Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Best Trigger Weight For Mountain Rifle?

2.5-3 lbs on hunting rifles. I can like them lighter but then they are too sensitive when cold or after exertion.

That's plenty light enough not to be jerking the trigger and heavy enough not to be overly sensitive.

MM

No more than 2.5 lbs on my rifles in any hunting conditions.

McInnis,
I don't try to shoot while wearing gloves, I buy them loose enough that I can bite and hold the glove with my teeth to pull my hand out and shoot. It doesn't take but a moment.

I have two questions for all those with light trigger pulls on hunting rifles:

1. Why? Does it make you a better shot in the field?

2. Have you tested your rifles for accidental discharge from dropping it?

I like them in the 2lb range as well.

IMHO, Scott is right - the lighter the rifle, the lighter the trigger needs to be.

From field positions and offhand, the lighter trigger helps most. A controlled squeeze is rare for me in a hunting situation - I need to be time it so that I am able to touch off the trigger just when I want to in most hunting situations, and that's where a light trigger makes me a better shot in a hunting situation. It's also the reason a lighter rifle needs a lighter trigger - I need to affect things as little as possible when I touch off the shot offhand or in a field position when I need to control timing the shot to occur precisely at the right moment.

I also will take reasonable shots on moving game - frequently on hogs, and even on this buck I shot last year. He had a doe in a thicket and came out in the open for a second to run off a smaller buck and I drilled his shoulders as he slowed from a trot to a brisk walk just as he was leaving the clearing to return to his doe. Killed him with a Montana 7-08 with the trigger just a whisker under 2 lbs - which was perfect. A light trigger sure helps when swinging with a moving animal and touching off a shot at just the right time.



It obviously wasn't cold that day, but cold hasn't been a problem with light triggers IME. Of course, I don't hunt in crazy cold weather too much....grin.

Lee - I test the dickens out of my rifles for accidental discharge dangers - lots of slam fires and bump tests all over the rifle after I adjust a trigger. BTW - some rifles will AD with odd bumps - I've found it's a good idea to test with a bump on the forend. Also, sometimes it's the 8th of 10th slam fire before a trigger discharges. I've also seen them AD more easily after the safety is engaged and dis-engaged - had a model 70 that could have fooled me on that one if I hadn't been pretty persistent in testing it.

DJ

Lee,

I was born a night, but not last night! and your questions are a little condescending. I'll answer like this, A light crisp trigger helps in shooting in all situations and Yes I have done a "controlled" drop of my rifles. And I'm sure many others have thought the same as I about this.

CLB

That's a nice buck DJ.....

I like my hunting rifles (bolt guns) set around 2.5-3 lbs as well. I'm not sure that it makes me a better shot though. If the rifle fires from a slam, then the trigger wasn't adjusted correctly from the start. Has nothing to do with the weight it was set at.

Found I can shoot most any pull wt. well if the break is clean. I like 3-4# when I have a choice.
Shot a buddies old 308 in a Win 100 ( or was the semiauto the mod. 88?) that had the trigger lightened up. Nearly always doubled.
My biggest complaint against the TC conventional black powder rifles are the set triggers. Man, do I need a lot of practice to still hunt effectively with them. Learned this the hard way, and more than once.
Set or not, I find them difficult to master.

Don't care for anything much over 3. Won't use anything 2 or under for hunting.

Trigger pull weight actually does have something to do with the tendency to accidentally trip when a handgun or rifle is dropped.

The adjustment of the tension often results in the sear engagement getting out of adjustment.

Secondly, triggers have mass. Some triggers have a lot of mass, and when a rifle or handgun falls and lands a certain way, the impulse load of that trigger mass can be more than 4 or 5 pounds upon impact.

Every year, someone drops a rifle with a 5 lb trigger from a treestand, it discharges, and kills them.

#1. Yes.
#2. Tested from where, like while sitting at your PC?

If you shoot out the window from your PC chair, you might want to test it there. This thread is about MOUNTAIN hunting, outside. I expected to get the usual jackass comments, but the serious among us will continue the discussion despite the noise.

PLEASE DO NOT DROP YOUR RIFLE

I remember reading that some British gunmaker liked to make their trigger pulls 1/2 the weight of the gun.Personaly I like them a little lighter and crisp.When I was younger I liked them a lot lighter and really enjoyed wishing off a shot,especially offhand.

You could be right, but here's a photo of this jackass on a mountain with a Stone's sheep and a M70 with a 2 1/2 pound trigger pull. Light trigger, mountains and M70's...you're expert on 'em all, right? Wanna share a pic or two of your mountain hunting adventures? Or even better, of your famous one-of-a-kind M70?

wow very nice ram, looks like someone has BTDT and has the pic to prove it...

Good post Rick and a sweet looking ram too!

I'd like to see those pics myself actually....

CLB

Nice ram, RickF. You could have posted that the first time. Your comments were more adult the second time, but I still wouldn't hunt with a trigger under 3 pounds. There is no advantage to it.

Thanks guys, I am very proud of him.

Lee, thank you. But why would I automatically post a pic of a sheep when the conversation is about trigger pull weights? Only when you challenged me that it was about mountain hunting did I feel the need to post a bit of my "resume".

Since you did that, and I shared a pic of me mountain hunting, I think it only courteous that you do the same. Please show us a pic of you mountain hunting somewhere so that we know that you are qualified to discuss this topic according to the guidelines you already laid out. ??

So if a 5 lb trigger pull isn't what you would consider safe, what do you set your trigger pull weights to.