SA trigger pulls- How light do you like it?

stantheman86 · Mar 26, 2011

I tuned up my 10-14 to the "nth degree", real slick, lubed it up with moly. The DA pull is a dream, 100% reliability and just like ball bearings on glass.

The Single Action pull, however, is like a hair trigger now. No push off, it's not unsafe, but with the hammer cocked, a little pressure on the trigger and it will fire.

What are some opinions? If the gun is for target work only, and the action is in a safe condition, is a "hair" trigger a good or bad thing?

thomashoward · Mar 26, 2011

stantheman86 said:
I tuned up my 10-14 to the "nth degree", real slick, lubed it up with moly. The DA pull is a dream, 100% reliability and just like ball bearings on glass.

The Single Action pull, however, is like a hair trigger now. No push off, it's not unsafe, but with the hammer cocked, a little pressure on the trigger and it will fire.

What are some opinions? If the gun is for target work only, and the action is in a safe condition, is a "hair" trigger a good or bad thing?

A good trigger will make or break accuracy potential. I have done trigger jobs on most of my weapons. If I touch it it goes, as long as they are safe.I cock an unloaded gun and smack it on something to check on safety.
My hand guns are light and my varmint/Target rifles are 5ozs.Jewell's
Hunting guns are 2lb by Lyman's trigger pull gauge.
a heavy trigger is an abomination I cannot tolerate, I will let someone dry fire so they can get a sense of the trigger pull
Always keep a firearm pointed in a safe direction. Its the "unloaded" guns that kill people

CrossRifles2008 · Mar 26, 2011

Agreed a heavy trigger is no good. Just make sure you have it facing in a safe direction at all times. Especially before you cock her back.

papajohn428 · Mar 26, 2011

In the right hands a light trigger allows a master to do his best work. In the wrong hands it's an accident waiting to happen. Enjoy it, but make sure it doesn't wind up in inexperienced hands.

scooter123 · Mar 26, 2011

I have a 617 that breaks at 2 lbs. 4 ounces with a 14 lbs. rebound spring installed. With a 12 lbs. rebound spring it broke at 1 lbs. 8 ounces. IMO, either weight is too light and next time I go into the 617 I'll sharpen the sear on the trigger. While they work great for accuracy, I've had one AD when it was at 1.5 lbs. and I cannot trust that 2 1/4 lbs. trigger with a newer shooter, it's just too light to be safe. BTW, the gun was aimed at my target when I had that AD, however it fired before I intended to fire and I changed out the rebound spring as soon as I got home. A 1/2 lbs. trigger, that's something that I don't even want to contemplate shooting with, I'd never be able to feel that my finger was in contact with the trigger.

Personally, I like my single action triggers to break as close to 3 lbs. as I can get them. It's light enough that it's not an impedimate to accuracy for me and with my work toughened hands it allows me to "feel" the trigger without thinking about it. It's also heavy enough that I feel it's safe for a newer shooter provided they have been clearly instructed in it's use.

Finally, another endorsement for the Lyman Digital trigger gage, they are not only much easier to use than a spring scale but they also don't cost very much. IMO anyone who is the least bit interested in tuning their guns should have one of these gages in their tool kit.

m657 · Mar 26, 2011

I use an antique spring trigger scale which gives more information than 'none at all' and is adequate for my needs.

For me there is such a matter as "too light" as well as "too heavy".

For general range/competition use I like around 35 oz for SA. For strictly target revolver I like around 25 oz. For carry guns I like around 40 oz.

For me "smooth and crisp" breaking suddenly like glass with no stacking is far more desirable than exact lightness measure.

jspick · Mar 26, 2011

For target work I like then light. For plinking and carrying I like them heavier, like 3 to 4 lbs. Everyones finger is different. Make it what you want it and feels good.

Now since it is not practical to change the pull weight for different uses the only reasonable thing is to buy a firearm for each purpose. You may call it "justisfacation" but hey any reason to buy another gun is OK with me!

John

H Richard · Mar 26, 2011

It all depends on your capability. If you can handle a less than 1 lb. trigger to "ALWAYS" go off ONLY when you intend for it to go off, (and it is safe) it is O.K. If you can't, then it it too light. My personal preferences are for a trigger that I can lay my finger on and take up a "little" slack and feel when it breaks. Mostly 1 1/2 - 2 lbs for handguns, and 3 1/2 to 4 lbs for 1911's. Rifles for use on a bench (only), are set under a lb. Prairie Dog guns are usually about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs.

btruman · Mar 26, 2011

papajohn428 said:
In the right hands a light trigger allows a master to do his best work. In the wrong hands it's an accident waiting to happen. Enjoy it, but make sure it doesn't wind up in inexperienced hands.

My old model 17 has a very light SA pull. I do let others shoot it occasionally but only after warning them to keep their $#%^& finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.

BT

BigBill · Mar 26, 2011

All my trigger sears and guns are lubed with moly.

I never touch the trigger until i'm ready to shoot.

On the trigger sears we can lessen the trigger pull by up to 50% right away with moly and lesser as it works into the pores of the metal.

Using moly on the actions smooths them out and the gun is faster to cycle too. In the semi auto's it speeds up the cycling time. If you install a stronger recoil spring it will actually lessen the cycle timing at the sametime too because of the less over travel.

Moly;

Eliminates all wear
Reduces Friction
Prevents Galling
Stays were we put it
Fights Corrosion

If your seeing any wear your present lube isn't working.

I have nothing to do with the sales or manufacture of moly. My fight is about not seeing the wear inj the used guns that i see for sale when it could of been prevented with just a lube.

www.tsmoly.com ts-70 moly anti seeze or paste because it has a higher percentage of moly in it.

My guns never leave home without moly in them. Bill

BigBill · Mar 26, 2011

btruman said:
My old model 17 has a very light SA pull. I do let others shoot it occasionally but only after warning them to keep their $#%^& finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
BT

Number 1 gun rule;

You never point a gun at anything you don't want to shoot.

Number 2 gun rule;

You never touch the trigger till the gun is pointed at what you want to shoot and its safe to shoot it.

With new shooters unfamiliar to the gun make sure we go over gun safety first. Do it twice and often till its well understood.
Bill

BTW; My brother was feeding apples to the steer(beef) thru an electric fence. I said three times "Electric Fence" to him. When he zapped the steer and him he understood what i was saying. At the sametime the owner of the steer came out of the house and said that electric fence works good? My point is people can be preoccupied and not listening so the more times we say it maybe it will sink in, so make sure they understand what your saying to them.

Its like the donut house coffee, its not donut flavored coffee, its donut house tasting coffee like at the "whole donut" or "dunkin donuts" or tastes like your favorte donut coffee shop's coffee not the donuts. Some people need to get it explained to them clearly more than once.

I get people new to guns that think a double action revolver is a western single action revolver because there both revolvers and they just don't know. And the've only seen and shot the auto pistols in the past.

Then at the gun range i see little kids running around with 22cal handguns, pointing them everywhere and what are there dads thinking? Is that safe or good gun control? Even though were focused on shooting we need to beware of our surroundings too.

Overall its up to us to teach them correctly. Besafe, Godbless and do it right, Bill

stantheman86 · Mar 26, 2011

Thanks for the opinions

I feel my 10-14 is what I would call an "advanced" gun, in other words I wouldn't give it to a novice shooter. IMO the best gun for a new shooter to learn "real guns" on is a DAO .38 loaded with light wadcutters. If they can shoot that reasonably well, maybe they are ready for the semi-auto handguns. The DAO revolver gives them the idea of putting rounds downrange safely, has a long, heavy pull so they have to really mean for it to go off......

I have seen too many times on the range, where a guy is teaching his wife or girlfreind to shoot and a round hits in the dirt 5 feet in front of them and she's like "It just went off!!" because he's teaching her to shoot with his slicked up Kimber 1911.....

SA trigger pulls- How light do you like it?

stantheman86

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thomashoward

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CrossRifles2008

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papajohn428

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scooter123

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m657

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jspick

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H Richard

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btruman

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BigBill

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BigBill

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stantheman86

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