Remmington 1858 Pietta trigger needs work

[usmcchet9296]

I own 2 1858's one is a Uberti Carbine and one is a Pietta Army
the Uberti trigger is sweet
very little creek and nice break
the Pietta on the other hand creeps for miles and the break is horriable
the pull has to be like 6-8 lbs
what can I do to improve this

1858 Remington pistol carbine(7) by usmcchet92_96, on Flickr

 

[hang fire]

A little judicious honing on the bearing surfaces (keeping the honing square ) should go a long ways to reduce drag and let off.

Remember, "LITTLE" is the keyword.

 

[Dan Carey]

Dis assembly of the 1858 is pretty straight forward. The only thing that is a little tricky is the pawl that rotates the cylinder. It is located on a screw attached to the hammer. The hammer screw is the last part you remove when doing a trigger job. After the hammer screw is removed the hammer will drop DOWN enough to remove the small screw that locates the pawl. Pull the pawl down to remove, them pull the hammer up to remove it. You can remove 50% of the sear surface on the hammer and then polish all the surfaces. When re installing the pawl don't force it, look carefully how it it located when it removed. The little spring can easily be damaged. Its a 10 minute job when you understand how the parts fit together.

 

[denster]

The easiest and best way is to pin the full cock notch in the hammer. Just forwward of the full cock notch drill a small hole about 1/8in deep and insert a pin either press fit or with a drop of red locktight. Reduce the height of the pin untill you get the trigger break you want. Instead of a pin some use a small spot of JB weld.
Resist the urge to stone the full cock notch or to reduce it's height. Either can ruin parts in short order.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Here is an illustrated 1858 Remington disassembly guide.

 

[Dan Carey]

 

[Hellgate]

I have done very little trigger work but once you take a little off the surface of the trigger sear it would be best to re-case harden the trigger with Kasenit (sp?) or it may wear easily and not maintain your trigger job.

 

[Dan Carey]

If you look at the picture of the hammer you will see I cut about 50% of the sear away using a milling machine with a carbide end mill, it didn't seem to be real hard, nor was it soft.. The way it is cut, even if it was case hardened the cut wouldn't affect the surface area.

 

[Shultzhaus]

I have been able to vary the trigger pull slightly by changing the mainspring pressure using the adjustment screw in the grip frame. Don't go too light or the cap will not go bang.

 

[denster]

Reducing the height of the full cock notch will sometimes work, however you are changing the geometry of the hammer doing so. You may find with this method that when you pull the trigger the sear drops into the half cock notch. Kind of hard on both parts. The simple and best method is to reduce the engagement by raising the area below the notch with a pin or other method. A lot less work and does not change the geometry of the parts.