Fire control mechanism for a firearm

In a firearm having a barrel which a muzzle end and a breech end and a bore, the firearm also including a striker which has a downwardly facing notch and a forwardly facing lower edge surface which defines the rear edge of the notch, the striker being slidably mounted in the breech end of the barrel for movement between a rearward cocked position and a forward firing position, a striker spring for biasing the striker toward the firing position, and a striker actuator for moving the actuator to the rearward cocked position against the bias of the striker spring, a fire control mechanism comprising:

• (a) a trigger housing which is fixed to the breech end of the barrel;
• (b) a trigger which is mounted on the housing for pivoting movement about a first horizontal axis between a cocked position and a firing position, said trigger having an upwardly facing edge surface;
• (c) a sear which is mounted on the housing for pivoting movement about a second horizontal axis between a striker holding position and a striker release position, said sear having an upper projection for entering said notch and engaging said forwardly facing edge surface when said striker is in its rearward cocked position and said sear is in its striker holding position, said sear having a forward projection for engaging the upwardly facing edge surface of said trigger when said sear is in its striker holding position and said trigger is in its cocked position to prevent said striker from being moved to its tiring position by said striker spring, said forward projection being out of engagement with said upwardly facing edge surface when said trigger is its firing position to enable said striker to be moved to its firing position by said striker spring;
• (d) biasing means for biasing said trigger to its cocked position and said sear to its striker holding position, said biasing means being substantially weaker than said striker spring so that when said trigger is moved to its firing position, said sear is moved to its striker release position by said striker under the biasing influence of said striker spring to release the striker to its firing position under the biasing influence of said striker spring;
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• (e) a locking mechanism which is mounted on said trigger housing for selective actuation between an active state and an inactive state, said locking mechanism being effective in its active state to engage said sear and prevent said sear from being moved to its striker release position by said striker when said trigger is moved to its firing position and to allow said sear to be moved to its striker release position when said trigger is moved to its firing position and said locking mechanism is in its inactive state, said locking mechanism comprising:
• (1) a laterally extending projection which is fixed to said sear;
• (2) a lock which is mounted on said trigger housing for movement between a locking position in which a portion of said lock obstructs said laterally extending projection to prevent said sear from moving to its firing position and a release position in which said sear is free to move to its firing position;
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• (3) an actuator for selectively moving said lock to said locking position and to said release position.