Smoothing up Garand trigger

[AKA Hugh Uno]

I agree Sights, and having the entire weapon isn't a bad idea at all, but I, personally, have never found much variation in trigger geometry (pull weight) between mounted and unmounted triggers. I certainly usually double check by mounting up a unit to one of my own "tight" bedded rifles, but since I virtually always stop honing at a smidge under 5 pounds (still plenty nice and light considering a 3+lb first stage take-up), there is much less danger (as in zero) of going "under" safe/legal pull weight.

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[Sights]

I agree Sights, and having the entire weapon isn't a bad idea at all, but I, personally, have never found much variation in trigger geometry (pull weight) between mounted and unmounted triggers. I certainly usually double check by mounting up a unit to one of my own "tight" bedded rifles, but since I virtually always stop honing at a smidge under 5 pounds (still plenty nice and light considering a 3+lb first stage take-up), there is much less danger (as in zero) of going "under" safe/legal pull weight.

Cheers.
Have a great 4th of July

Sights

[Gus Fisher]

Hugh,

I don't mean to be critical and maybe it is the way you describe it, but I've been trying to figure out what you mean by the 3 1/2 pound second stage trigger pull. Do you mean the second stage is that much heavier than the first stage? The reason I ask is because you already mentioned the lightest trigger pull you do is 4 3/4 lbs.

As to the trigger pull feeling not that much different in and out of a rifle - sometimes you may not feel much difference and sometimes there is a huge difference. A lot has to do with how much pressure is required to close the triggerguard. If it goes down tight from either from a tight wood stock or a glass bedding job, then the difference is much more significant. If the stock is pretty loose, then you usualy don't feel a whole lot of difference.

There are a couple more reasons to ensure you have the whole rifle when you do a trigger job. If the top of the trigger binds on the stock, that will change the trigger feel remarkably and usually for the bad. If you are dealing with commercial stocks, you may not realize the trigger pull will go full auto when put in a rifle if the stock distance between the receiver and trigger mech is too great as it has been on many commercial stocks in the past. A trigger can go light or heavy by just locking the housing in a stock.

I admit I'm much more sensitive to a trigger's "feel" because I had to work so many of them for high level NM competitors. Most people would not BELIEVE the ways they describe what they feel and what they want. Most people who say they want a "crisp" trigger actually don't want that because a crisp trigger is a bit hard. Not very many folks shoot that kind of trigger well because a true crisp trigger is a bit hard before it lets off, though there are a few I've known over the years who liked that. Some folks like more roll than others. Some folks wanted as much roll as found on some European sporting arms, though again that was rather uncommon.

For all these reasons and even more, I don't do trigger jobs without the whole rifle.

[Gus Fisher]

Oh, one more thing. When I was the Shop Chief at Quantico, one of my Armorers from THE Marine Corps Rifle Team came up to me and told me he and the other two armorers could not satisfy one shooter on the team. So I told him to have the shooter drop by the shop and for him to be there when the shooter came in. After talking to the shooter, I knew what he wanted was an immense amount of roll on his trigger by the way he was describing it. So I picked out a WRA Garand hammer and did the trigger job in about 20 minutes. Then I handed it to the shooter and told him I thought that was what he wanted and if not. let me know. He felt it three times and then said, "PERFECT!" and he started to walk off, but I stopped him and had my Armorer get a good feel of the trigger so he knew what it felt like. Then the shooter went off happy as a clam.

My Armorer was stunned. He told me all three of them had worked that trigger three or four times each and no one could satisfy him. I told him that about 20 years before we had a few shooters on the Team who shot triggers like that when I first came up on THE Marine Corps Rifle Team as the junior Armorer. Because even then I noticed things like the differences between WRA hammers and other hammers, I noticed the trigger pulls they liked the best had those WRA Garand hammers in them. The WRA Garand hammers are made the same as the very early SA hammers and had the different style of hammer hooks and a very slight difference in tolerances. So I used to keep WRA Garand hammers separated so when I had shooters who wanted that kind of trigger over the years, I could do the trigger they liked. We picked out another half dozen WRA Garand hammers and I told him to take them and separate them and put them on the Shop Van for those kinds of triggers.

After that, I had all my Rifle Team Armorers come in for about 4 hours of instruction on fine tuning triggers. Most of them knew most of the stuff, but they all learned a trick or two. Believe it or not, about an hour out of that was talking about what the shooter described and the other three hours was how to do the trigger so it would feel that way.

[jeff hamerstone]

You people are something else. The M1 Garand was built for the battlefield. If you want a smooth shooter go out and spend the money for a Weatherby or some other Uppie rifle.

[AKA Hugh Uno]

You people are something else. The M1 Garand was built for the battlefield. If you want a smooth shooter go out and spend the money for a Weatherby or some other Uppie rifle.

I guess Mr. HammerTones has never heard of either the National Matches, or John C. Garand Excellence in "COMPETITION" matches. I guess this also means that we should all be perfectly happy with an 8lb trigger pull.

Little hint Jeff, a decent trigger makes shooting an M1 Garand MORE FUN and groups SMALLER. If you aren't interested in either, don't worry about it.

Geez-Louise.

A non sequitur (pronounced /ˌnɒnˈsɛkwɨtər/) is a conversational and literary device, often used for comical purposes (as opposed to its use in formal logic). It is a comment which, due to its apparent lack of meaning relative to what it follows,[1] seems absurd to the point of being humorous or confusing.

[jeff hamerstone]

u no who or dan shapiro which is it anyway. I've about had it with this bull**** fourm if you would spend more time at the range and less on the keyboard we would all be better off.

[Gus Fisher]

If one is used to a good tuned trigger, it is real easy to get spoiled by them. Yes, it does make it easier to shoot the rifle well and that means you can get more of the accuracy the rifle has to offer.

If your standard trigger pull is good enough for you, then there's nothing wrong with shooting the rifle that way either.

[jeff hamerstone]

Gus; I wasjust trying to see who I could get fired up from my post, I got what I expected.

[Chief]

Gus; I wasjust trying to see who I could get fired up from my post, I got what I expected.

Why did you feel you needed to do this? What's the point?
regards,
Chief