10/22 trigger upgrade

[jackslayer]

question for customized 10/22 owners. im looking to buy a trigger upgrade kit to soften the pull on mine and am overwhelmed with the options out there. my first requirement is for me to be able to do the work myself. i prefer to learn rather than pay someone else 100 bucks for .10 cents of know how. my second requirement is it had to be substantially cheaper than the 100 bucks it would cost me to buy a re-worked trigger assembly. Anyonw have first hand knowledge?

 

[rustymaggot]

i am very happy with mine after i disassembled it and polished a few things. i say tear into it and have fun. if you mess somthing up its not that expensive to get a whole new trigger assemble off ebay or whatever. not expensive as in its worth the risk to gain the knowledge. know what i mean? also ive seen cds on ebay of the info on how to do this kinda work. might be worth looking at. good luck.

 

[jackslayer]

what brand did you buy and was it hard to install how much etc?

 

[LiquidTension]

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/

Great place for all things 10/22.

 

[rustymaggot]

jackslayer, all i did was polish my original parts. what i mean is that if you play around with your trigger and mess somthing up then you can replace the factory parts by shopping on ebay.

 

[porterdog]

The Volquartsen sear has a good reputation as a nice upgrade...

 

[BigFatKen]

A bad trigger is like a poorly working anything. If you try to fix it and break it, well, it needed to be replaced anyway.

 

[Run&Shoot]

The Volquartsen works great

Years ago I installed the Volquartsen trigger upgrade kit in one of my 10/22. It took just a little fiddling with to install but nothing major (no filing or anything). The result is pretty amazing. Light (estimate about 3 lb) and very little travel with very crisp release. That is, no take up, no over travel.

It will make a big difference.

 

[Simple Man]

I have always had good luck with the Volquartsen trigger sear. Polishing your own parts is not a bad idea either.

 

[HankB]

I put in the Volquartsen kit - IIRC, cost was around $25 or so. My Lyman gage tells me the trigger breaks at about 2 lbs 5 ozs.

 

[Kymasabe]

Go to www.rimfirecentral.com and ask around, there's tons of info there.

For my 10/22, I installed a PowerCustom hammer. Dropped my trigger pull from around 8lbs to close to 3lbs. The nice thing is that it was the hammer only, no fancy springs or shims and it dropped right in. I actually bought a complete 10/22 trigger group just in case I screwed things up but it was a piece of cake. I think I paid around $25. My friend bought the VQ kit with more parts and took longer to install and I don't feel a difference between his trigger and mine. My vote goes to PowerCustom.
Two other things that I consider "must-haves" for a 10/22 are an extended mag release...I like the VQ one as it's metal and not plastic, is around $12...and a bolt buffer. I have a YellowJacket brand that works fine but the word at rimfirecentral is that the orange WeaponKraft bolt buffer is the best and well worth the $6 . Do it, you won't regret it.

 

[hksw]

IMO, the best thing to do is examine the difference between a modded/custom hammer to one that is stock and then start working on your own. If you know of someone who has a modded/custom hammer, ask to see if you can examine it. (Custom hammer meaning drop-in, not something like a hammer from the Kid trigger group which is totally different.) From there, any competent/confident do-it-yourselfer should be able to mod their own.

How I came about learning how to mod my own stock parts was to first have the firecontrol system of my first 10/22 worked over by a local gunsmith. After getting it back, I examined the worked over parts with stock ones of a second unmodded 10/22 I also had. From then on, I have done all of the mods on my stock 10/22 parts. The only exception is the mag release and a few Kid trigger groups I dropped into a few 10/22s.

To quickly discribe the most significant hammer mod, the lower rounded part of the hammer that is the top surface of the sear notch is ground/filed down a few mils and the radial angle of the notch is squared up with respect to the hammer's pivot point (center of the hammer pin hole).

 

[Raygun]

I bought the Volquartsen hammer for my 10/22 some years ago. It took the trigger pull down from 6.5 lbs to 1.5 lbs (that was a bit more than I was expecting, but it sure makes it easy to hit gophers way out there). There is still a bit of take-up, but not much. No creep, no overtravel. Drop in replacement, took about five minutes.

Since then, I've put a Power Custom hammer in a friend's 10/22, and it dropped that one down to about 3 lbs (from what I'm not sure, but it started out heavier than mine). The install was a tad easier, IIRC (no springs or shims). Same pull characteristics as above.

I've also replaced the sear in a 77/22 with a Volquartsen sear. That one turned out just about perfect. Dropped it from about 5 lbs to just under 2 lbs, no take-up, no creep, no overtravel. Just bang.

 

[railroader]

My 10/22 just has a Volquartsen hammer for an upgrade. This alone made the trigger pull outstanding compared to the stock trigger. It is a very easy install and is highly recommended. You can get it here for $32.60 shipped(shipping is free). They also carry Power Custom parts too. http://www.hawktecharms.com/ruger/10-22.htm Mark

 

[jackslayer]

ordered the volquartsen today. anyone have anything to say about kidd triggers spendy but ive heard theyre worth the money

 

[porterdog]

I've got a KIDD in my 10/22 space gun. It's fabulous- easy take up for first stage to a harder second stage from which you can fire with a thought. There's no creep, no overtravel, just 'clickbang'.

 

[hksw]

The KID triggers (despite tony's last name being Kidd, the triggers are actually called KID), are very good. Patterned after the Walther match trigger system, it can be adjusted in every way (except for length of pull on the curved trigger). The instructions aren't the most detailed, but if you tinker around, you'll get to know what to do.

One thing to watch out for is setting the sear engagement to be too small. I've had a couple instances of doubling and tripling because I set it too light an engagement. Blow the tight groups I was shooting out of the water. Simple to adjust though.

Adjustments, as said, are simple to do. However, if you are setting the trigger up to be as light as possible (like I do) you will be taking apart and putting back together the gun and trigger assembly quite a number of times as the trigger pull will be different between when the KID is in the gun with the action follow bolted down and when it is out of it. This seems to be true of most aftermarket triggers that I've seen.

 

[HankB]

I've had a couple instances of doubling and tripling because I set it too light an engagement.

Da switch! Da switch!

You just sold about 10 KID triggers to readers who aren't afraid of the BATmen and are tired of trying to "bump fire."

 

[hksw]

...action follow bolted down and when it is out of it.

Should read, "...action fully bolted down and when it is out of it (the action and stock)."

Hence, my signature line.


Correction, the more I recalled the day, I think it was because the sear engagement set screw backed out as I didn't tighten the locking set screw for the sear adjustment set screw to hold it down the last time I adjusted sear engagement. Took me 2 or 3 tries to get the sear to reset correctly due to the problem of the trigger assembly not performing exactly the same when it is out of the action and when the gun is fully assembled.