What are some of the basics when it comes to polishing a trigger. I would like to smooth out the trigger pull on a Egyptian Helwan pistol.

Do you folks have any suggestions?

Good SHOOTin,

Death Merchant

Keep the angles exactly as they are. Use very fine stones or 600 and finer sandpaper backed by glass. The ultrafine automitive paper is great. Use it wet. Carefully draw your part across the paper while maintainig the angles. Rig up a jig if you can. Remove an absolute minimum of material. To test the fit, cold blue the parts and try them. The high spots will have the blue rubbed off. Never round anything. Never, never use a file on anything! If the fit of a part is sloppy just knock off the high spots, don't try to remove all the tool marks. When you are done, rinse everything well, any grit make the actin feel horroble.

Since you are asking this question (no offence) my only suggestion is to take it to a gun smith. You file a little too much or get your angles wrong and you will be replacing the trigger assembly - if you can find one.

Zero Drift has a good point. If this pistol is at all valuable or collectable it is not the one to learn on.

Otherwise, get a good selection of "abrasive files" ( www.mcmaster.com - square, triangular and knife edge, mostly fine and extra fine), clamp the part in a small toolmaker's vise to hold it square, set the angle and set the depth (take VERY thin cuts). Use the stones to cut down to the vise face. Use a ceramic stone or extra fine Arkansas for final finishing. Once you clamp the part take it to final polish before removing - you can never get it back where it was.

I bought an inexpensive imported toolmaker's vise. Once I ground the face square it worked fine.

Preserve all angles, and try to preserve dimensions. Remove as little material as possible.

Don

Here is something that works for me when stoning a surface.
Clamp the part in a vise with the surface to be stoned facing up and parallel to the top surface of the vise jaws.
Lay the correct diameter drill bit across the vise jaws (perpendicular to them).
Now lay your stone so it rests on the surface to be stoned, and on the drill bit.
The bit acts like a roller under the stone, and it keeps you from canting the stone.
Roll the stone back and forth so the stone rubs on the surface and rolls on the drill bit.
By varying the bit diameter you can adjust the angle between the stone and the workpiece. The tops of your vise jaws must be smooth and parallel for this to work.
Hope you can follow my description. This method works great for me.