Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Winchester MOA Trigger

I checked my trigger gauge and with a 5 # weight it indicated 5 lbs. - 3 oz., so it appears the gauge is fairly close.

ehunter, I had trouble with that goop too. I finally scraped it off with a knive. Still cannot get it out of the overtravel screw, but I do not intend to adjust it.

I did break down and read the instructions! It indicates that you can remove the screw completely but the pull will not go lower than 3 lbs. I did not take the screw completely out. It was flush with the housing when I started and I turned it until it was approx. 1/4" exposed, which looked to me to be close to the length of the screw. I stopped at that point because the gauge started to go up rather than proceed down. I think tonight I am going to remove the adjustment screw completely and see what I get, and if not at least 3 1/2 lbs. I will just return it for repairs.

For any of you out there that could adjust yours to less than 3 1/2 lbs., how far did you have to take out the adjustment screw?

I completely remove the adjustement screw on the two mod 70 that I own.I didn't check those trigger with a gauge but I would say that they are in the 3-3.5 lbs range.They are also very crisp and its one of the best feeling trigger compare to the many other rifle that I own or tried.

There is no bigger pre 64 fan than moi.....I am one who believes they have yet to reproduce the grand old rifle,and to me not even the Classics or the SC are real M70's ...

.......that said I have a question....how come some don't like the SC enclosed trigger,but we don't breathe a word about Remington,Kimber,or even Mauser 98 (Holy Grail here!)after-market triggers in housings, like Timneys, Blackburns,etc, etc?

Seems to me if the SC trigger sucks,so don't the rest of them......right?

OK, I removed the adjustment screw completely and the pull is now 4 lbs - 4 oz., so back she goes.

I really like the feel of the rifle. The synthetic stock is better than what I expected, the fit is first rate, the barrel channel is equal on both sides with little gap between the barrel and stock.

Now if I can get this trigger thing fixed we will see how see shoots.

Thanks to all for your advise!

Bob,
I think that was one of the reasons that so many of us liked the M70 design so much was we didn't have to worry about the trigger like you do on the Remingtons, Kimbers, etc. At least that was one of the reasons I like the M70's pre-SC. The old style was easy to adjust, easy to keep clean and didn't have problems freezing up like the enclosed triggers from other makers. The trigger is why I prefer to use the M70 whenever I think my rifle is going to see some very demanding conditions. Granted, for 90-95% of what most people will ever do, the other trigger designs, including the MOA, will get the job done. However, why risk it if you don't have to. And as others have already said, it wasn't a problem that needed fixing. I personally think FN made the decision to go with a new trigger design strictly for marketing purposes, i.e. everyone else was talking about their newly designed triggers, we better do that too!!
Test

test: I happen to agree with you....

I was just pointing out that maybe the trigger is not as bad as some think.....but who knows? I haven't hunted with anything but an original M70 trigger in so long I can't really remember the last time.....

But a lot of guys do hunt with other designs under pretty bad conditions....and we know they work quite well most of the time.And these SC M70's are so good in every other way they deserve a chance.

+1

Ok I understand what others are talking about, there was no issue so why mess with what was working well.

VA I did not read it close enough either. I used a knife to scrape the trigger adjustment off and then a fish hook to finish it off. I left the over travel alone.

Well-stated..

And there have been beau coup threads about problems with Remington triggers etc.. I get probably two dozen M700s in every year with trigger issues - stickiness, failure to set, inconsistent pull, fully fouled up from 'lubrication' (can you say, WD-40? I knew you could), bolt stop stuck up enough to allow the bolt to fall out of the rifle or come out during extraction/chambering.. Why Remington won't change those things is beyond me, but I could say the same about the cheap-azzed magazines they make for the 7400/7600 series at al..

..and there's your answer - "most of the time"..

A trigger has to work ALL THE TIME, EVERY TIME. The old-style M70 did that job with aplomb..

And that my friend, is THE bottom line...

Redneck: Fundamentally.....we don't disagree

Heck,for a knock-down hunting rifle, I like the original military Mauser better than all of them....!

Good posting.
I bought a new FN Model 70 Featherweight in 7-08. I did an initial inspection of the rifle, and measured the trigger pull; it was 5 pounds. So, I e-mailed FN in SC and suggested that they set the pull weight to 3 or 3 1/2 pounds when building the rifles.
I have no objection with the 5 pound pull as the break is nothing short of fantastic. So, I didn't even try to adjust it lighter. During load development with the rifle, I shot it as well as rifles with light weight trigger pulls, which I prefer. I guarantee you I won't notice the pull weight when hunting.
Bob/NH has some good words about just pulling the trigger, regardless of its pull weight.

Yeah, I knew you agreed, Bob. I was mainly just writing that for the benefit of others here. And, I don't doubt the quality of the SC M70s since by most reports they are shooting very well. I'm sure that most people will use them, love them, and never have a problem with the trigger.

However, I think Redneck makes a good point, that there probably are a lot more trigger problems with the other makes that we don't often hear about since they happen on the range or at home when dry firing or some such way and then the rifle makes it to the gunsmith and all is well again for the big hunt. I've known two different friends that have missed chances at game because of trigger issues. One was on an A-bolt trigger that was all gritted up and actually dangerous since after he took his finger off the trigger and pulled the rifle down to see what the problem was, the rifle actually fired. And a second one was a M700 Remington where the trigger froze because (I think) of liberal use of some type of lubricant in the trigger housing.

VAHunter,
Do you suppose that the Quality Control department at FN needs to watch a bit closer in the trigger spring supply?
I took the adjustment screw all the way out of the trigger assembly. This left the spring alone and it was still 4.2 lbs or more, and inconsistent.
I look forward to hearing how you make out with Browning Service. Since it isn't broken/inoperative, will they fix it?

wsmnut

test: yes I have seen a housed trigger not function as well due to dirt,etc and safety/triggers freeze up from migrating snow and ice..it is not fun when this stuff happens and can be a bit unnerving when it happens in the field.

..on one memorable occaission in Northern Maine two rifles belonging to companions got loaded with snow and ice after a storm;one wounded a buck we were trailing when the lights went out and we were stumbling to get out of the woods,rather far back in.......signal shots to a companion on the road could only be fired by my pre-war M70 30/06;my companions rifles,jammed with snow and ice, would not fire.

I was young,did not understand why.....I do now.

What you're experiencing is the 'lawyer' part from BACO.. Here's the 'marketing' part of BACO (From the Winchester website): "The Model 70�s new M.O.A. Trigger System is the most precise three-lever trigger system in the world. Operating on a simple pivoting lever principle, the trigger mechanism has been completely redesigned to exhibit zero take up, zero creep and zero overtravel. The pull weight ranges from 3 to 5 pounds and is factory-set at 3 3/4 pounds."

Methinks they're gonna get a BUNCH of rifles back to the factory for trigger setting gripes.. It will be interesting to see what they actually do, if anything, to match the product with the marketing hype..

Inquiring minds wanna know..

Well I spoke to Winchester/Browning Customer service located in Arnold, Mo. As soon as I told them the best I could get was 4#-4oz. they told me to send it to them and they would take care of it.

I will keep you guys posted on how this thing turns out.

Well got the Extreme Weather .300 WM back yesterday from Winchester/Browning service. Took 16 days round trip door to door to get the MOA Trigger repaired, plus approx. $20 shipping and insurance.

I got a call the day Winchester received the gun with a question on the paper work, I had not written the return address clearly, anyway they indicated they would enter it in their system and call if there was a problem, otherwise they would repair it and send it back.

I just measured the trigger pull at 3 lb. - 6 oz. average, and the trigger has absolutely no creep. The trigger feels at least as good as the Cooper rifles I have. I have not removed the action from the stock yet to see how much adjustment screw I have left to use if additional adjustment wanted to be made in the future, and I may not at this time.

I am very pleased with the service I got, Winchester made no excusses, they just appoligize and said they would take care of it.

I just wanted to let others here know how this turned out, as I promised.

Now to get the VX-3 3.5-10 Leupold on it and see how it shoots.

Good to hear they fixed you up. Now if you want to make it a little better, replace the trigger spring with an Ernie the Gunsmith trigger spring.

Did this on my Xbolt and M70 FWT and have a pull of a little over 2 lbs on each.

I didn't have any trouble adjusting mine, got lucky I guess.

JM

John did the mod 70 moa trigger use the same spring as the x-bolt?I check Ernie the gunsmith website but they only listed spring for the older mod 70.And are they easy to install?

I just checked the website and they now show the trigger spring for the moa trigger.