trigger job in a jar

peddler

They was a article in Handgunner magizane about what they called a "trigger job in a jar" sometime back. They say to use Brownells Polish-O-Ray mixed with mineral sprits to about as thick as ketchup and squirt into gun, then cycle gun 20-30 times and clean. Has anyone tried this to smooth a rough trigger? Thanks

Bill DeShivs

Not a good idea. "Lapping" can round the crisp surfaces of sears, etc. and make the gun dangerous. Some compounds can embed themselves in the gun metal, and cause excessive wear.

rufe-snow

Larry's Guns, in Maine sells this stuff, "Neco Moly-Slide". It really supposed to do the job.

It will only work if you have two smooth surfaces to begin with though. Modern guns with their lawyer proof triggers should be worked on by a pro, who knows what he doing.

Sometimes changing out the springs has a beneficial effect on the trigger pull. Check with Wolf Gunsprings, to see if they sell different weight trigger and mainsprings for your gun.


EDIT #1, You have requested info on the Savage's trigger pull in a previous thread. Nothing changed since then. Not much you can do unless you can find a competent gunsmith willing to work on it. Seeing that it's likely 90 years old, questionable even if you found one who was willing to work on it. How much they could improve the pull, if replacement parts are required.

CapnMidnight

The only truely safe and reliable method of doing an action job is Wilson springs and a qualified hand using an arkanas stone. An application of Brownells action lube is the finishing tough. There is no substitute for this method, been using it for 35+ years with good results.
W.D.

Mk 19

"Trigger Job in a Jar" is no different than "weight loss in a jar", "energy in a jar" and "Horsepower in a jar", all hype with no results. Just like you can't loose weight without changing your eating habits, you also cannot get a good trigger without changing the relationship of the componets. That can be done as stated by CapnMidnight, or by installing a quality aftermarket trigger.

Txs

Agreed that using this sort of stuff is a bad idea, but it's also no surprise that a gun rag would publish an article praising it.

What they're doing is fulfilling their true mission - to promote their advertisers.

Subscriptions/sales are only a small fraction of any magazine's profits. The huge majority of their money actually comes from advertisers, so everything they're printing between those covers is simply filler to get you to turn the page and view the next set of ads. That's not cynical, just realistic.

The unspoken truth of the gun magazine business is that it's SOP for them to induce potential advertisers by offering positive articles involving their products.

Notice that when you see a certain brand firearm or product featured in an article you'll always find a decent sized ad from this company somewhere in that issue - especially if their gun is shown on the cover.

Magazine ads are very pricey, so ask yourself why they'd spend all that money on a full color ad when their product is already being touted on multiple pages. The ad is actually why that article and cover photo are there. [;)]

'Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!'

peddler

What I need to do is smooth and lighten the trigger pull of a Savage 1917 pistol made about 1920-1923. It is over 10lbs.

Horse Plains Drifter

quote:Originally posted by peddler
What I need to do is smooth and lighten the trigger pull of a Savage 1917 pistol made about 1920-1923. It is over 10lbs.
If it is truly over 10#, I would suggest there could possibily be something wrong with it.

peddler

Yes its over 10lbs. , I have a RCBS trigger pull gauge and it just goes to 8 lbs. and its about 3/4 inch pass that. From what I read about the 1917 Savage is that it does have a real hard trigger pull, but that seems too much to me.

charliemeyer007

Anything in a jar short of new parts that are fitted isn't going to help much and some designs limit what can be safely done. I'd work the existing parts carefully as not a lot of replacements
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Products.aspx?catid=1336

sandwarrior

I have honed and polished triggers on rifles and some pistols but not that particular model of pistol. Some things to look out for are changing the dynamic between the sear, trigger, or hammer. Even the slightest depth change causes a geometric change.

The easiest thing I can tell you is to lube the contact points of the trigger with some gun grease. If that doesn't help enough, look to lightening the springs some way. Replacement or stretching/cutting off of the spring are two methods to helping with that. Lastly try the honing/polishing. Go lightly then try some lube.
Keep in mind you'll ruin most of the collector value this thing might have if you do that.
On that last note, you might shop it around a bit and see if selling it would bring enough to replace it with something you don't have to mess with.