Thanks for the advice. I worked on it for a couple of hours yesterday (before I read your post), and bending the sear spring was one of the first things I did. I think "Bubba" had been working on this pistol before me in an attempt to lighten the trigger pul. The sear spring wasn't very lively at all until I put the bend in there. I hate bending springs though; it usually weakens them in the long run.
The mating surfaces of the sear and the firing pin shelf were improperly angled I think--"negative"--I believe is the term to describe this type of sear angle. Anyway, the angle made the capture of the firing pin shelf more of a friction affair, encouraging the sear to pivot on its own. Further, the trigger spring was way too light, was bright shiney colored, and looked crudely cut. I think Bubba made it out of a spring from a ball-point pin.
I stoned the mating surfaces of the sear and firing pin shelf to about 90 degrees; I hope I didn't stone through any hardening layer to achieve this. The protrusion didn't seem to be quite enough either, so I stoned the receiver side of the sear leg (the part that bears against the receiver on one side and engages the spring on the other) a bit as well to improve engagement. And I replaced the ball-point pen spring with one I cut from a loading lever latch of a cap and ball revolver. The trigger pull compares very closely now to my friend's 1917 DWM Artillery. I'll test fire it again today and post the results.
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