Terrible triggers

[Nordic Norm]

The absolute worst trigger I ever had was on a marlin .22lr semiauto. It was sooo bad and uncurably designed I vowed to master the rascel. Owning that gun lead! me to a deep appreciation for owning at least one gun with an awful trigger. The technique developed doing so is unattainable any other way. It makes my good triggers feel great, and my ok triggers feel good. I'm all wind guns now. Won't mention which of my guns is the present guru, but is is a notoriously bad bullpup trigger.

 

[Sqwirl57]

When I first got into shooting sports I was doing the usual "upgrade every gun I get" thing that most new guys do. A much more experienced guy told me to stop and just leave some guns bad or mediocre. If you can shoot a bad gun well, you can shoot any gun well. I took that to heart. If I really like a certain gun I'll do what I need to do but the rest stay as is and I only fix whats required.

 

[Nordic Norm]

Wisdom

 

[Scotay42]

Well, i clean up every trigger i have if there is anything i do not like about it. I havent been for a while now and it leads me to get rid of more than i keep. If it is not enjoyable.to shoot then I just will not. I was taught trigger discipline in cub scouts and continue to practice it. I will keep more as soon as i get a shop built again.

 

[Nordic Norm]

I wish all the luck of the Ireland on your new shop! Wow, that news has got me all excited, thinking I should turn the rest of my living room into a shop. Way more interesting than a living room.

 

[dizzums]

lol .. you are on your way grasshopper ..

 

[bdzjlz]

Nordic - so funny, I have a Marlin Model 80C bolt that I received when I was 12 years old (back in the 60s) for my birthday. The trigger in it, to this day, is the worse ever. It has so much creep that one can stop it about anywhere along the travel and in several places and it will hold, and then can start squeezing again, lol.

It didn't stop me from killing a lot of squirrels, groundhogs, etc.

 

[keesbo]

Worst airgun trigger is on a Hatsan Semi Auto.

 

[AirNGasman]

I wrote in my first book (The Manic Compressive, copyright 1998) "Simple triggers respond well to simple trigger-smithing techniques."
Exhibit A-

Despite having the worlds simplest trigger/sear design where the trigger and sear are one, stamped-out piece of steel plate, SIMPLE trigger-smithing techniques transformed the trigger action of this 1950's VINTAGE Sears & Roebuck Ted Willams Match Rifle (Crosman 160 variant) .22 Co2 rifle into a crisp but SAFE let-off of just 12 ounces. As documented in my second book (Airgun Hunting & Sport, copyright 2001), that, and thousands of rounds of practice was good enough to routinely SPANK the .177 HW97s, TX200s, and WHISCOMBE dominating Texas NRA Silhouette competitions until the ancient "Match Rifle" came along to capture that State Champion title and two National Record certificates. BTW, the 2-7X scoped Ted Williams rig weighed just 5-3/4 pounds; little more than HALF that of it's monster-scoped spring-piston competitors.

Utilizing just as similar SIMPLE, one-piece trigger/sear design and SIMPLE trigger-smithing techniques, after conversion into the pistol below, my 1950s-VINTAGE Montgomery Wards Hawthorne (Crosman 180 variant) .22 pistol trigger also breaks at 12 ounces, and FrankenPistol AVERAGES 3/4" center-to-center groups at 50 yards. A dime and a quarter provide group-size references (the smallest measures 1/2" c-t-c... at 50 yards)-

FrankenPistol has also won NRA Silhouette competitions, and put a 14.3 grain .22 JSB right through a big Texas jackrabbit broadside at 30 yards.

As excerpted from my fourth book (Airgun Chronicles- Thirty Years Of Airgun Testing And Competition, copyright 2013), FrankenPistol's performance details-
14.4gr JSB Express, 92 F, 18 shot power-band= Low- 514, Hi- 536, ES- 22, SD- 7, Average- 528 FPS/8.9 Foot-Pounds
7/14/07- Six consecutive 5 shot groups at 50 yards with JSB Express averaged .74” c-t-c in still winds.
7/4/15- Five consecutive three-shot groups at 25 yards averaged .33” c-t-c with JSB Express.

Suffice to say a well-smithed SIMPLE trigger design CAN BE no handicap to any trigger... at any price!

 

[DutchMike]

The youth rifle designed by Weihrauch, the HW25, has a very bad trigger. It is very safe and it makes all other triggers seem wonderful in comparison. My 13 year old can shoot it like nobody else, mostly because the rest of us is spoiled with good triggers. Good learning gun.

 

[boscoebrea]

Bad triggers are plenty, Ruger pistols one, and cheaper air rifles, but there are the good air pistols and rifles that are really accurate that have bad triggers;I "try" to do the best I can with them.... then they piss my off because I know I have reached the point that for me to shoot more accurately something needs to be Done!. I thought to myself,"why don't the manufacturers make it easier to adjust their triggers"?
Anyhow,I will fix them the best I can.
With me, bad triggers seem to make it easier to "pull" my shots, you know, left or right.
I like 2 stages,a longer first stage and then I feel the second stage and a slight nudge, and off goes the shot.
Consistent straight pullback knowing when the shot goes off,.Yes I know some say you should not know when a shot is going to go off, BS on that; Control Men; it is about having control of an object and not the other way around.

 

[Moog]

The absolute worst trigger I ever had was on a marlin .22lr semiauto. It was sooo bad and uncurably designed I vowed to master the rascel. Owning that gun lead! me to a deep appreciation for owning at least one gun with an awful trigger. The technique developed doing so is unattainable any other way. It makes my good triggers feel great, and my ok triggers feel good. I'm all wind guns now. Won't mention which of my guns is the present guru, but is is a notoriously bad bullpup trigger.

The worst trigger I've had was on a Crosman break barrel but I fixed it by installing a GRTIII trigger.
You are absolutely correct. By practising with a bad trigger it makes your good triggers feel even better.

This reminds me of a story I heard about a professional basket ball player. When this guy was growing up in order to practice he had to make his own hoop because he was to poor to afford one. For years this guy practiced using his home made basket ball hoop. As it turned out the home made hoop was smaller in diameter than the regulation hoop so when he got to the big league it was much easier to shoot.