Re-barreled my gun - now it won't fire????

[jrittber]

A couple years ago, I bought a 1914 Erfurt "shooter" that functioned well with only an occasional jam or misfire. I recently found an 8" barrel at a gun show and had a machinist/gunsmith put it on for me. When I went to try it out with the new barrel, I find it will no longer fire. To be specific, the trigger lever does not push the trigger bar plunger in far enough to disengage the sear.

The only thing I can think of is that the gunsmith who put on the new barrel warped the barrel extension just enough to throw something out of wack. If I squeeze the sideplate and the barrel extension with my fingers and pull the trigger then it will disengage. I put in a new firing pin but it doesn't help.

Could either a worn or bent trigger lever or trigger bar be the problem? The trigger pull on this pistol has always been bad; it doesn't fire until the trigger is pulled as far as it will go. Before I put on the new barrel, it did this once or twice, indicating that some part was borderline bad before.

Any advice on what I should repair or replace?
Thanks,
Jared