10/22 Trigger upgrade.

So my nearly 40 year old 10/22 got a trigger upgrade today. One of the few original parts left in the old gun but it finally got upgraded too.

I went with a Volquartsen HP Action Kit. I did not want to replace my trigger housing with the very afordable Ruger BX one since my 10/22 is old enough to still have the metal (aluminum) trigger housing rather than plastic. The HP Action Kit for $118 seemed a good deal (combined with my own metal trigger housing) compared to some of the full trigger housing from Volquartzen, Timney, or others for what I was hoping was going to be a good trigger.

I measured my existing Ruger trigger and it came in at a moderately stiff, slightly creepy but reasonably smooth 6lb-7oz using a Lyman digital trigger gauge

Installing the new parts was a fairly easy and straightforward task that took about 30 minutes to complete. There is nothing tricking or difficult with a 10/22 trigger except maybe replacing the hammer spring in the hammer spring sub-assembly but a good bench vice and tough fingers made fairly short work of that.



The good: Easy install and the trigger pull is now about 2lb-2oz. And with the adjustable overtravel stop very little over travel.

The Bad: The difference between the first stage and second stage is not large enough so you don't get a good crisp wall at the start of the second stage. There is a fair bit more creep in the second stage than I was expecting from a Volquartsen, its very smooth but not that much less creep than the factor trigger.

For those of you that have installed one, how much better are the pre-assembly complete replacement assemblies from Volquartsen, Timney or similar vs Ruger Triggers?

The real test will be getting some rounds down range with it and see how it shoots. Unfortunately I am not likely to get to the range before the next match. Nothing like taking an untested fire-control to a match, next weekends NRL22 match should be interesting.

greyling22 said:

I massaged mine based on the stuff I found on rimfirecentral: file hammer, jbweld disconnector, add overtravel screw. Took about an hour and worked out really well.

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The Volquartsen comes with an overtravel screw integrated and it works well. The creep is my biggest complaint with this trigger. It is still a lot better than the factory trigger.

I guess I should have updated this thread:

So a week ago I shot the monthly NRL22 match with the new trigger. I fired it for the very first time during the warm-up/zero-check before the match. I had several light strikes initially but they seemed to go away by the time I had my zero checked and double check my range card (~50 rds). The first four stage it ran well but then the light strikes came back. I had at least one misfire in each of the last three stages of the seven stage match. That is very frustrating. Despite the misfires I managed a 3rd place finish but was frustrated none-the-less.

So I took the trigger back apart looking for any issues. I could not find any so when I reinstalled it I use the factory hammer spring rather than the Vorquartsen hammer spring. I took it out yesterday to test it and try some different ammo for accuracy and I ran 55 rds through it with no light strikes. Just in case I have two new Wolf extra power hammer springs on order just incase the light strikes crop back up.

I am still unhappy with the trigger but putting the heavier hammer spring back in and with ~300 rds of dry fire and 200+ round of live fire through it the trigger has gotten somewhat better. Still not $120 worth but I have certainly shot worst.

rabid wombat said:

I really admire people with talent....I simply bought Kidd...more money than ability on my part

https://www.coolguyguns.com/TRIGGERS_c_7.html

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I agree as I did more research it seems that I really should have gone with Kidd not Vorquartsen but as you point out that is a lot more money for the complete drop in kit from either company. But at this point I am going to keep tinkering with this Vorquartsen HP trigger kit and make it work. As long as the light strike problem does not come back I will continue to use it for awhile longer. I really want to upgrade the stock at this point and will save my fun money for that. And despite my criticisms it is still a lot better than the old factory trigger.


5-shot 50 yard group in moderate wind yesterday using a bipod on a portable shooting bench.

I started a thread over at rimfirecentral and go no response. I use to be real active over there. The barrel and stock I am running was even bought from a member there. Was disappointed I did not get a single response.