reveals some of the areas that are defined as less critical are not machined smooth as are the separation marks on the outside. The bead-blasted stainless frame does present an attractive appearance and a good texture for gripping.

Project Scope I agreed to examine the pistol and do what I could without altering the springs or sear engagement as these are critical to safe operation. Without disassembling the pistol, my initial idea was to see what I could do to smooth the trigger pull and make the hammer easier to draw back. The first step would be to address the trigger and then follow up with the hammer assembly. On to removing the trigger. The trigger assembly is deep in the frame.

To access it, you will have to remove the trigger guard and the locking le-

Trigger guard, locking lever flipper, locking lever, and locking lever spring. Above center: The location of the trigger pivot pin which is located far to the rear of the trigger. This explains why Bond Arms recommends a trigger pull that is both back and down. ver assemblies. The trigger guard is an addition to the classic derringer design held in place by one tapered screw designed for a 5/64 hex wrench. The screw is located inside the frame.

Removing the add-on trigger guard will make it easier to drop the trigger after the trigger pivot pin is removed. Before that, you must use your hex wrench to release the locking lever flipper, enabling you to remove the locking lever and spring. For once you have a fairly substantial spring that is well behaved. This allows access to the trigger. The trigger pivot pin is located far to the rear.

The radically displaced trigger pivot pin accounts for the manufacturer’s recommendation to pull the trigger back and down, rather than straight back as most are used to. Note the location of the trigger pivot located far to the rear of the trigger. Using my handy clothes pin as an improvised armorer’s block, a brass punch makes short work of driving the pivot pin to the left in the frame. The pivot pin moves Far Grip frame assembly, hammer, and hammer pin.

The hammer pin is located under the grips. easily allowing you to work the trigger free from the frame. With the locking lever and trigger removed, you can see the beadblasted finish extending evenly throughout the interior of the grip frame. While the bead-blasted stainless provides a useful gripping surface on the outside, it may not be the best for the interior of the frame. I decided for the time being to leave the interior finish unaltered.

Trigger Points The trigger is an interestingly shaped piece and serves several functions. Again, I want to call attention to the unusual distance between the trigger surface and the trigger pivot. This accounts for the unusual motion required to "pull" the trigger down instead of back. The long distance is required for the trigger to perform both its functions—releasing the hammer sear and indexing the cam to move the internal hammer up and down between the upper and lower rebounding firing pins.

The trigger is a less-than-finished part. Of concern regarding smooth pull are the casting bosses and artifacts from manufacture. My observation of the trigger in the lower grip frame indicated that these casting artifacts rubbed against the bead-blasted finish to impart a gritty drag on the motion of the trigger. I lightly burnished the side of the trigger with fine emery cloth to highlight the areas of friction.

Polishing the larger casting bosses flush with the trigger body improved the feel of the trigger when reinstalled after

Shown is what I call the hammer shell, indexing hammer, indexing wheel, and spring. completing the work on the hammer assembly. Next was smoothing the hammer. After studying how the hammer moved in the grip frame, the next step was to remove the hammer from the frame to see what elements contributed to the gritty feel of the hammer action. Looking at the main hammer components located in the actual grip frame and with the grips removed you can easily see the hammer pivot pin.

The hammer pin presses out of the frame with a light tap from a brass punch. Bond Arms refers to the hammer as a hammer assembly and does not call out the individual parts. There is complexity of the piece, including what I would calla hammer shell that carries the other parts. The actual hammer rides on the star gear that shifts between upper and lower firing pins in the frame. Cycling the trigger indexes the hammer for the next shot.

The entire assembly rides on a stainless steel sleeve through which the hammer pin passes to retain the assembly in the frame. While the hammer is not a "rough" part, it is not polished. A close examination of the lower portion of the hammer shell shows where it was rubbing inside the grip frame. The actual sear surface is apart of the hammer shell and the slight burnished area next to the star wheel shows how little contact the trigger actually makes with the hammer.

During this operation I informed the customer that I would not touch these surfaces as I did not wish to alter the relationships. The real gains in smoothing the action of the hammer came from the upper frame. The casting lines left in the hammer slot during the cleanup and bead-blasting process area prime example. Since the hammer was not a polished part, and the frame interior was not polished, there was friction in this area. Polishing away the mold lines reduced the gritty feel of the hammer movement.

Final Result I did not fully understand the unusual nature of the derringer’s trigger pull until I had it fully apart and could see how everything fit together. Accordingly, I do not have much faith in my initial trigger pull readings which ranged between 8 and 10 pounds. Averaging nonsense numbers merely creates another nonsense number that tells nothing. By cleaning up the trigger itself and smoothing the hammer slot of the frame I was able to reduce the trigger pull to less than 6 lbs.

Most of that reduction was from cleaning up The hammer shell showing the path of the indexing hammer within the frame and the sear wear area. the trigger casting. The rest merely made it easier for the owner to pull the hammer back. I left all springs original and merely polished the sear surfaces with a bit of metal polish on a cloth. No metal was removed from sear surfaces. The Bond Arms derringers are purpose-built tools manufactured to a price point.

Most of the compromises are acceptable, except for the unfinished nature of the trigger. Upon returning the pistol to its owner I coached them on how to correctly draw the trigger downward instead of back. I also coached them to understand that firing the derringer was a two-handed operation despite its small size. It seemed to the customer to be counter intuitive. My final impression of the pistol is that like most .410 caliber firearms it is assumed that its small size makes it suitable for the novice.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a specialist’s tool. AG