Thoughts on the Huber Concepts trigger?

[Rumpelhardt]

I have two commercial rifles that have beautiful triggers.
One is a Winchester Model 70 that I have had since 1984 and that had the factory trigger reworked by a very competent gunsmith. It brakes at a very clean and creep free 3#.
The second is a Remington 700 that has a Timney trigger on it that is absolutely wonderful. It is just above 2# and is just like the proverbial glass rod.
All this to get to my point. I am going to bed the action on my Long Branch with Accra Glass Gel and Free float the barrel. I have done a few 700s and two Model 70s so I hope the Enfields aren't much more difficult.
I would really like to improve the trigger to as close to the above rifles as possible and the Huber trigger seams to be the best way but I would like to get some feedback on them from some one who has some knowledge on them.
Thanks for any help.

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[paulseamus]

Rumpelhardt

I am hoping that you will get some responses to this thread as I am also wanting to try these triggers out.

Paul

[Peter Laidler]

Same meat, different gravy but I know someone who set about putting a fine but adjustable No8 trigger mechanism into his L39 target rifle. At the time I wondered whether it was just a waste of an L39. I don't know how he eventually got on but the last I saw, he'd got around to fitting the No8 fore-end too.

[Maxwell Smart]

What do you hope to achieve by fitting a Huber Concepts trigger to a Lee Enfield Rifle?

The Huber Lee Enfield trigger is a very simple piece of gear, it mounts in exactly the same way as the standard trigger - its advantage is that it offers a smoother pull off and adjustment for creep. I fitted one to an AIA M10 rifle in an effort to improve the poor trigger experience, was very happy with the improved "smoothness"; but also very disappointed in that it did NOT significantly lighten the trigger pull.

[Parashooter]

If you would be comfortable using your rifle with the trigger always held back to the beginning of the second stage, the Huber design might be just dandy for you. If not, consider that the first stage of the issue trigger is there for a very good reason - to provide enough sear engagement to positively prevent accidental discharge should something jar either the trigger or the bolt and/or cocking-piece.

Examine the image of the Huber trigger and you can see that it has only one "hump" and it is screw-adjustable. By turning in the screw, the sear is partially depressed, and held in that depressed position. If the adjustment goes far enough to produce a short, crisp pull, sear engagement is very small and a slight disturbance of the trigger or bolt/cocking-piece can allow the sear nose to disengage from the cocking-piece and let the striker fall. If the adjustment is set to allow enough sear engagement for safety, the pull will be neither short nor crisp.

The Winchester 70 and Remington 700 triggers are both "propped sear" designs where the angled surfaces of the sear and cocking piece work to force the sear down while the trigger props the sear sear up to allow plenty of sear engagement while enabling a short, crisp single-stage pull.

Attachment 22419
Winchester 70 trigger is a classic and very simple propped-sear design.

[Peter Laidler]

I'm thinking along the same lines that if the original ain't broke, then why fix it? You can get near perfect trigger pull-off by polishing the axis pins, the trigger bent on the sear with an up and down motion with the finest emery stick and the same motion up and down (.... NOT across....) the two sear bents of the trigger. Same again AROUND the rounded nose of the sear and importantly up and down the sear bent of the cocking piece. I detailed all of this in an article a few years ago.

Pull off weight is altered by the angle of the nose of the cocking piece and just a minute of angle makes all the difference. The two distinct pull-offs are adjusted by the upper and lower bents on the trigger.

But the BIGGEST and BEST improvement you can make is to make sure that the cocking piece is TIGHT on the striker. Even the slightest movement will ensure a sloppy trigger job.

I dispute that one of these special triggers will give a better trigger job than a properly set-up trigger job on a No4 by a properly adjusted Armourer. Just try my No4T. I told this to Jim Samson who was fitting the No8 trigger mech to his L39.................... That's only my experience though

[RobD]

"..by a properly adjusted Armourer. "
I expect you mean one needs an expert, with expertise. That's a rather difficult component to find these days, Peter

[Rumpelhardt]

Thanks guys. Sounds like there could be some safety concerns so I will save my money.
I don't find the two stage pull at all objectionable though I would have liked to have lightened it up some. I'll read your article Mr. Laidler and see about smoothing things up a bit.

[jmoore]

A single stage trigger on a cock on close design which is also operated quite vigorously seems less than ideal. Especially if you've some degree of bolt "slop" in the action. Might be OK for gentle benchrest use, but that's not really the L-E's forte.

[RJW NZ]

I've tried the Huber and the CanWest, and I'm 99% with Peter, the 1% being that the after markets have their place. I always did like the enfield two stage trigger but wanted smoother and lighter, much lighter. I discovered eventually that even a modicum of attention lightens the weight and smooths it out like you wouldn't believe, so in the end this is my preference now.
The Huber did smooth out the pull, somewhat, and was only a decent improvement if I compared it to the roughest enfield one. The weight stays the same of course because the spring remains the same. If the spring pressure was lighter I think the Huber would be a pretty slick thing to use, but I never tried that mod.
The CanWest trigger for enfields is an awesome unit to use, I fitted the target model, which is essentially the same as their hunting one but without the long pull through after release, to an ishapore 2a .308, and with no regrets. It's up there with the best aftermarket trigger imho, can be tuned very light as well as smooth, and at the range its like using a delicate light switch, one touch and off she goes. It did reduce my group diameters a lot. I acknowledge that while the trigger helped me there , it is essentially compensating for my poori-sh aiming and let off skills, rather than being a magic bullet that everyone should own. It is a sweetheart though to have in an old military rifle.
The Canwest is a little narrow box that fits in where the sear is/was and the drawback for enfielders is that it requires slight mods to the rifle; ie a hole needs to be drilled through the recoil lugs so that a pin will anchor it in place, and the other mod is that the fore end wood has to be cut through internally in the fashion of a No4Mk2 to accommodate the unit. Accompanying that is the need then to run a bolt across the fore end as for a no4 mk2 to take the place of the restraining strap no1's and no4 mk1's are fitted with. Other than that fitting it is dead easy if you're slightly handy. If you're making a balls out target rifle, its a winner, if you're making less than that I would experiment with tuning the stock trigger first. If you don't like the results then the modified parts are the ones you're replacing anyway.
just my 2 cents
Huber and Canwest are both listed in enfield resource.com, although canwest hides here; Welcome to Lee-Enfield Rifles