Hello,I have a Pedersoli Mortimer rifle that had a terrible trigger pull when I purchased it.I have since polished the internal lock mechanism and lightened the sear and it has improved greatly.I feel that the main spring is stronger than it needs to be.Has anyone lightened their mainspring and if so what were the results?I will sincerely appreciate your comments.
Mortimer Rifle Mainspring
- Thread starter Bill L
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I don't own a Mortimer so I cannot speak from first hand knowledge, but the Mainsprings force doesn't have much to do with the weight of the trigger pull.
That said, I would suggest that you leave it alone.
The spring that does have a lot to do with the trigger pull on most locks is the sear spring.
I've bought several locks which had Very Heavy sear spring pressures. A lot more than is needed to assure 100 percent engagement of the sear.
On locks like this, I've found the best way to reduce the pressure is to carefully grind the end of the spring that pushes directly on the sear so that it's width is reduced.
This takes very careful grinding and cooling the spring often so it isn't overheated.
The final result is a spring who's upper end (with the screw hole) is unchanged, and the lower area is tapered from the bend, down to the end.
Just my 3 cents worth. :grin:
zonie
That said, I would suggest that you leave it alone.
The spring that does have a lot to do with the trigger pull on most locks is the sear spring.
I've bought several locks which had Very Heavy sear spring pressures. A lot more than is needed to assure 100 percent engagement of the sear.
On locks like this, I've found the best way to reduce the pressure is to carefully grind the end of the spring that pushes directly on the sear so that it's width is reduced.
This takes very careful grinding and cooling the spring often so it isn't overheated.
The final result is a spring who's upper end (with the screw hole) is unchanged, and the lower area is tapered from the bend, down to the end.
Just my 3 cents worth. :grin:
zonie
the gun is timed so the main spring is powerfull enought to roll over the frizzen.. there must be enought power for the flint to cut off some steel into the pan while on fire.. the frizzen must offer enough resistence to allow this all to take place... ive just gone thru what yourgoing thru and what is probably happening is that the pin that holds the trigger is too far from the sear.. (mine was too close giving me creep). it could be a leverage problem coused by bad placement of the pin, especially since youve polished the parts involved... take it to an acomplished gunsmith and pay the price and be a happy camper.. if your fixing what aint broke you could end up with an expensive piece of junk to pass on to your children.. dave
the pedersoli mortimer is a nice rifle(i have the shotgun) that if it shoots well or can be made to shoot well) should be salvaged, and willserve you well. usually with quite a lot of carful work. mine is a rock crusher, but trigger is good, so im lucky.. i solved the rock crushing problem by going to a bigger/wider flint, and its an excelent sparker.. the slot in the liner was eating a gouge in the bottome of the pan so i filled the slot with accuglass.. ive shot lots of ducks and a pheasant with her so i like the gun and it is full jug choked by an expert about 15 years ago... i had a similer problem to yours with creep on a chambers round faced lock that came perfect from jim.. somehow it worked into a creep. the slick edges on the sear slowly stoped sliding by and dragged.. this made me flinch, which may be what your getting ..i was told here to move the trigger pin forward.. the guys here were correct.. what i did was take it to a very good gunsmith who put in a piece of brass to move up the sear and stop the creep.. this gave me a light trigger but man does she shoot.. eveyone likes that trigger, so do i.. but i still had the flynch.. i was very upset..i missed some deer last year before i got one.. i thought id increase the flashole size and see what whould happen this fall . i asked here and pletch said to start at .070 and see what happens.. i built the gun so i had drilled a small flash hole to start with,went ot about .065 or so and it was much better... when powder sat in the gun for the day it was slow and i ended up jerking the trigger, but it was much better with the new trigger.. i drilled out the flash hole to .070 and put a micro external outside cone.. i did not flinch for the next 5 times or so out practicing and shots after the hunt to purge the load.. i finnally saw a buck, aimed, fired and the buck was flopping on the ground in my sights..complet pass thru, both lungs, spine and far shoulder.. he was totally whacked. i just lightly pulled the trigger and the dear was flopping.. imediatly..(.62 cal rifle). i was so delighted.. what your problem may be is too small or slight chance of a misslighned flashhole ... or your not setting up the load right.. lightly thump the butt on the soft ground with loose load 10 times, and tap the barrel side while your doing so. load your ball and prick thru the flashhole with a toothpick.. use 4f and good flint and change primer often in damp weather.., see if that works, and if the pull keeps bothering you (dont change anything until your absolutly certain of what is wrong). then fix it correctly. it takes time...... :grin: dave
Thanks to all for the advice.I really appreciate[url] it.In[/url] fact my rifle functions fine and since I polished the internal parts the trigger isn't bad.I just thought that compared to my other flintlocks the mainspring seemed to be much stiffer.I was thinking that a lighter mainspring might allow the sear to disengage easier.I did not consider the angle of the trigger.Thanks again.
Bill Lollini
Bill Lollini
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