[Glamdring]

What battle rifle has best factory trigger? Which can be the best with some smithing?

[ACP]

My Springfield M1A standard model had a 5-6 lb. trigger and I was still able to shoot sub-2MOA groups with 147-gr. Portugese surplus. The "loaded" models come with 4-5 lb. triggers, I blelieve. A lot of M1A 'smiths will do a trigger job for $35-$40.

[Duncan Idaho]

Swiss K31

Hands down.

[Glamdring]

Okay. What is a swiss K31? :confused:

[Ian]

They're surplus straight-pull bolt rifles from Switzerland.

http://www.swissrifles.com/sr/faq/

[Andrew Wyatt]

my enfield has a good trigger, though not superb.


the best triggers seem to be on M-1a's and garands.

[DMK]

My Austrian STG-58 FAL kit has an awesome trigger. Much better than my Garand. It's so nice, I took great pains to get enough other U.S. made parts so I didn't have to replace the trigger parts like most FAL builders do.

[SodaPop]

My DSA-STG58 has a nice trigger. I wish it was it was about 2lbs lighter. I can almost stay withing 1 MOA out 500yds with Match ammo.

[George Hill]

Duncan Idaho... Great handle.
I'm reading House Atreties and House Harkonnen right now. (I have it together in one MS READER file on my iPaq... I've read all the others. Great series.

Oh, and to answer the threads questions... it would be a Springfield M1A1.

[aerod1]

I have a "loaded" model Springfield Armory M1A that has a good trigger.

Jim Hall

[MacPelto]

GARAND!

[Gewehr98]

But the winner for best battle rifle trigger in my modest collection is my 1903A1 Springfield, hands down. :)

[Steve Smith]

In .308s I'd say the M14 if properly tuned. The Garand is nice but the hammer seems much slower than the M14...but that's not saying much. Some of those bolt guns mentioned could be better.

[MacPelto]

The Garand is nice but the hammer seems much slower than the M14...

I'll grant that the m14 may have a faster lock time, but not so that the average joe (me) would notice.;)

[Chris Rhines]

AR-10 match trigger, hands down, nothing else comes close. Second would be a tossup between the M1a and M1 Garand.

My old FAL had a very good trigger, 5# and no perceprible creep, but it was a fluke. Most FALs aren't that good.

I hear very good things about the Red Star adjustable AK trigger, and you might be able to adapt it to a .308 VEPR.

For out-of-box guns, the M1a/M14 might have a slight edge over a stock AR-10.

- Chris

[Gewehr98]

The Garand is nice but the hammer seems much slower than the M14...but that's not saying much.

Umm, dunno why the disparity between the two, unless the tolerances were slightly out of whack. I say this because the M14/M1A and M1 Garand share a bunch of interchangeable parts, namely:

hammer, hammer pin, hammer spring, hammer spring plunger (*but only the late model with _no_ "wings" on the plungers front "dentent" area) trigger pin, safety, rear sight complete, lower butt screw, butt swivel, handguard retaining clip, extractor, extractor spring & plunger.

As for the trigger & sear, they're identical *_except_* that the full-auto M14 sear has an extended "shoulder" on the sear (designed to trip the hammer in full auto mode). One can simply grind that shoulder down and it works just the same as a Garand trigger & sear assy.

Of course, two separate M1 Garands can also have noticeably different trigger pulls.

[ACP230]

I haven't tried them all, but of the ones I have tried the M1A and an M14 (a real FA one,) that I shot were best.

My Garand is pretty good, but my M1A is a bit better.

[Steve Smith]

Gewer, I hear you! They should be equally atrocious, (ducking) but I've handed quite a few of each, and the M14s seem to have faster lock times. Both seem VERY slow compared to what I'm used to, and I'm sure that that (a comp tuned AR trigger) is painfully slow compared to a Quadlock.

You can really tell the difference in Standing, where shooting a Garand feels like shooting a flintlock, it takes so long. :)

[swingset]

I think the 2-stage trigger of a No4mk1 Enfield is my personal favorite. If clean and smoothed, it's a very nice trigger.

Longbranch rifles, in particular, seem to be the cream of the crop in this regard.

Now, my No4mk1T Sniper REALLY has a nice trigger, but I'm guessing that doesn't count as a battle rifle! ;)