Lone Wolf 3.5lb Connector & Striker Spring Kit/LWC1 frame review.
I initially reviewed these HERE along with a Warcat holster and Guard D sights if you want to check that out in case I forgot something here. For $4, the connector is worth it, for $9 the springs were so-so, IMO...
Connector LINK UPDATE: the 3.5lb connector is now $23!
Striker Spring Kit LINK UPDATE: the spring kit is now $10...
The LWC1 is equipped with a Dagger DLC SW1 slide with crowned barrel and 507 Horoson. The slide/optic had already been proven on the LWC3. After the slide re-assignment, the LWC3 then got a standard $99 Dagger DLC bare slide, threaded barrel and RSA I had kicking around. "Bare" Dagger slides come pre-loaded with everything but barrel and RSA. A prior trip to the range proved the LWC1 works fairly well although the trigger could have been better. This is a semi-aimed mag dump at 50'.
TARGET 3.5lb CONNECTOR:
I got out the "cheapie" Wheeler trigger scale and took some base-lines. 3-4 times to get an average. A quick note on this gauge is that I don't like the way the "hook" is free to rotate, especially on a rounded trigger face. It requires a spacer to keep it a finger's width away from the top of the trigger guard. You also need to "help" it by pushing on the trigger safety so the trigger will move. PSA was blowing them out for $10 about a month ago. I think I paid about $25 10yrs ago. It works "ok" but it might be time to spend a bit more to get a nicer one.
STRIKER SPRING KIT:
I thought this kit might come in handy for "tuning" or whatever. According to Lone Wolf:
Silver Long=Factory Weight
Silver Short=Mid Weight
Bronze=Light Weight
So I started with swapping the PSA spring that came in the slide with the "mid-weight" spring. Since I was using the armorer's plate to check striker engagement I determined it could be useful to get the spring cups back in as shown. Yes, they make special tools for this you can get for as little as $10. 3D print from dbay shown.
You can also use the slide to get the cups out, I flip the SA in its slide hole as shown. With this method it helps to have a vise handy. The back plate on this slide (from the TWC3) was SUPER tight and required a gentle tap of a spudger wedge made out of an old toothbrush handle to get it to pop out while holding the striker sleeve down with a Glock tool.
With the "mid-weight" spring, the pull went up to 3.75lbs.
Back apart to try the "light-weight" spring and the pull went down to 2.5lbs BUT the trigger was slow to return so out it came and I put the PSA spring back in.
I did not try the "factory-weight" spring because I wasn't that curious and I had achieved the results I was looking for--a lower weight trigger pull and smoother trigger with striker engagement about 2/3.
At the range, the TWC1 fired fine with no malfunctions. At least 100 rounds. My son's GF was able to fire it with no stovepipes (ie: limpwristing)--a great acheivement IMO as this was only her second time shooting a gun. We never left the plinking range so I was not able to check the Guard D sights on the pistol range on a paper target as we had run out of daylight. The Rock Island .38 snubby was also in the rotation as was the S&W 15-22.
I initially reviewed these HERE along with a Warcat holster and Guard D sights if you want to check that out in case I forgot something here. For $4, the connector is worth it, for $9 the springs were so-so, IMO...
Connector LINK UPDATE: the 3.5lb connector is now $23!
Striker Spring Kit LINK UPDATE: the spring kit is now $10...
The LWC1 is equipped with a Dagger DLC SW1 slide with crowned barrel and 507 Horoson. The slide/optic had already been proven on the LWC3. After the slide re-assignment, the LWC3 then got a standard $99 Dagger DLC bare slide, threaded barrel and RSA I had kicking around. "Bare" Dagger slides come pre-loaded with everything but barrel and RSA. A prior trip to the range proved the LWC1 works fairly well although the trigger could have been better. This is a semi-aimed mag dump at 50'.
TARGET 3.5lb CONNECTOR:
I got out the "cheapie" Wheeler trigger scale and took some base-lines. 3-4 times to get an average. A quick note on this gauge is that I don't like the way the "hook" is free to rotate, especially on a rounded trigger face. It requires a spacer to keep it a finger's width away from the top of the trigger guard. You also need to "help" it by pushing on the trigger safety so the trigger will move. PSA was blowing them out for $10 about a month ago. I think I paid about $25 10yrs ago.
It works "ok" but it might be time to spend a bit more to get a nicer one.- The Dagger FS formally known as WideLoad came in at 4lbs due in part to the trigger work I did previously. LINK I think this gun will benefit from a 3.5lb connector.
- The PF940C built with USPA parts measured in at 5.5lbs. It will be "tuned" eventually.
- The TWC3 came in at 6lbs. The internals for this came from a Freedom Wolf 80% that this serialized frame replaced under warranty. The FW initially wouldn't function until I replaced the trigger parts with an OEM Glock setup except the block. Then those parts went into the TWC3 when I retired the FW. This gun is still a work in progress--I might even try putting the LW parts back in it...
- The TWC1 started off at 5lbs. Then I replaced the stock LW connector with the 3.5lb connector which brought it down to 4lbs. I polished the sharp edges of the connector and trigger bar while they were out. I also installed a flat plastic trigger shoe leftover from a P80 build. I noticed the trigger was still a little "sticky" so I took a look at how the firing pin safety "hump" was interacting with the safety plunger and it looked to be too close to the slide--not touching but deserved of a tweak.
- Removed the trigger assy (again), put the bar in the vise clamping on the fp safety hump and gave a little bend/tweak prying up with the screwdriver as shown. (I'm using the unused TWC3 trigger bar for illustration) This was better than clamping the entire base of the bar in a vise and tweaking the hump from above as was done with WideLoad. Putting the trigger back together it was determined one tweak wasn't enough. So back apart, bar back in the vise, another little tweak then back together and the second tweak did the trick. Re-checked the pull and it went down to 3.5lbs.
STRIKER SPRING KIT:
I thought this kit might come in handy for "tuning" or whatever. According to Lone Wolf:
Silver Long=Factory Weight
Silver Short=Mid Weight
Bronze=Light Weight
So I started with swapping the PSA spring that came in the slide with the "mid-weight" spring. Since I was using the armorer's plate to check striker engagement I determined it could be useful to get the spring cups back in as shown.
Yes, they make special tools for this you can get for as little as $10. 3D print from dbay shown. You can also use the slide to get the cups out, I flip the SA in its slide hole as shown. With this method it helps to have a vise handy. The back plate on this slide (from the TWC3) was SUPER tight and required a gentle tap of a spudger wedge made out of an old toothbrush handle to get it to pop out while holding the striker sleeve down with a Glock tool.
With the "mid-weight" spring, the pull went up to 3.75lbs.
Back apart to try the "light-weight" spring and the pull went down to 2.5lbs BUT the trigger was slow to return so out it came and I put the PSA spring back in.
I did not try the "factory-weight" spring because I wasn't that curious and I had achieved the results I was looking for--a lower weight trigger pull and smoother trigger with striker engagement about 2/3.
At the range, the TWC1 fired fine with no malfunctions. At least 100 rounds. My son's GF was able to fire it with no stovepipes (ie: limpwristing)--a great acheivement IMO as this was only her second time shooting a gun.
We never left the plinking range so I was not able to check the Guard D sights on the pistol range on a paper target as we had run out of daylight. The Rock Island .38 snubby was also in the rotation as was the S&W 15-22.
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