Fire control mechanism for semiautomatic pistols

A fire control mechanism for a striker operated double action, semiautomatic handgun including a frame, a barrel mounted on the frame having a chamber at its breech end, a slide reciprocably mounted on the frame and including a breech block and a firing pin and having a forward position in which the breech block closes the breech chamber end of the barrel, a recoil spring for returning the slide to its forward position, the firing pin being movable longitudinally relative to the slide, a trigger and a trigger bar also movable longitudinally in response to movement of the trigger which has a rearward stroke from an initial position to a terminal position, the improvement comprising a sear pivotably disposed on the frame between forward and rearward positions and including at least one cam surface for displacing the sear downwardly of the firing pin, said sear being movable generally in a plane of motion and including an edge portion for controlling the operation of the firing pin by cocking and then releasing said firing pin in response to angular and translatory movement of the sear to a predetermined point of release of said firing pin, a spring yieldably urging the sear toward its forward position, said firing pin including an extension adapted to be disposed in said plane of movement of the controlling edge portion of the sear for engagement and disengagement therewith at said point of release of said firing pin by the sear, said point of release corresponding to said terminal position of the trigger in response to actuation of the trigger, said trigger bar including a disconnector portion disposed for moving the trigger bar downwardly in coplanar relation with the plane of motion of said edge portion of the sear in response to recoil of the slide whereby said sear will be released by the trigger bar for return by said spring to its forward position with said extension of the firing pin in said initial position.