Is my trigger safe?

Anyone that "loads ONLY when READY to engage" kind of scares me.

If you dont trust YOURSELF OR YOUR WEAPON to use a trigger, SAFETY, LOADED ROUND IN CHAMBER, HOW CAN I TRUST YOU AS MY HINTING PARTNER??? EITHER YOU AND YOUR EQUIPMENT ARE SAFE OR NOT SAFE!!! If you cant carry a LOADED RIFLE/CARBINE/PISTOL/SHOTGUN SAFELY...... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE STAY AWAY....

can you imagine carrying your self defense pistol on an empty chamber or walking a field bird hunting on an empty chamber???

RUBBISH

BTW even the Israelis have given up on carrying on an empty chamber as it wastes VALUABLE TIME for a safety problem based on maintenance, design or training.....

How do you sneak around in the timber, swamp or around an Arroyo or kansas field break if you dont have a round loaded and safety engaged ready for a snap shot on the buck, bull or bear?

THAT BEING SAID...

I have found be it hunting man or beast I am going to snap shoot standing, snap shoot kneeling, precisely shoot braces, knealing or preferably prone... I want to ASSASINATE MY TARGET UNAWARE OF MY PRESENCE!!! I want a trigger I can place my finger on as I wait FOR THE OBJECT TO BE DESTROYED TO BE IN POSITION FOR THE SHOT! the shot should be a reflexive action when target sights and placement are PERFECT...

2LB TO 3LB WITH AN EXCELLENT CLEAN BREAK...

I CAN LIE IN PRONE WITH FINGER WAITING TO REFLEXIVELY PULL WHEN THE MOVING TARGET IS IN POSITION FOR THE KILLSHOT....

Regardless of trigger type, who made it, what the manufacturer says! I MUST VERIFY my trigger is safe. VERIFICATION IS MY DUTY!!!

Start with a sighted in rifle that's ready to hunt, ready to fight, ready to DEFEND AND SAVE MY LIFE possibly....

1. Empty case in chamber with case head and primer blackened by sharpie..

2. Pile drive rifle into cement floor from eye level 3-6 times. I am 5'11" I am simulating worst case fall scenario... If you are afraid of damaging rifle why are you taking it hunting?????????? If falling down can make your rifle fire please stay away!!!

3. Rubber mallet beat on barrel, beat on stock, beat on action, beat on mag!!! Cycle safety on and off, beat on bolt!!! If ANYTHING IS NOT PERFECT I WANT TO KNOW NOW!!! I have found loose scopes and mounts this way MULTIPLE times on friends, family rifles as well as new acquisitions!!!!

4. Goto the range 3x on different days shooting ACROSS CHRONOGRAPH at well defined targets 200 or 300 yards away! Shoot a MAGAZINE full of cartridges aimed SLOW FIRE PRONE without stopping .... paying attention to first cold bore shot, 3round group, 5 round group, vertical stringing.... The rifle will tell you WHERE SHE WANTS TO HIT!!! be it on the first, third, fifth, 10th, 20th or 30th round!!! ANNOTATE GROUP SIZES, DISPERSION AND SHIFTS IN ZERO!

5. Save target! Sign, date, annotate load, velocity, bc, bullet specifics, load specifics, temperature, weapon, distance, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 10th, 30th rounds impact!!!

6. Put target in gun case, update load data on rifle stock or phone or pda or ballistic computer, if necessary, load up detachable mags, put 20, 40, 100 IDENTICLE spare rounds in gun case!!!

7. Now your ready to hunt!!!
Not to offend or insult any one here. I hunt with one in the pipe. Many of nice animals have slipped by because of the noise of racking one in. I'm confident in my equipment and I hunt alone.
 
My rifles are set up at about 1.5 lbs pull to start with, and most my pistols are worked over too. If a friend going to use the rifle. We go out and have him shoot to see that point of impact is on for him and learn to handle or understands the trigger. I have my trigger installed by a gunsmith. I do a drop test and aggressive use the bolt too, after the work is done. Hunting depending on animal being hunted. Some I put a round in the chamber, and other time I don't. I would rather have the rifle unloaded and carry when hunting.

SSS
Mike
 
1) At first, no. I will use a trigger with a light thread compound or light torque on the nuts. Then when I'm done adjusting, I will carefully apply blue locktite. That locks small screws down well.

2) This is difficult, but I have a set of tests I do based on some use cases I have developed.....close action smartly 10 times; smack action on side with rubber mallet 3 times..dropping light mallet 3 times about 6". With action in stock drop 6" on butt pad 3 times; check all disconnect, connect, bolt remove, safety functions(lock up of action 100% if so designed); with safety engaged, action should be able to take severe impact from rear....tested with more severe mallet strikes to tang.

3) confirm all trigger and safety functions. Measure 10 pulls looking for abnormal pull weights or variation. Confirm safety locks up action or lifts striker off trigger on m70. I have no customers except me.

This is all roughly based on what it took stock rifles to jar off.
The only other thing I would add is in #2 is to check the trigger pull, with a gauge, after each of the steps, just to make sure that the trigger did not lighted with the steps performed.
 
Which is safer? The safety that blocks the trigger or the safety that blocks the firing pin. The Model 70 style wing safety is a much better tool when hunting. Particularly when crossing fences, getting in and out of vehicles or blinds. I like to hunt with people with wing safeties that block the firing pin. Then we can use Jewell triggers that are measured in ounces and not worry about it. I have a neighbor that shot two of his sons, one in the gut and the other in the leg, he was unloading the magazine by cranking them through the chamber, in the dark, in the rain, at the finish of the day. Maybe it could have been avoided with 3-position wing safety. These safeties are available for Remington bolts, and are much slicker than the factory safety and shroud, as well as Montana, Kimber and Winchester Model 70s.
 
As some of you may know, in addition to shooting LR, I also build custom flintlock rifles. These fine rifles were always loaded when hunting in the field. The better quality rifles usually had light set triggers. None of these rifles ever had a safety. Safety was and is always determined by the person holding the rifle. The addition of a safety or light weight trigger does not alter that fact. Period.

I cannot help but smile at some of the comments people make on these threads. They take their local hunting situations and try to impose them on other hunters all across the country without allowing for the fact that circumstances, the game and terrain are often quite different. Like lancetkenyon, I live in AZ where the landscape is usually wide open. Like lancetkenyon, my LR rifles all have a trigger pull of about one pound. My custom triggers are made for just such a pull weight (all mine wear the two-stage triggers made by Huber Concepts). While I have met Lance a couple of times, I have never hunted with him and I don't know him personally. Having said that, I would not hesitate to hunt with him and his LR rigs with one pound trigger pulls. Like Lance, I do not load until I am ready to shoot. It is simply good safety practice - just like being at the range where you are not permitted to load until on the firing line. Our circumstances out west afford us that luxury. It has nothing to do with trusting a man with a loaded weapon. I recognize that other hunters may face different circumstances where this would not be practical. I would never assume to label them as being any more or less safe than myself.

Some posters on this thread arguing for loaded weapons with heavier trigger pulls gave examples such as the need for taking a quick 'snap shot' or likened it to hunting with a shotgun. First of all, while both of these examples are valid, they do not fall within the realm of LRH. The need to take a 'snap' shot at large game is something quite rare out here. Generally, game can't run far enough, and fast enough to outrun a bullet. If I ever found it necessary to hunt in tight quarters, I would use my 20" barreled brush gun with open sights and heavier trigger pull - certainly not a scoped, 28" barreled LR rifle. I do hunt dove, quail and other upland birds with a shotgun loaded and with safety on, but then my shotgun does not wear a 1 lb. trigger either. Different jobs require different tools.
 
Which is safer? The safety that blocks the trigger or the safety that blocks the firing pin. The Model 70 style wing safety is a much better tool when hunting. Particularly when crossing fences, getting in and out of vehicles or blinds. I like to hunt with people with wing safeties that block the firing pin. Then we can use Jewell triggers that are measured in ounces and not worry about it. I have a neighbor that shot two of his sons, one in the gut and the other in the leg, he was unloading the magazine by cranking them through the chamber, in the dark, in the rain, at the finish of the day. Maybe it could have been avoided with 3-position wing safety. These safeties are available for Remington bolts, and are much slicker than the factory safety and shroud, as well as Montana, Kimber and Winchester Model 70s.


Model 70 safety!!!

TRULY SAFE!!!
 
I like about 2 to 2 1/2 pounds for my hunting rifles. I test them like my buddy does (he was the gunsmith at Gunsite) by slamming the bolt closed and bump testing the butt pad against the floor.
 
Maybe we should just say it depends on the how and where the rifle is going to be used. I run a 4 oz. Jewell on my groundhog rifle and anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 lbs on big game rifles. Which one depends if I'm stand hunting, or spot and stalking and whether then temperatures are extreme or not.
 
Good info on here. I do not locktit my setting screws.
Just got done resurrecting one of my old 700s....adjusted this "walker" last in 1987 or 1988.....the fingernail polish I applied at that time was "crusty" but still intact....had to dig it out of the screw slots & threads.....
After disassembly, a good cleaning and some slight adjustments it was again dabbed with "nail polish" and is back in the rifle.
Btw: the original 25-06 barrel was responsible for launching death pills to over 100 whitetails also a few antelope and muleys. After 2000 "hot" rounds the barrel went south and it now wears a 6.5-06.

Blue loctite or nail polish will not hurt the trigger and will preserve your settings.
 
If I can I use a nice crisp 2.0 pound trigger on everything. I don't shoot bench rest.
That weight works on hunting rifles and target pistols.

Zeke

I'm right in there with you, Zeke. All my rifles have their triggers set at 2 to 2.5 pounds, and I have never had a problem with any of them. This is comfortable for me, and I sometimes carry a rifle with a round in the chamber. When sneaking through the woods after whitetails, there just isn't time to chamber a round when one bounces out of its bed like a bunny.

When hunting in rough country, I find it better to carry a couple of rounds in one of those handy carriers that have the loops on them, attached to the buttstock. I can get one into the chamber in plenty of time when necessary, and most of the time it just isn't necessary to do that very quickly. When I was growing up in Pennsylvania, we hunted in some pretty steep terrain. With snow on the ground, wasn't uncommon to fall down once in a while. The last thing I would want would be an accidental discharge, so I unloaded the rifle several times a day. I would do this before going into anything where I thought that a fall might occur - steep side-hills, blow-downs, etc. This was accomplished by taking the round out of the chamber, and closing the bolt over the empty chamber. After traversing the rough spot, I would load a cartridge back into the chamber, check the safety, and carry on.

If a guy is hunting properly, he will have the time to load & unload repeatedly. If he thinks this takes too long to accomplish, maybe he's just in too big of a hurry - and a different pastime might suit him better. Hunting is only fun anyway when nobody gets shot.
 
As J E Customs stated. I used a sliding scale and an end user feel test to set my customer's triggers.
Most of my experienced hunters get a 2# to 3# trigger. Most of them ask for something between 2.5# and 4#
The target shooters and benchresters get a 1# trigger. many of them want a 12 ounce to a 1# trigger
If the person if comfortable with a certain poundage of their trigger that is exactly what they get.
I also insist the engagement on hunting rifles is more than 0.002" as well. I normally make sure that I have a minimum of 0.008". I like 0.012" for safety in the field. most of my hunters think as I do. lift the bolt to the point that the striker is off the sear so there is no way to trip and the gun goes off.
My personal hunting rifles are set at 3# with a 0.008"+ engagement. I do not own many Rem 700's. I mostly own Win 70's and I do use the original triggers or I use Jewell. I refuse to put Timney garbage in my guns. Yes, I believe Timney is garbage. I get constant harassment over this. I am tired of pulling apart Timney triggers to remill all the parts so they are square. dang water jets do not cut the parts square. Bix'n Andy are awesome, Shilen is exceptional, Trigger Tech is very good, Elftmann is good, CMC triggers are great. my motto is pretty much, "Anything but Timiney."
Lastly, I do not loc-tite my settings, I use clear nail polish. if I use anything. most of the aftermarket triggers I use come with locking nuts so that is good enough for me.
 
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