Trigger question

[carpsniper]

I've got a Winchester model 70 that has a very heavy trigger. I'm no gunsmith, but what I lack in mechanical aptitude I make up for with experience. However I never worked on a trigger before.

There is a spring held in place with two jam nuts that seems to be for tension. I backed these down almost as far as I could and it did seem to help. I would like to know if this is correct before I take it to the range.

The sear does look a little rough (macine marks), but I don't want to mess with it if I don't have to.

[eldeguello]

ORIGINAL: carpsniper

I've got a Winchester model 70 that has a very heavy trigger. I'm no gunsmith, but what I lack in mechanical aptitude I make up for with experience. However I never worked on a trigger before.

There is a spring held in place with two jam nuts that seems to be for tension. I backed these down almost as far as I could and it did seem to help. I would like to know if this is correct before I take it to the range.

The sear does look a little rough (macine marks), but I don't want to mess with it if I don't have to.

The Model 70trigger is relatively simple. I believe most people can pretty much figure out how it works just by watching it function when the barreled action is out of the stock and pulling the trigger. It does not harm a Model 70 to dry-fire it, so you can do that after putting it back together and trying it before you go back to the range. If backing the trigger return spring nuts off as far as you can does not lighten it enough, you may have to consider removinghalf a coil or a full coil from the trigger return spring. This is a last resort, however......
Check out this article.

http://www.varminthunters.com/tech/win70trigger.html

[Pawildman]

The Model 70 trigger is one of the easiest to adjust. The site Eldeguello gave you describes it well.

[speyrjb]

You can also replace that spring with a lighter spring. You can get a lighter tension spring from a gunsmith for a couple dollars.

In order to have a clean breaking (no creap) and light trigger, it's imperative that the contact points on the sear and the trigger be polished. This can be kinda tricky however because it's VERY important that these surfaces remain flat. If you round off the notch on the sear it could make your gun unsafe.

[carpsniper]

Thanks for the info. I was trying tomake it harder than it was. It just didn't seem like it should be that simple.

Now I have to shoot it a bit to see where I like it.

"kinda tricky however because it's VERY important that these surfaces remain flat." Yep that is why I didn't want to mess with it if I didn't have to.

[dmurphy317]

I did the same adjustment your talking about on my M70. Before you go to the range I would suggest you try it "dry firing" as you make the adjustments. When you get it close to where you like it, put the gun back together, do not load it, close the bolt and take it off safety. Then try bouncing the butt on a hard surface (like a concrete floor) to see if the gun will fire without pulling the trigger. Start off medium and then bounce it a bit harder until you are satisfied it is safe. The last thing you want to have happen is to be at the range and the gun go off when you close the bolt or when you flip the safety off. Remember to always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction. I've had one of my bolt guns go off when I closed the bolt even though the safety was on, I had to tighen that trigger back up a bit to fix that.

Also, you can help smooth out the sear bearing surface by putting some powdered graphite or moly on the mating surfaces and firing the action a number of times. Just be careful because just doing that can lighten the trigger pull, sometimes significantly. On one of my guns it cut the trigger pull in half.

Good luck and be careful.

[speyrjb]

Why not take the gun to a gunsmith? You can get them to do a trigger job on your rifle and get exactly what you want and it doens't cost an arm and a leg. Plus you know that your gun will be safe when all is said and done.

I've yet to buy a rifle that didn't need trigger work, even adjustable triggers need work to function like I like them, simply because the sear and the notch need to be polished to take the creap out.

Doing a trigger job yourself is not a difficult thing to do provided you take your time and you are careful. I use a very smallfile and a polishing stone and Ifile a little polish put back together and dryfire...over and overuntil I get it like I want it to be. If you don't feel comfortable doing yourself then take it to a gun smith and when you get it back it will be the way you want it, or at least much much better than it was.

I don't reccomend putting moly or graphite on the sear. These parts need friction to operate safely and could cause problems. Just my opinion tho.

[oldelkhunter]

Why not take the gun to a gunsmith? You can get them to do a trigger job on your rifle and get exactly what you want and it doens't cost an arm and a leg. Plus you know that your gun will be safe when all is said and done.

I have owned quite a few Model 70's and each and every one was adjusted by my gunsmith with one exception. I bought one of the original ss model 70 and sent it to a nationally known famous gunsmith to get the trigger done. I got back my rifle in 2 weeks and it had a unsafe trigger set to 3 lbs no less. Drop the rifle on its buttstock and off it went. The gunsmith I use now stones, grinds and adjusts the trigger perfectly on my Model 70's. I sugget you take it to a gunsmith

[Briman]

I don't reccomend putting moly or graphite on the sear. These parts need friction to operate safely and could cause problems. Just my opinion tho.

I agree, at best, you end up with an inconsistant triger pull.


I've done this to polish up metal surfaces, I learned this from an old Smith:

Mix JB bore paste with CLP to get a thick viscous consistancy. Apply to surfaces to be polished, work those surfaces 100x then hose the parts over very thoroughly with carb cleaner, dry and reoil. I've done this to slicken up slides on pistols and to polish up sear parts on pistols before with great success, only downside is that its messy and requires a bit of time.