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

Nice ram, Rick!

I might better delete my buck pic - we weren't on a mountain, just in the Texas Hill Country...and it wasn't much of a hill at that...

At least my Montana is a good mountain rifle, so maybe I'll leave it on that basis alone...grin.

I do regularly hunt some stuff that almost qualifies as mountains...



I even shot this piggie there, with a T3 lite 25-06 (almost a mountain rifle...grin), with a trigger a bit over 2lbs, and he was running like a...well, like a scared pig, I guess....grin.



He was quartering hard, going almost straight away from us at about 200 yards and going flat out - my dad was with me and we were sort of on the lookout for an eatin' size pig, so I didn't want to mess him up - I swung with him and touched it off about the tip of his nose and pretty well ear-holed him. Again, the nice trigger on the Tikka at a bit over 2 lbs made it easy to touch it off at the right time. It was fun to see my Dad sort of grin and go, "Huh, pretty fair shot!"

Not saying I wouldn't often blow that shot, but it was fun to make it that day, and I think a good, light, crisp trigger
helped.

Killed this old buck (again with the Kimber 7-08) on top near where the first photo was taken, but he was standing still. I was shaking enough for both of us....grin.



DJ

DJ, if it was up to me, I'd say leave the pic of the buck alone! Beautiful deer.

I tend to think that a light trigger pull helps on the flat land as well... For me, 2 pounds is the lower limit. Anything less than that can get tricky in cold temps.

Agreed. Around 2 is as low as I like them, and I can get along with them up to 3.5 if the trigger is wide and crisp.

I really do find on offhand shots, field positions, and shots where stuff is on the move, that the light triggers really help.
On mountain weight rifles, the less I have to disturb them to touch off the shot, the more likely it will go where I want.

That ram is really something - one of these days, one of these days...I hope!

DJ

All my hunting rifles are right around 2 Lbs. And just about every other Friday I eat a fish Burrito from Taco Del Sol that is right around a pound

I've never had an AD, I've never had one go boom unexpectadly, and if you're gunsmith can't do you up a 2 Lbs trigger that won't slam off or survive the drop test, shop around for a new gunsmith.

How good a mountain rifleman are you?

jim

Took the words right out of my mouth.

Very nice buck there DJ.

I'm usually at 3 to 3.5 with my rifles which usually go just over 7.5lbs. Not what is considered a mountain rifle by todays standards, but they have worked there.

For a ram like that I would wrestle just about anything up to where I had to be.

Here's my Stone ram, taken with my Wby. Mk.V. in .257- hardly a 'mountain rifle', a bit heavy for the 1500' vertical climb it took to get above this ram. Trigger pull on this rifle is 3 lb.

Bighorn
Great ram. Looks like your trigger pull works.

Great animals guys,love those Stones!

Didn't mean to mislead, I used the term "mountain rifle" as an adjective not a noun.

I figured a rifle used in conjunction with backpacks & horses might need a tad stiffer trigger than that used in a heated box blind for whitetail or that of a paper puncher.

The factory trigger on my Vanguard had a ridiculous amount of creep.

Timney is on it's way, 3 pounds sounds about right.

Thanks to all for your input!

I have mine set toward 4 pounds, but not over.

Hunting around here means cold weather always, heavy insulated gloves for me, and a lighter trigger means I cannot feel it enough to put tension on it without it going off. Probably could push it down toward 3 but have never felt the need to do so.

Have never found a heavier trigger improving anyones shooting... Have seen a ton in the opposite direction.

Never saw a need to for a hot chamber ahead of actually shooting so an AD is unlikely there. NEVER shoot with gloves, even WAY below zero. Never found shedding gloves, making the chamber hot and shooting to be cumbersome...

I like a very light trigger on my MR's, but I don't hunt with a hot chamber...

2-ish lbs. Depending.

2 1/4ish for BG..........substantially lighter for varmints.

This is like asking the "best shoe size" for all Campfire members.

some jerkers couldn appreciate a good trigger.

What is the best shoe size for mountain hunting?

I've never weighed a trigger, do they really add enough weight to the rifle to matter?