Aftermarket Trigger Overview

In case you missed it the first fi ve times, this will be your sixth warning about aftermarket triggers. Hang on to the original factory parts you remove! Nothing against the makers of custom replacement triggers here, just a prudent warning. Before these manufacturers have a hissy fit, work that fit up into a purple rage and put out a contract on me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with their units. However, the caution I am about to announce to our readers applies universally to any trigger replacement.

Now hear this. Never install a trigger in any firearm that has a worn safety or sear. Add a worn cocking piece to that short list when the gun is a bolt action rifle. A few more words should be read about the specific triggers shown here. When it comes to quality, all the triggers featured here are way above being merely "well made." All are adjustable and fit bolt actions. Some are rifle specific. At least one will fi ll the custom trigger requirement for a number of rifles.

The most economical among them retails for $49.95. The most expensive lists for $124.95. All, and many more like them, can be found in the Brownells catalog. All will arrive in your hands with more than adequate instructions. None can rightfully be considered tough or overly complicated to install.

None should ever be reduced to a pull weight that fails a drop test and allowing the firing pin to fall with the safety "ON." As with all gun work you do, be certain the firearm contains no am- The bolt actions they are designed for include Remington, Mauser, Winchester, Springfi eld, Enfield, Arisaka, SMLE and Moisin-Nagant rifles. munition, wear eye protection and, since I’m dealing exclusively with bolt action rifles here, remove the bolt from the receiver and the action from the stock.

I’ll begin the "how to" part of this batch of words with trigger number one. L-1 Rifle Basix Custom Trigger You have to go a little beyond the take-down just described above with a Model 700 by also removing its safety components and bolt stop release. After memorizing how they were originally fit to the rifle, remove all parts involved and set them aside. Obviously, you also have to remove the original trigger. It is retained in the receiver by two pins that have been staked in by the factory.

You should be able to spot the indents from the staking on the receiver under each pin hole. The very act of staking creates a problem by lessening the interior diameter of the pin holes. You have to restore the original interior dimensions of the retaining pin holes on the Model 700, or any other similarly staked Remington bolt-action, before installing an L- 1 or other replacement trigger.

The restoration calls for a 0.125 (1/8th inch) drill bit twirled between your fingertips and involves both left and right-hand pin holes. A precision reamer is better for this. The two retaining pins supplied with this trigger have been ground to a tolerance of 0.1235 inches. They will both slip fit nicely into a true 0.125 inch diameter hole. Before the new pins have been inserted, straighten out one leg of a paper clip and keep it handy for later.

Push out the retainers seated in the upper opposite ends of the housing toward their large ends. Might be a good idea to keep afinger on the top lever. Under the lever lurks its reset spring seated in a blind hole. Don’t lose it. I refer to the spring. The hole

isn’t going anywhere. Insert the L-1 in the receiver, align the receiver, housing and top lever holes and push the shorter of the two provided retainer pins through with your fingers. The pin should end up flush on both sides of the receiver. All this moving around of the L-1 unit may allow the reset spring to escape. If that happens to you, either locate the spring or contact Rifle Basix (Rifl eBasix.com) for a replacement.

I opted to avoid any possibility of delay waiting for anew spring to arrive by securing the top lever in its downward position with a small strip of Scotch tape. Once you have the spring back in hand, impale it on the straightened leg of the modifi ed paper clip and guide it back into its blind hole. Never let a hammer or drift punch anywhere near the spring to seat it. Fingers work just fine but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep a little down pressure on the lever while doing what you have to do next.

Rotate the L-1 assembly upward to align its rear hole with the matching hole at the rear of the housing. Then install the longer retainer pin that has been supplied with your fingers. Bold OP 98 Optima Trigger This unit is dedicated to military Mausers, commercial Mausers, Spanish Mausers and any other as long as it’s aa Model 98. This unit’s instructions include a neat little set of drawings, reproduced here. You’ll find them a big help in fitting up an OP 98 to a Model 98.

I’ll give you an example of how helpful they can be and why you’ll want to keep the drawings and the paper they’re printed on in your fi les. You’ll never regret it. As for the promised example, I quote: "Mauser receivers have a support lip which can cause trigger misalignment; Area A. During installation, trigger must be installed level to achieve correct engagement between the bolt cocking sear and the trigger sear. File Area A as necessary.

Worn receivers may require a building up at Area Dto permit engagement between the bolt cocking sear and trigger sear; Area B." So it goes. And on the flip side there are eight solid tips, count ‘em, Aon trouble shooting. You know what? Besides providing secondary and tertiary causes, the primary troublemaker in all eight malfunctions is a trigger housing that isn’t securely attached. Think of the bucks you might harvest resolving problems just by tightening up mounting screws.

Sweet. #110 Sportsmen Trigger Number three in my little trigger collection can be married to either the Springfi eld or Enfield rifle and

takes a page from the OP 98 book. Or maybe the folks who wrote the OP 98 instructions took a page from Timney, who make the 110. Either way, smart pills and a real concern for the gunsmith are evident. I’ve reproduced the drawings that arrived with the 110 to back up my compliment. After the usual regarding stock and barreled action removal the instructions continue with a caution. If you’re working with an Enfield wearing other than a standard—meaning factory—stock you may need a special length trigger.

Things become more specifi c thereafter, "Remove the factory trigger by tapping out its retaining pin at (6). The trigger installation screw (1) must be backed out sufficiently to allow easy reinstallation of the retaining pin. Place the trigger in the action, insert the retaining pin and tighten the installation screw." As I said, very specifi c. Most of the Springfi eld dope is printed on the other side but the drawing has been executed so skillfully it applies to both rifles. More smart pills for Timney!

It is only appropriate, then, that one Timney trigger follows another. #416 Winchester Plated Trigger This one works with the iconic Model 70 as well as the Model 54. The newer installation instructions are much easier to use. The instructions arriving with this trigger have been updated signifi cantly but the new information does not include a very important item I’ve picked up from the older version.

The drawings, by the way, have been lifted from that older sheet and remain highly useful, especially when it comes to adjusting trigger pull. I’ll be getting to that later. First things first. The earlier instructions state that before you remove the original trigger, cock the rifle and measure the distance the cocking piece protrudes from the back of the bolt. In other words, measure from the back of the firing pin to the bolt shroud. Write this number down.

If after you’ve installed the #416 you can’t put the rifleon "safe" after cocking it, cock it again and take a second reading exactly as you did with the first. Write the second measurement down. Subtract the second measurement from the first. This yields the amount to fi le from the safety engagement surface inside the bolt. You have to remove material a little at a time, then check safety function again.

There’s a tool available from Brownells and Timney that makes disassembly of the Model 70 bolt both simpler and quicker. It will save you beaucoup time in correcting the problem of a nonworking safety. Two other safety concerns are addressed in the same set of instructions.

If the safety fails, meaning you can move it to its "safe" position, pull the trigger and the firing pin is released, a small amount of material at time must be removed from the cam area of the cocking piece, which is point 6 on both the Winchester Model 70 and 54 drawing. In this case, you must remove material from the cocking piece sear, labeled number 5, until the sear is lifted off the trigger when the safety is applied. In cases where the safety still cannot be applied, remove small amounts of addition-

Thanks, Timney. al material from point 6 without changing any original angles. Here again, the bolt disassembly tool will find steady work. Note: While the #416 will work for the Model 54 as well as the Model 70, the Cocking Piece sear (5) has to be modifi ed first to match the same component in the Model 70. As long as you’ve noted and retained the Model 70 dimensions, this can be done two ways. First, silver solder apiece of steel to the Model 54 and fi le it to conform.

The second option is to employ a TIG welder to build up the sear then fi le to conformation. I want to stick with the earlier instructions a little while longer. They include trigger pull adjustment of the #416 and the newer version doesn’t. Refer to the profile drawing of the complete trigger housing as I go through this. Number 1 is the installation screw. It gets tightened after the retaining pin is inserted so the housing can be snugged up securely to the action. Number 3 is the trigger pull adjustment.

It has been pre-set at

three pounds. Turn the screw counterclockwise to lighten the pull but I recommend never taking it below two pounds. Risk of slam fi res, you know. Number 2 adjusts backlash or overtravel. Turning it in too tightly will slow or prevent firing pin fall or prevent the rifle from being cocked. The unit comes pre-adjusted by the factory for optimum overtravel. Number 4 is the sear engagement screw. Engagement has also been factory pre-set when the trigger was tested. You have to be very careful with this one.

Too much engagement will only lead to an inconsistent trigger pull. Too little could transform a once perfectly safe rifle into a thing too dangerous to tote around in the woods or anywhere else. So much for the old instructions. The new ones are loaded with the photos reproduced and identifi ed here. Clear off your work table. Remove the barreled action, the stock and set them aside. Next, remove the bolt and factory trigger. Drive out the really small rear trigger pin with a punch and hammer (A).

The bolt stop spring is under tension and it can be lost very easily. Insert the trigger into the action (B) and drive in the front, large, retaining pin (C). Install the rear retaining pin, small but not really small, followed by the bolt stop spring and bolt stop. The spring has two ends. One end is long with a ninety degree angle at its tip. The other end is short with a hook (D).

When re-installing the spring, the long end should be under the bolt stop and the hook end should slip into the slot in the action at the rear of the trigger (E). If necessary, you can pull the spring into the slot with needle nose pliers. With both pins in place, tighten the hex screw at the front of the trigger then tighten the lock nut (F). Note the caption, as it sums up this whole exercise.

Huber Anti-Friction Ball Trigger Move along to number fi ve, the last trigger to be mentioned in this often repeated warning. It’s not the least expensive or the most expensive of the group but it is available for the Arisaka 99, Enfield P1917, Mauser 98K, M48 Moisin-Nagant, SMLE and Springfi eld 03A3. OK, stock off, barreled action solo, trigger pin and sear screw removed. Install the Huber trigger by reinserting the trigger pin. Try joining the action to the stock.

Some minor inletting of the wood might be necessary to make this happen. Start in but don’t completely close the bolt. You’re going to adjust the Huber by inserting the supplied Allen wrench into the modifi ed set screw at the top of the trigger as shown in the main photo. By modifi ed, what I mean is the normally fl at end of the set screw has been machined and polished into a very smooth, rounded head and then coated with a polymer. I presume it’s the same coating as the one applied to the rest of the trigger.

The reworked screw is the only area on the Huber to make contact with the sear, hence, the anti-friction ball moniker in relation to sear engagement. To adjust that engagement, leave the bolt open, insert the Allen wrench. Rotate it clockwise to lighten the pull and counterclockwise to increase it. You’ll have to cycle the bolt and pull the trigger after every adjustment until you feel you have arrived at the desired pull weight. Now close the bolt but don’t pull the trigger.

Hold the rifle by its barrel with the butt twelve inches off the floor and the safety in the "off" position. Release the rifle. If the firing pin doesn’t release you’re probably good to go with a minimum sear engagement of at least 0.015 inches. If a release occurs, partially open the bolt, reinsert the Allen wrench, make an adjustment to the pull, move the safety to "off", close the bolt, try a drop test, and the usual testing procedures. Repeat as many times as necessary until the firing pin fails to fall.

Finally comes the basic warning for the sixth—and hopefully the last – time. Instead of being shoehorned into an article on another subject and possibly overlooked, please clip out what you’ll be reading next, have a large photocopy made of it, laminate said copy and post it permanently in your working area. The odds are against the freshout-of-its-package pull weight of an aftermarket trigger being pre-set to a rifle manufacturer’s factory specification.

Never discard a factory trigger or any of its closely related components. If the rifle ever has to be returned for OEM service it will come back without the custom trigger purchased and for which you received payment to install. In its place will beanew, factory-made, factory-installed trigger. Never permanently toss an OEM trigger. Store it. Remove the custom job, reinstall the original you didn’t throw away and then ship the rifle to the factory. This is your fi nal warning, if I’m lucky. AG