Friday, May 23, 2008

Gee, Mister Wizard!

One of the more common mechanical causes for firearms whoopsies is a rifle that "won't stay cocked". This is generally caused by our old pal Danny Dremel the Shadetree Gunsmith deciding that he's going to do a "trigger job" on his buddy's Remchester rifle. Not understanding the proper relationship between the size and angle of various mating surfaces in the rifle's lockwork, the end result is a rifle on which the trigger is pretty much superfluous, since the sear is tripped merely by the force of closing the bolt. Hopefully the defect is discovered before the rifle is loaded, and the problem can be fixed by a gunsmith before anybody has to go to the emergency room, but sometimes life is more exciting than that.

A few years ago, Savage came out with a unit called the "Accu-Trigger", which allowed easy and safe adjustment of the trigger down to ridiculously light pull weights with no danger of the rifle going off as the bolt was closed.

Now, I may have mentioned that I'm not the world's most mechanically-inclined individual. In fact, I couldn't even visualize the working relationship of the trigger mechanism on a 1911, which is probably the simplest trigger/sear/disconnector relationship in the handgun world, until I'd detail-stripped one a few times. So you can imagine that the trigger-within-a-trigger setup on the Savage seemed like pure voodoo to me. At the NRA show, however, Savage had a cool gigantic moving model of the Accu-Trigger setup.

Aah-hah! So that's how it works. Golly, Mister Wizard...

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, you want to se elegant simplicity of trigger design, simply disassemble a K31. I have never seen or felt a trigger so beautiful from the factory.

Tam said...

When we do a range day, I need to let you shoot my Schmidt-Rubin.

mdmnm said...

I've read criticisms of its aesthetics, but those pale to me next to the amazingly nice break on the Accutrigger. I don't mind the looks, an in any case it is definitely a case of "ugly is as ugly does". Great triggers.

Anonymous said...

I've shot several. I ended up with the K31 because a: I could afford it, and b: I'm confident it's a stronger design. I also like the sight radius on the K31 better.

OTOH, I thought it was verboten to refer to the rifle as an S-R, that designation being reserved for the cartridge, not the rifle. Yours is a K-11, mine a K31. Not that I'm a purist.

Somerled said...

Use a Dremel tool to modify the aesthetics of one's Savage Accutrigger. It is also good for do-it-yourself dentistry. Then there is that process where one can relieve excessive pressure on their brain by burring a hole through the skull. Why pay an expert when one can do it all in the privacy of her or his own workshop? ;)

Tam said...

"Yours is a K-11, mine a K31."

Actually, mine's a full-length rifle, so it'd be a G-96/11. It makes a Czarist-era Mosin look short.

Anonymous said...

Ah, of course.

Still, the K31 isn't exactly a short rifle. One way or ta nother, I used it to win my first match this year. If I could shoot the damned thing, imagine what I could do? and a longer barrel? Sheesh.

Anonymous said...

Certainly, though, I would never miss an opportunity to shoot ANOTHER 7.5 swiss rifle. I'll even bring mine own ammo.

Anonymous said...

I just bought the Savage Model 25 in .223 and love both the trigger and the overall feel of the rifle.

Anonymous said...

Tam, is a Remchester anything like a Smiff and Western?

B

Tam said...

I've always taken "Remchester" to mean "generic domestic sporting longarm". :)

For instance, you know grandpa shot the deer with a Model 70 or a Remington 700, or maybe it was an old Savage, you're not sure which, so tell your buddy he shot it with a Remchester.

If it's a shotgun and you're feeling especially catholic, it might be a Remchesterberg.

Anonymous said...

I've been shooting a Savage with their Accutrigger lately. Mixed reviews. The feel of the trigger is very very nice. The safety mechanism is very sensitive... almost TOO sensitive. I expect I will love it to bits once I am fully used to it.

Jay G said...

Remchester sounds like the gunnie equivalent of the motorhead term "Chevyoldsmobuick"...

Anonymous said...

Hmmph...nobody wants to comment on the lousy original Savage triggers? My .30-06 Model 110 with the factory trigger was well-nigh unshootable. I had a gunsmith drop in a Timney after-market unit, but when I handed the rifle over to him I asked him to check the original trigger pull...he couldn't, since his trigger-pull scale only went up to 8 pounds.

Why couldn't Savage have made the Accu-Trigger retrofitable (is that a word) into their older rifles? Purely rhetorical question, since they want to sell new rifles. But my new rifle (that's what it feels like) has a very nice 3-1/2 pound pull, and operator error is now the only cause of problems shooting it accurately.