10/22 trigger job? What do I need?

T

twoblink

New member
OK, I can't stand my trigger. I want a trigger job. So what do I need to buy???

http://www.ontargetguns.com/ has a bunch of things.

I am SOOO lost. I know what the hammer is, but I don't know what the sear is... What do I need to buy/change to make my heavy trigger light, and smooth like a baby's you-know-what?

Thanks!
Albert
 
I suggest you go to http://www.brownells.com and search on ruger trigger. Then, I suggest you call their technical assistance number on Monday.

You don't need machine tools to do a trigger job on this gun. You do need to buy the right parts.

Clark, Volquartzen, and Power Custom all make trigger components for the 10/22.

I suggest a dropin if you haven't worked on guns before. Otherwise, the matched kits will be fine for what you need to do. They typically have a matched hammer, sear, sear spring, and disconnector such as the Clark Deluxe Kit.

Other parts you may want to consider are oversized pins from Leckie's Custom and others if you have a lot of slop/play on the parts. Leckies are blued parts,while others are in the white.
 
I suggest you take slickpuppy's advice and look at one of the matched kits available. I use the Clark deluxe kit in mine and its pretty nice. Volquartsen also sells just a replacement hammer which is supposed to lighten the pull by 50%. I tried one of these and its better, but I wasn't truly satisfied until I installed the matched kit.
 
I have a couple of 10/22's, and I just sent the trigger group to Calude Gatewood, check him out at http://www.claudegatewood.com. Here's the description of the trigger job he does for $45, it matches what he did to my guns.

"Pull reduced to a crisp 2 1/2 pounds. Trigger stop - this controls trigger shoe over travel after hammer starts to drop. Extended mag release. Auto bolt release - this modifies the bolt "trap" so a simple tug on the charge bar instantly releases the bolt forward, no more fumbling with the release. Total price including return shipping in US is only 45.00. Also, I am able to reverse the safety for left handed use- this adds only 20.00 to total package price."

[This message has been edited by johnwill (edited August 13, 2000).]
 
I by no means want to smith the gun myself. I a drop-in sounds great to me, but my question was what part(s) is responsible for that creepy heavy trigger pull? I want to understand the mechanics of it so I can understand what is being done to it.

I pulled apart my entire trigger assembly last night. Took me 2 hours to put it back together!!! Very glad I could find the exploded diagram of it. But now i have a little bit more understanding.

How are the drop-in trigger kits? I assume any of the companies named are decent?

Albert
 
As mentioned above, if you don't totally know the mechanism, it would be a very good idea to strat with modified drop-in parts from companies who know the operation of the gun.

This is what I did on my first 10/22 and after examining the parts I had bought and taking the gun apart and putting it together a few times, I became very comfortable with working with the internals of the gun. Now I do all of any modifications on my other 10/22s myself (Other than the overtravel screw. I usually buy one already made as I don't have a drillpress). All of the mods mentioned are very simple to do yourself after seeing the profesionally modified parts.

The sear is what holds the hammer in the cocked position. It holds it in place by being pushed into a notch in the underside of the hammer by a spring. Lowering the trigger pull weight and creep can be done by grinding/filing down the sear notch on the hammer and/or the portion of the sear that comes into contact with the hammer. The mods I have done for this have all been strictly with the hammer. Feel that this is enough for me and I'm not absolutely comfortable working on the sear due to the fact that the part that engages the hammer is pretty small and I don't want screw that part up. It's easier to work on the hammer.

Now working on these two parts can be dangerous in that if you grind/file off too much, you can make the gun a single shot, go full auto, or discharge after being hit or dropped (while the hamer is cocked). IMO, I would suggest doing what I did. Buy modified parts first, then learn from them. If this is the only 10/22 you'll have, just buy the modded parts, it's difficult to know what to do if you're not sure what parts do what.

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- Ron V.
 
Twoblink: the next time you disassemble the trigger group, it will go back together much faster. I had the same experience you did the first time I had mine apart.

As far as which aftermarket company is best, Volquartsen is probably the best known name in 10/22 aftermarket parts. I wouldn't hesitate to buy their stuff and you should be able to find what you need at most gun shows. You can also order Volquartsen 10/22 trigger kits from Midway or Brownell's.
 
My 1984 10/22 has seen allot of action. The hammer and sear really dug into each other to turn a lousy 8 pound trigger into a gritty 12 pound trigger. A couple of Ruger parts from Brownell's got it back to the lousy state.

Then I paid $45 for a trigger job. He did the travel, the creep, the force, and the over travel.

Those expensive hammer, sear, trigger, bearings, ect kits have a screw in the trigger to control the over travel. The gunsmith put a piece of metal in the tube that holds the trigger spring. It works.
 
I put a Power Custom hammer and sear in my 10/22 last year. You have to completely disassemble the trigger housing. It all has to come out. The sear often has to be stoned a little bit so the safety engages properly. If I had to do it again I would let a gunsmith who specializes in 10/22s do it. It would probably add about $25 to the cost and I would be assured of getting a safe sear. The tricky part with the 10/22 is aligning all the parts for reassembly. I ended up taping the trigger to the trigger guard because it kept slipping out of alignment when I was putting it all back together.

If you decide to do it yourself be sure the safety is working. Engage the safety on the EMPTY gun. Point in a safe direction and pull the trigger. If the sear releases with the safety on you need to take the whole thing apart and do some stoning to the sear.

BTW, Cabela's sells a complete Volquartsen match grade trigger assembly that you just drop into the gun. It costs about $200 but it has a lot of nice features.
 
I replaced the factory hammer with the Volquartsen target hammer (~$30) and it made a significant improvement. I was tempted to buy the whole Volq. unit ($200), but this satisfied my needs for now. Installing the new hammer was easy.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by twoblink:
OK, I can't stand my trigger. I want a trigger job. So what do I need to buy???
[/quote]

If you want to do it the easy way, check out http://www.claudegatewood.com/

Here's the various options from his web site:

Pull reduced to a crisp 2 1/2 pounds. Trigger stop - this controls trigger shoe over travel after hammer starts to drop. Extended mag release. Auto bolt release - this modifies the bolt "trap" so a simple tug on the charge bar instantly releases the bolt forward, no more fumbling with the release.

The standard trigger work includes- trigger stop for overtravel, extended magazine release, auto bolt release, sear work-at 2.5 pounds, 45.00 includes return shipping

Next step up is above work plus the pre-travel screw- eliminates most if not all of the slack before sear engagement 55.00 includes return shipping

Next step up is all the above work and machined shims and trigger pull to 2 pounds- 75.00 and that includes return shipping.
 
Hey, I know Claude (actually only met him a few times). His work is very good. All hand made stocks as I recall. It helps if your nearby as you can go there and get properly fitted for your stock.

Was going to have him build me a stock for a 10/22 along the lines of an Anschütz-style with a few modifications but moved to North Carolina before I could.

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- Ron V.
 
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