I had the RTK Tactical Trigger in my LC9 for about an hour. I did not like it at all. The pull was not straight back, but up and back. As I pulled the trigger back the RTK Trigger began moving back and upwards on a near 20 degree angle. This made the trigger pull feel very awkward. The shape and angle of the trigger caused my trigger finger to drag on the trigger guard, during the pull. Either one of these issues would have caused me to remove the RTK Trigger. It was a "no brainer" to remove the trigger with both of these problems. I was very disappointed as I was expecting an improvement with the RTK Trigger install. Watch the video at the end of this post to see what I experienced with the RTK Tactical Trigger.
I emailed Ross, the owner of RTK, and explained my position about the trigger and how it could be easily improved. He emailed me back saying he did not want anything to do with me because I "trashed his trigger in public on YouTube." I explained that I did a review on his trigger, and gave my opinion about it. I said if he improved it I would do another review and retract the negative review. Well he did not improve it. He has come out with more styles of the same trigger. They have flashy colors and fancy milling cuts, but they are all based on the original flawed design. I have nothing to gain or lose in a review. I just state my opinion, based on many years involved in Mechanical Engineering and Tool and Die Making. I have many years of working on and modifying guns.
The only trigger that I see as flawed is the RTK Tactical Trigger, which can only be used with the Galloway Precision Trigger Kit. This Tactical trigger flaw is caused mostly from the design to incorporate a trigger overtravel stop into the trigger. If you watch my video, it shows how the design could have been improved while keeping the overtravel stop in place. The rest of the RTK line of triggers should perform fine, as they are all basic style triggers.
Not only is the design of the trigger flawed, but the trigger overtravel stop has limitations with the Galloway Trigger Kit. This is not a fault of the RTK Trigger, but a fault in the Galloway Kit. I have seen posts in this "trigger pull thread" where people have bought the RTK Trigger and can't remove much overtravel. They try to set the overtravel stop to a minimum and their LC9's stop firing. The hammer drops but the firing pin does not clear the firing pin blocker. This is due to the blocker lever not rising high enough due to the overtravel stop limiting the lever's movement.
Back at the end of November 2011, after I installed only the Galloway Hammer in my LC9, I checked the blocker lever lift with the stock trigger bar still installed in my LC9. I emailed Eric Galloway to advise him I found the blocker lever was rising just high enough to allow the firing pin blocker to clear the firing pin and allow the "hit" to the primer. I found it was very close and thought it should have more built in clearance. I told him of my findings and I said that I thought some people might have a problem with this issue. Turns out some people did have a firing pin blocker problem after they installed the Galloway trigger bar with the Galloway hammer. In early December 2011, I modified the "stock" trigger bar to move the trigger break point from the back of the trigger guard to near the middle of the trigger guard. Galloway, at that time, did not have any trigger bars available. About a month later, Galloway's trigger bar eventually came on the market (mid January, 2012), with a similar design to the original trigger bar that I had made.
In mid December I installed a trigger overtravel stop on my LC9, and my gun stopped firing. The blocker lever did not raise high enough to release the firing pin blocker, as the trigger stop limited trigger overtravel and blocker lever lift. I emailed Eric about this problem and he agreed with me that the overtravel stop was limiting the lifting of the blocker lever. I later determined that this problem could be solved by notching the trigger bar tab. The notching of the trigger bar tab does not work using a Galloway trigger bar. It only works by modifying a stock LC9 trigger bar tab and using the Galloway hammer. The modification is shown in my YouTube video #7 (
Ruger LC9 Trigger Bar Modification #7 - YouTube ). By notching the trigger bar tab, I did not remove any material from the part of the tab that contacts the blocker lever. I notched only the area of the tab that contacts the hammer, to allow for the hammer reset. My gun now fires fine with ample blocker lever lift. I have cut my total trigger overtravel to less than 1/64 inch.
Those people that purchased the RTK Tactical Trigger for an overtravel stop, are not going to be able to reduce the overtravel by very much, if any. Since the Galloway Trigger Bar has .020 machined off the entire trigger bar tab, this causes the blocker lever to just rise high enough to barely allow the firing pin blocker to clear. As soon as you try to adjust the set screw out, to limit the overtravel, the blocker will not clear, no bang. Hopefully Eric Galloway has redesigned his soon to be released new trigger bars, so that the blocker lever raises high enough that a trigger overtravel stop can be used to it fullest extent.
Watch the following video which explains my complaints about the RTK Trigger. Click on the link at the top of this player. This takes you to YouTube. Then choose full screen at the bottom right of the YouTube video player:
Bob
Linear Mode
