Why Upgrade Your Trigger?
I’m not a Glock fanatic, but I appreciate the fact that I have never had a Glock fail me. They’re solid enough performers that I feel completely comfortable carrying one for most of my concealed carry needs. My G19 and I have been on a few journeys together, and it’s a go-to pick for most of the days I leave the house. Yet, I always find myself nitpicking the trigger.
Related: Glock Hiking – 500+ Miles with the Glock 19
It’s neither great nor terrible. Given the company is a leader in the military, competition, and civilian handgun markets, I just think there’s plenty of room for improvement on the factory trigger. In fairness, some of that complaining is on me for not making an effort to improve a gun I enjoy shooting and carrying on a daily basis.
Upgraded replacement triggers aren’t overly expensive, and I’ve spent a lot more on my numerous holsters for Glock pistols over the years. There are so many aftermarket trigger options for Glocks it’s almost inexcusable I haven’t had one installed on any of my personal guns. If it’s worth carrying a gun every day, it’s probably eventually worth trying a new trigger to see if it shoots better for you. Right?
Specs & Features
I’m not going to waste time diving into the specs of my Glock 19 Gen 4. Instead, I’ll stick to the trigger upgrade itself. The Zev Technologies Pro triggers come in your traditional curved and the increasingly popular flat-face design.
I opted for the flat-face version since none of my current Glocks feature such a trigger, and that seemed like a good way to really see how the upgrade changed the gun’s shootability. The trigger kit came with the trigger unit complete with a preassembled transfer bar and trigger shoe with safety blade as well as the smaller trigger connector.
I also chose to add an upgraded trigger spring. There are more images of all those parts in the installation section. This is a partial trigger kit but has everything you need to complete the upgrade. You’ll still be using your original trigger housing/ejector and spring. That was a personal choice based on availability at the time. Zev Tech offers complete kits that include a fully assembled trigger system you can just pop into the gun.
Here’s how the specs changed for the trigger pull:
Original Trigger Pull: 6.34 pounds
Zev Tech Trigger: 3.37 pounds
The new trigger dropped the pull weight on my gauge by nearly 3 pounds. The original Glock trigger had a short but positive take-up of 0.23 inches to the wall and a stiff break with a bit of mush before the full break. The reset on the original trigger was positive and reset at about 0.2 inches of forward travel. It was a solid, predictable duty trigger that allowed me to stage the trigger for the wall.
The Zev trigger has an all-around smoother feel to it. Instead of pulling through to a stiff break, the trigger feels more like it starts off engaged with the “wall” and slides through it without any slack. The travel before the break is around 0.21 inches. Instead of pulling to the wall, the trigger starts basically at a slightly longer and smoother wall.
Here’s a look at the Zev trigger in action:
And here’s what you can expect from a normal factory Glock trigger:
It’s not like breaking a piece of glass with the Zev upgrade, which I appreciate in a trigger that is carryable for self-defense needs. It’s clearly lighter but not so sensitive to feel like it’s just a hair away from going off. That kept the trigger feel predictable, and the reset is smooth, positive, and still at that 0.2-inch mark.
There is a noticeable difference to the feel of the shape of the triggers as well. The flat Zev Technologies trigger feels more consistent from one pull to the next than the factory Glock trigger. However, the flat-faced shape and the safety also engage my finger at a slightly different point than the standard Glock trigger. More on that in the range testing section.
Installation
Upgrading your Glock trigger is a great way to gain a better appreciation for just how simple the company kept the design of the gun. There’s nothing flashy about the outside, and Glock stuck to that with the internals to maximize reliability.
Fortunately, simplicity also means the gun isn’t terribly hard to modify. Installing a new trigger only requires a single tool – a 3/32-inch punch – and an armorer’s block is also very helpful. Not all Glock triggers are the same, so make sure you get one that is right for your model number and generation. Zev also recommends going to an experienced armorer or gunsmith for installation.
As for the process of installing the trigger, it’s fairly straightforward and broken down into 19 easy-to-follow steps in the technical manual. As always, ensure there is no ammunition in the vicinity and the gun is properly cleared and safe.
I’ve included some shots from this trigger install below:
Overall, the process takes around 15-20 minutes. It might take more effort if you have a tight-fitting newer gun that isn’t loosened up a bit from previous shooting. The trigger housing pin is one of the more notable areas that folks run into issues because it simultaneously fits through the trigger and the slide stop/release lever.
That may require some wiggling of the slide stop while adding pressure to the pin to get it to release. None of the pins require brute force or hammering to remove, so just be patient if one is a bit stubborn. There are plenty of videos online for how the whole process works.
Finally, as with any time you take your gun apart, test the functionality after you put it back together. That includes testing the trigger safety by depressing the trigger without pushing the safety blade to ensure it prevents the trigger from moving fully to the rear and testing the trigger reset.
Range Testing
I’ll start by saying I love the performance, but I’m not quite in love with the feel of the new trigger. The performance speaks for itself, in my book. Without wasting a bunch of time warming up at the range to try and pull a perfect grouping, here’s what the new Zev Tech upgrade got me:
By comparison, I generally shoot my stock Glock 17 better than my stock Glock 19. Neither performs like this without some serious concentration at the range. I can consistently put the rounds in the black at these distances with stock triggers, but the majority aren’t consistently sitting in or breaking the line of the red center.
The trigger definitely feels smoother, lighter, and more predictable. I can’t exactly prep the break like I did with my stock Glock trigger, but I don’t find that I require that as much because of how the Zev trigger slides from start to finish through to the break instead of just hitting a wall.
It allows for a more consistent trigger squeeze instead of what is more of a concerted effort to force the break with the stock trigger. That said, I’m not sure I’m sold on the flat-face design. Zev offers both a curved and flat design, so the choice was on me with the flat-face shoe. That might also just be a bit of a learning curve given my more extensive experience with the curved triggers.
However, I noticed that my finger also engages the safety blade in a slightly different way with the Zev Tech trigger. The stock Glock safety connects with my finger and disconnects almost immediately when I touch my trigger finger to the trigger itself. The Zev Tech safety blade engages a bit later.
This leaves the safety engaged for a bit longer if I don’t put the pad of my finger directly on the face of the trigger right away. I noticed occasional contact between the safety and the frame of the gun when I did dry-fire testing using the crease of my finger instead of the pad. I never noticed this issue while shooting on the range, but it stuck out as something I would want to train to avoid if shooting under stress.
Beyond that, the overall feel and performance of the upgraded flat-face trigger from Zev Technologies was clearly above anything I would expect when shooting a standard factory Glock.
Pros & Cons
Here’s my short list of the pros and cons with this new trigger:
Pros:
- Lighter trigger at 3.37 pounds
- Smoother trigger pull
- More predictable
- Improved accuracy results
- Quick and easy installation
Cons:
- Quality comes with a price tag
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Not in love with the flat-face design yet
Final Thoughts
I don’t personally see a need to go out and upgrade all my guns with the latest and greatest custom trigger jobs. But I can see the merit. If it’s a gun you shoot often, rely on for competition, or a self-defense firearm that you depend on daily, shooting it better is an obvious advantage.
Was the new trigger cheap? Not really, but it was certainly cheaper than many of the other extras I’ve added to my guns over the years, which includes a long list of holsters, night sights, optics, and other modifications. When it came to actual range results, the new trigger is easily one of the best upgrades from a performance perspective so far.
Plus, if I had upgraded this Glock 19 a lot sooner, I would have gotten years of practice out of it by now.
