fsilber
11-07-2019, 10:55 AM
A long time ago the New York City Police Department (NYPD) approved the Kahr K-9 for off-duty carry by its officers. Concerned about negligent dischargers, around 2006 the NYPD asked Kahr about the possibility of increasing the trigger pull weight to 13 pounds.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/nypd-brass-cops-stop-kahr-k-9-semi-automatic-pistol-off-duty-gun-article-1.990037
Kahr executive Frank Harris is quoted in the article saying, "We worked for about three years to try to modify the gun. After three years trying to meet their requirements, we just had to give up."
The Kahr pistol is no longer approved for NYPD officers. What was the technical obstacle to increasing the trigger weight?
Why couldn't Kahr simply have installed a trigger-return spring that was five or six pounds heavier than the stock trigger return spring? Any increase in the weight of the trigger return spring would be added to the total weight of the trigger pull. It would not have reduced the smoothness of the pull (any remaining friction in the mechanism would have become yet more negligible relative to spring weight). Nor would it have increased the tendency to move the gun when the trigger breaks, because the trigger would still carry the additional resistance. I would think the result would have been the best thirteen pound handgun trigger in existence.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/nypd-brass-cops-stop-kahr-k-9-semi-automatic-pistol-off-duty-gun-article-1.990037
Kahr executive Frank Harris is quoted in the article saying, "We worked for about three years to try to modify the gun. After three years trying to meet their requirements, we just had to give up."
The Kahr pistol is no longer approved for NYPD officers. What was the technical obstacle to increasing the trigger weight?
Why couldn't Kahr simply have installed a trigger-return spring that was five or six pounds heavier than the stock trigger return spring? Any increase in the weight of the trigger return spring would be added to the total weight of the trigger pull. It would not have reduced the smoothness of the pull (any remaining friction in the mechanism would have become yet more negligible relative to spring weight). Nor would it have increased the tendency to move the gun when the trigger breaks, because the trigger would still carry the additional resistance. I would think the result would have been the best thirteen pound handgun trigger in existence.