Heavy Trigger on Traditions ML

[The Gunman]

I have a traditions Pursuit Pro and the trigger is terribly heavy. I know that is a very subjective thing. I don't have a trigger pull scale.

I shoot most of my rifles with the factory trigger. Savage 110 no accu trig. in .270, Howa 1500 in .223, which has a pretty decent trigger except for a bit much creep for me.

This ML has very long creep, is very heavy, and quite a bit of over travel. I know it is a ML and they are not well known for nice triggers, but this thing is horrible. The action is based on a single spring. The trigger simply engages the sear notch on the hammer and a large heavy coil spring applies force on both. Looks like the trigger and hammer are like the ones Savage uses, I believe it is called sintered. So I doubt it can be honed or polished much if any.

Does anyone know if a replacement spring is available or how I might go about lightening this trigger?

 

[rcmodel]

I don't know of any lighter spring specifically made for it.

But, you could take the old spring to any good hardware store and probably find a lighter spring the same diameter in the coil spring assortment boxes.

Getting some Outers Gun-Slick graphite grease on the sear & hammer should help smooth it up.

rc

 

[The Gunman]

I can't use just any spring. I gave the engaging surfaces a light polishing with a loose wheel and no polish on a foredom. I figured it couldn't hurt too much. It did make the pull a bit smoother, but the problem still remains that it is way to heavy.

I think you can get an idea of the relationship of the parts. The spring sits over the trigger where indicated by the line. The transfer bar is not shown.

Below is a pic of the spring alone.

 

[LaserSpot]

It's never going to be close to a bolt action trigger with no intermediate sear. I'm trying to visualize how this thing works; where do the legs of the spring engage the trigger and hammer?
How much of the pull weight is from the trigger return spring vs. the hammer notch? In other words, if you thumb back the hammer a bit, is the trigger almost as hard to pull?

 

[The Gunman]

If you moved the spring into the position indicated in the top photo, the legs of the spring sit behind the hammer and on the long flat piece of the trigger. Move straight up the left side of the coil and you can see a wear mark on the hammer piece, that is about where it rests.

When the hammer is pulled back into the cocked position it adds pressure onto the trigger. It basically forces sear engagement.

I understand it is not going to be a fine trigger, it just doesn't have to be a 15lb trigger does it? (I may exaggerate one or two pounds.)

The light polishing helped, I just wondered if anyone had an idea of how to safely lighten it a bit.

 

[LaserSpot]

Wow, that's pretty heavy! How heavy is the trigger if you take out the spring? It would, of course, be extremely unsafe to use this way. If you think the spring it too strong, you could try to weaken it a little by over-compressing it. If you try this, you may ruin the spring:

Measure the distance between the two legs of the spring.
Tie a string to it so it doesn't go flying into your face.
Squeeze the legs together with a big pair of pliers.
Measure the distance between the two legs again.
If they are a little closer together, reassemble it and try it.

If squeezing the spring till the legs touch doesn't change this distance, you would probably have to slip it over some kind of bench-mounted metal rod, secure one of the legs, and over-rotate the other leg past this point.
Don't go too far.

 

[The Gunman]

I was being a bit sarcastic about the 15lb, I do not have a trigger scale.

The one pictured is the only spring in the action. If it is taken out I would have no sear engagement.

I have tried pinching it with pliers to weaken it, didn't help much. I currently leave the hammer cocked when it is stored. I hope that will eventually lighten the pull a bit.

 

[LaserSpot]

Yeah, I didn't think that would be enough to bend the spring.