The Ultimate Trigger for EAA Witness

EGW, Evolution Gun Works, just launched their new Competition Hammer for the EAA Witness pistols with lightening holes and prepped hammer hooks. This has been a project in the making for several years and a revival of the previous Huening hammer that now has come to its own with EGW's new high-end barstock hammer based on the Huening blue prints. I first contacted EGW in 2003 to get them to start making this hammer again and even though it took a little longer than we all wanted, I must say they came through in style.

The hammer is EDM'ed and holes and hammer hooks cut to spec by EGW. Combining this with EGW's time-proven hard sear, hardened to Rockwell 55 it's a trigger setup that will last you a long time. I have had the fortune of owning a few Huening hammers from the early 90's and have been able to shoot this trigger setup for over 10 years. I'm happy to announce that it now is available for everyone. The geometry of the EGW hammer and sear allows for a short, crisp trigger pull with a short reset. You will experience a trigger pull not possible to achieve with the factory parts.

Installing the hammer & sear
The trigger kit will require to be installed by a gunsmith or at least someone with previous knowledge of fitting a sear. The sear is oversized and need to be filed to fit the thumb safety and the trigger bar. The oversizing allows close fitting so that the safety works properly when the hammer is cocked and safety is on. It also allows for adjusting the trigger reset. It's quite a bit of work unless you are familiar with it and you need a good understanding of how it all works. Once the sear has been fitted and everything works, you are in for a stoning job to lighten the trigger and create a crisp trigger. I happen to have a nice little jig that saves my life and eliminates guess work. Just trial and error until I'm happy with it.

Lightening the trigger pull with springs and adjusting springs
The other parts that I recommend in the ultimate trigger job is to install a lighter hammer spring. I've incorporated the Wolff 14lb hammer spring in the kit, but you can go as low as 13lb if you'd like. They are very similar and less pressure on the hammer means a lighter trigger pull. I also tweak the sear spring with a needle nose plier. On a new spring the two ends are pointing to opposite directions at approximately 180 degrees. I change the angle to about 135 degrees which requires less trigger pull to lift the sear.

Safe ignition using an extra long firing pin
So after reducing the hammer spring to lighten the trigger pull you need to replace the firing pin. The Henning X-Long Firing Pin sits flush with the breech face and requires only a light hit from the hammer to set off even rifle primers. The firing pin is a drop-in. I prefer to use the firing pin spring that comes with the Wolff recoil spring kits. If you're tuning your gun with a 8lb (ipsc minor) or 10lb (ipsc major) Wolff recoil spring, I suggest you use the firing pin spring from that kit. This is the only firing pin that really can utilize the firing pin spring correctly.

Finally, adjusting pre-travel and over-travel
Once you've got your trigger all set up, I replace the over-travel screw with a longer screw (the one supplied is unfortunately useless) and loctite it in. I will have longer screws available on my site soon. Also if you have me do your trigger job, I will do this as part of the service.

The Ultimate Trigger Kit is available in my store as a kit or separate parts. Get them here. Remember that if you don't want to undertake the trigger job yourself or cannot find a gunsmith in your area that can, you can contact me as I offer trigger jobs as part of my services.

A close-up look at the new EGW hammer with lightening holes.		The Ultimate Trigger Kit that I put together. EGW Hammer & Sear, Wolff 14lb Hammer Spring and my X-Long Firing Pin
EGW Hammer cocked and ready to hit the Henning X-Long Firing Pin.		A brand new EAA Elite Limited in 38 Super, tricked out with the Ultimate Trigger Kit and the EGW Slide Pin.