Greg.... to my knowledge, with the trigger installed properly as delivered, there has never ever been a case where the trigger blade itself has been at fault causing a hard trigger pull as you describe it. It is impossible for the trigger blade itself to cause a heavy trigger pull. It simply rotates on the pivot pin. There does have to be something wrong somewhere with the trigger mech itself. There is either friction or resistance caused by contact and drag, perhaps a bent/distorted trigger housing (usually only found in some Chinese clones but has been seen in a couple of Gamo's), the nose of the trigger coming in contact with the safety switch as it is pulled because the switch is bent out of the correct position, possibly a worn or oversized pivot pin or something. Something is interfering with or interrupting the travel and if you have an understanding of the trigger assembly, it should be pretty easy to find and resolve the problem.
Also, if you have a hard trigger pull as you state, you would of course not feel the second stage. Until you resolve the trigger pull issue, you will never be able to properly adjust the trigger. Once that part is resolved, you will probably then need to adjust the trigger from scratch (since attempts were made to adjust it) following the instructions.
Be sure to let us all know what the problem is when you find it.
If all else fails, you may want to consider sending the gun to Gene or I to repair it.