I recently got my FN HiPower in 40S&W back from my local gunsmith. I had swapped my (Robar) NP3'd spur hammer and matched sear for a new C&S chrome ring hammer and sear. For those wondering neither sear is plated, just the hammer.
I don't know if it was because my pistol is entirely NP3'd but the hammer needed to be seriously fit. I put the C&S hammer and sear in, which by the way is a PITA, and the hammer just sat in the cocked position. You had to force it physically to the down position. A little fitting allowed the hammer to fall if nudged forward. Well, that was more than I wanted to mess with and I brought it to my local smith. Same gunsmith that did my front strap and back strap stippling.
He said that it was oversized and required a significant amount of fitting. He also said that the pairing made the trigger terrible. In fact, he went ahead and did a trigger job knowing that I would not be happy with it otherwise. It is really nice now!
The only problem is that the hammer's chrome finish doesn't match the NP3 nickel color. Duh. This is purely cosmetic, but I am going to order a C&S chrome wide trigger. This will do a number of things:
- match the color to the hammer and make it look like I did it on purpose
- give me a wide trigger
- eliminate the mag safety disconnect hole
You may have read that I had a problem with VZ Grips fitting on my pistol. I finally ended getting a set of the thin Navidrex. These fit almost perfectly on the pistol. And they are THIN! I really like the grip texture - it almost perfectly compliments my pistols stippling. It feels great.
For those that don't like the feel of the newer cast frames because they aren't as narrow or rounded the Navidrex makes the differences in comparison to a classic forged frame negligible.
Anyway, I am very pleased. Here are some pics (click on the pic for the full size version):