Trade Gun Trigger Help

[jlutz]

I’m wanting to tweak the trigger on a trade gun I recently aquired. It has a loooong travel (approx .60”) before engaging the bar at full **** and I’d like to change that. It’s a brass trigger (needs cleaned up a bit as well). It seems the thing to do might be to braze some additional material onto the area indicated below. Is there a better approach I should consider? Thanks for any input!

 

[2 shots]

dont know what lock you have but you may be able to bend the sear bar a bit, will need to check clearance in the stock hole. or as said braze onto trigger.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I'm guessing it's like a two stage trigger. Some travel before it engages the sear. Many locks have a sear that changes position between full and half ****. You don't want a trigger that puts pressure on the sear when it's at full **** especially. You can rig up a light music wire return spring so the trigger will lightly engage the sear or what's even better is to just get used to it. My single trigger guns all have the feature you describe and it's an easy thing to get used to using.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
I could you better if you show me the lock and the gun.

dave

 

[jlutz]

Hi,
I could you better if you show me the lock and the gun.

dave

Hi Dave - I’m not able to get more photos at the moment, but will get some up in the next day or two. Thanks!

 

[jlutz]

Hi,
I could you better if you show me the lock and the gun.

dave

Dave,

Here are some more photos. I appreciate any input!

 

[jlutz]

Finally found time to tinker a bit. I soldered on this steel nub, polishing the portion that contacts the sear. I haven’t done extensive testing yet, but initial impressions are that it is much improved!

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have done the same to a trigger in a gun that had a 3/8" web, If I inletted the trigger any deeper it would be in the ramrod channel., I dropped the barrel as deeply as I could but I still had way too much room between the trigger bar and the sear.

I filed away about half of the extra metal show in the picture but this is what I started with after adding the extra metal, I used solder paste for the add on.

 

[jlutz]

Eric, I too added to much steel to start, but with the solder it was easy to heat it up, remove it and do a bit more shaping to get what I wanted. I used some Stay Brite silver solder wire and flux.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Eric, I too added to much steel to start, but with the solder it was easy to heat it up, remove it and do a bit more shaping to get what I wanted. I used some Stay Brite silver solder wire and flux.

Good fer you. Doing yer own thang is a big part of what this avocation is all about.

 

[jlutz]

Good fer you. Doing yer own thang is a big part of what this avocation is all about.

I figure every little bit of tinkering helps me better understand how everything is built and works together!

 

[waksupi]

You will never have a good trigger pull with the pivot point that low. Triggers mounted like yours was never a good idea. Get a trigger blank, and pin it through the stock at the highest, most forward point you can. Once you have it in place, trim the contact surface so you have just a slight amount of play at relaxed, half ****, and full ****. If you leave contact between trigger and sear, weather changes can make the gun unsafe.
When I was building the guns for North Star West, Matt called me and told me to NOT make the triggers as good as I do for my own guns. He said people weren't used to that on a trade gun. Still, the guns I sent out averaged a 3-4# trigger pull
.

 

[VAN]

These L&R Trade Gun Triggers come in several blade types and have the high pivot point for easy trigger pull. I switched from one like yours to this and it made a huge difference in the pull effort. I added a flattened brass washer to take up some side-to-side play and smooth the feel. I like it better than double set types on these trade guns. I filed the blade down to just clear the sear with very little take up.

 

[jlutz]

You will never have a good trigger pull with the pivot point that low. Triggers mounted like yours was never a good idea. Get a trigger blank, and pin it through the stock at the highest, most forward point you can. Once you have it in place, trim the contact surface so you have just a slight amount of play at relaxed, half ****, and full ****. If you leave contact between trigger and sear, weather changes can make the gun unsafe.
When I was building the guns for North Star West, Matt called me and told me to NOT make the triggers as good as I do for my own guns. He said people weren't used to that on a trade gun. Still, the guns I sent out averaged a 3-4# trigger pull
.

Thank you for the input, it’s much appreciated! Just to make sure I’m tracking, you’d suggest ditching the steel frame the the trigger is pinned to at present and pinning a new trigger straight to the stock, maybe somewhere in the very general vicinity I’ve indicated in red?

 

[jlutz]

These L&R Trade Gun Triggers come in several blade types and have the high pivot point for easy trigger pull. I switched from one like yours to this and it made a huge difference in the pull effort. I added a flattened brass washer to take up some side-to-side play and smooth the feel. I like it better than double set types on these trade guns. I filed the blade down to just clear the sear with very little take up. View attachment 155555

That looks handy, I’ll check it out. Thanks!

 

[waksupi]

Thank you for the input, it’s much appreciated! Just to make sure I’m tracking, you’d suggest ditching the steel frame the the trigger is pinned to at present and pinning a new trigger straight to the stock, maybe somewhere in the very general vicinity I’ve indicated in red?

View attachment 155568

That's about the right point to pin it. Probably no need to get rid of the trigger plate, just fit the trigger to fit in the slot, and ignore the old pivot point.

 

[waksupi]

These L&R Trade Gun Triggers come in several blade types and have the high pivot point for easy trigger pull. I switched from one like yours to this and it made a huge difference in the pull effort. I added a flattened brass washer to take up some side-to-side play and smooth the feel. I like it better than double set types on these trade guns. I filed the blade down to just clear the sear with very little take up. View attachment 155555

Could still be better with a higher pivot point. You could gain another 1/4" with a blank.