Thread: Modern triggers

Over the past couple of years I have noticed a disturbing trend in modern rifle triggers. They appear to be designed by engineering graduates rather than gunsmiths, probably helped by CAD. They are unnecessarily complex and investment cast, die-cast, sintered iron, bent wire, and plastic components are commonplace. These mechanisms are designed to give very average let-offs and not fully adjustable, or in the few instances where there is adjustment it is insufficient to get a decent pull without changing springs, stoning, etc. I imagine this is to provide the manufacturers with some protection in liability suits but it is a sad indictment on the industry. It does provide a ready market for after-market trigger manufacturers. Decent triggers with a full range of adjustment are not hard to design or manufacture. I guess it is a sign of the times that everything is designed to be 'fool-proof' when everyone knows there is no limit to the stupidity that some people are capable of!

@gundoc

Could you 'name and shame' the designs in question please?

Personally think the aftermarket triggers which have 'frictionless' mechanisms (ball bearings for BixnAndy, Rollers for TriggerTech) mean that astoundingly light and consistent releases can be achieved, safely and reliably.

TriggerTech pride themselves on being dust/dirt resistant.

Personally would not choose a 'sear on sear' type trigger anymore after using one the above trigger designs (TriggerTech) as it is very safe and reliable when set to 1lb or lower of release weight.

Two that I have done in the past week are the new Browning .22 T Bolt and the Umarex HK 416 D .22 semi-auto.

Originally Posted by gundoc

Two that I have done in the past week are the new Browning .22 T Bolt and the Umarex HK 416 D .22 semi-auto.

retirement..................yeah right

Originally Posted by gundoc

Two that I have done in the past week are the new Browning .22 T Bolt and the Umarex HK 416 D .22 semi-auto.

I'm not surprised regarding the "HK". It's a pot metal gun with a pot metal guts. Anything Umerex is more or less just and airsoft gun with enough parts to be a 22lr rifle

folks hate the Howa triggers...cant fault mine at all....pretty plurry good to be honest.

Use enough trigger.

Just like the Bofors, I have seen some rifle triggers that you just about have to stand on!

Second generation Howa triggers are good, first generation were a bit marginal but could be tweaked.

I remember years ago taking my Model 70 to Gundoc for a trigger job, he tried the trigger pull, then looked at me and said “And you manage to shoot deer with this” left it there for him to work his magic & got it from about 6lbs down to a crisp 2.5lbs, halved my group sizes lol

Has anyone been able to turn a BSA Hunter / Royal trigger into a really good trigger?
No trouble with my CF2 to get it superb but the Hunter despite plenty of screws for adjusting weight, travel / overtravel and cleaning up the Pawl faces is not a wonderful trigger

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

Has anyone been able to turn a BSA Hunter / Royal trigger into a really good trigger?
No trouble with my CF2 to get it superb but the Hunter despite plenty of screws for adjusting weight, travel / overtravel and cleaning up the Pawl faces is not a wonderful trigger

One of the problems with the BSA triggers is the large contact area between the sides of the sear and the trigger housing which can create friction and jamming of the sear due to drying oil, dust, rust, etc. This can be improved considerably by relief grinding the sides of the sear to minimise the contact area while making sure to leave a boss area around the pivot point to maintain lateral positioning. The mating surfaces also benefit from careful stoning without altering the engagement angle too much(3-5 degrees is plenty) and then doing the screw adjusments. Careful tweaking of the wound vee spring can also help.

Originally Posted by gundoc

One of the problems with the BSA triggers is the large contact area between the sides of the sear and the trigger housing which can create friction and jamming of the sear due to drying oil, dust, rust, etc. This can be improved considerably by relief grinding the sides of the sear to minimise the contact area while making sure to leave a boss area around the pivot point to maintain lateral positioning. The mating surfaces also benefit from careful stoning without altering the engagement angle too much(3-5 degrees is plenty) and then doing the screw adjusments. Careful tweaking of the wound vee spring can also help.

How difficult is it to reassemble a dismantled Royal trigger ? I looked at it and thought might need a jig ? I did polish all the faces that I could get at with 800 w&d on a points file including the housing faces and squared up the engagement of the pawl through the external notch in the housing. Vast improvement but not a superb trigger as hoped for.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

How difficult is it to reassemble a dismantled Royal trigger ? I looked at it and thought might need a jig ? I did polish all the faces that I could get at with 800 w&d on a points file including the housing faces and squared up the engagement of the pawl through the external notch in the housing. Vast improvement but not a superb trigger as hoped for.

You won't need a jig but you may have to make some slave pins to hold things together while you position them in the housing. 800 wet & dry is still quite coarse for a nice trigger pull. Try some 2000 grit and then a little bit of fine metal polish with a file-backed cloth (fine arkansas stones are best and will leave a mirror finish).

There's so many shooters, particularly new shooters that just dont realise the importance of a nice trigger, crisp repeatable break, at no more than 2.5 lbs, or much much less for more precision or long-range shooting. It certainly makes one hell of a difference. Its not unusual to find rifles that have trigger pull weights that are higher than the weight of the rifle, how anyone can accurately shoot that is beyond me.

Having just purchased and installed a Triggertech special on my mod7 i can say its transformed it and ill be trying to put these triggers on a couple other rifles in future. The pull weight is lighter but its also the way it breaks is something else. Havent tried in the field but already its a difference of night and day