Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Browning B78

Does anyone own this rifle? Is the factory trigger suitable as is or does it need work?

I have one and while the trigger could be better, mine seems to be OK. Put it this way, not perfect but easily gotten used to. Mine's a 30-06 and it shoots MOA or better.
Paul B.

Thanks

I don[t know anyone that has one or experience with one. Of course on the interweb you read the horror stories about their triggers.

The triggers are fine, but certainly overly complicated.
IMO, the bad rep for these comes mostly from people who didn't understand how to adjust the trigger, or gunsmith types who didn't want to be bothered with dealing with it.

It's a truly adjustable trigger, unlike the type that replaced it, but requires removal of the buttstock and a bit of playing around to get it to where it should be (i.e. crisp letoff, no slack and reasonably light pull depending on your intended use of hunting versus target shooting).

Oldelkhunter;
Good morning to you sir, I trust this historic Remembrance Day finds you well.

I've worked on two B78 rifles that I can recall, well I've got parts for most of a third one in the safe, but that's another story.

Anyway on the first one we started with a functional trigger and as gewehrfreund says they are adjustable if one takes their time and pays attention.

That one was a .25-06 with an octagonal barrel and after I bedded the fore end and tuned the trigger it was capable of amazing accuracy.

The second one was an octagon '06 which a buddy had traded into and someone had adjusted the trigger way out of spec - I want to say something wasn't functioning anymore - half cock or some safety function that escapes me now?

I did manage to get it running again, but it took a fair bit of time to extrapolate what had gone on to make it no longer work, that much I recall.

The resulting pull wasn't quite as good as a No 1 that I'd installed a Moyer's trigger on, but it was surely manageable when done.

I hope that was useful information for you or someone out there this morning. All the best to you this fall and good luck with the new rifle whichever way you decide.

Dwayne

There is someone who specializes in those triggers not sure if it is Neil Jones or a single shot guy, maybe someone else knows? My smith won't touch them for the reasons Dwayne mentioned.

I've heard Lee Shaver does wonders with these triggers!

It's a gunbroker item, I think if I decide on it I am going to drive there and ask to see the trigger function before I buy it.

Thanks for the input from everyone, much appreciated

I've owned one and worked on triggers on a half dozen or more. I installed Canjar triggers on two. This is the only Canjar trigger of which I'm aware, where Canjar actually recommended honing parts to get it to work well. The stock trigger is always going to be a little spongy. Guys who say their's are OK are just guys who don't mind a little sponginess. With the Cajar, properly set up, the trigger was superb (and had half the parts) but getting them set up could be an exercise in frustration. The problem was, you had to do all the adjusting with the buttstock removed. When you re-installed the stock, the through bolt screwed into the trigger housing and, when you tightened it up, the housing would distort and the trigger wouldn't hold. So you had to remove the stock and increase the sear engagement. Then you might have some creep. Then you might hone the sear a bit and try again; then repeat. The first one I did went pretty good and was a half hour job. The second one took me nearly three hours and I lost track of how many times I had it apart.Lost money on that one!
Bottom line? The stock trigger isn't perfect and it isn't equal to the No.1 but it is adequate. GD

GD sounds like a lot of work , I think I would rather have a more straight forward trigger. I might have to rethink this.

Yeah, it was one trigger I just learned to live with after going through the rigamarole of trying to adjust it. It ended up with a somewhat lighter pull weight but still with the "spongy creep". It (octagon barreled '06) still produced solid MOA accuracy for me regardless.

NO worries, it was sold out from under me. Looking at a NO 1 7mm S and would really like a 45/70 S as well

I love B-78’s.....

My experience is pretty similar. I have fixed a couple of them that someone tried to adjust without knowing the procedure. It is possible to have them so out of whack that the hammer doesn't stay cocked when you work the action or the half cock safety disappears. The stock has to come off so you can see what is happening. When correctly adjusted, some are decent, some are a little spongy as others have noted.

The Canjar replacement is nice, especially with the set trigger shoe, but it is not a simple installation. Unfortunately, they have not been available for many years. I don't know of any other replacement. The 1885 was quite a bit different and has its own issues.

Jerry

I looked at 4 of them today, I was not impressed with the trigger on any of them although they were better then I expected. I do not like the way they balance. THey were on the rack next to a pile of Number 1's. The two Number 1's that impressed was a 1A in 243 and a 1S in 375 mag. Two more opposites could not exist as far as recoil.

Do any of you gunsmiths with experience in the B78 guns still install the Canjar triggers? I have an octagon barreled B78 in 7 Mag and my dad had a Canjar trigger on it which he later had removed but I still have it and its parts in a bag. I would like to have it reinstalled on the gun by someone who knows their way around the B78 internals.

Robb

I have on of these in .30-06 with a dandy piece of wood on it. I don't think the wood is factory. Got it in a long forgotten trade. Had it for 20 years and it's been in my dark safe. Guess I need to find someone who can use it. Don't have the mounts for it. What are these worth now days??? It's the one with the deer horns. That's the last time it saw daylight.

The trigger on my 30-06 is very acceptable. It's right at four pounds, crisp and repeatable. It's perfect for a hunting rifle.

I have one of the B-78's from the 1970's - octagon barrel in .25-06. When I got it the half cock notch did not work, so I laboriously took it apart, fiddled and fought with it and eventually got it back together with the half cock notch working, and it has a decent trigger.

That was 30 years ago and I don't recall exactly what I did, but it may have involved shortening the coil mainsprings, which makes it a lot easier to stab the spring struts back in their holes. Or I may be thinking of a Miroku Low Wall I owned later on.

Mine is phenomenally accurate. Once I fixed a loose front scope base, it proved to be superbly accurate; no problem at all to put 3 in a 1/2" or less at 100 yards. Another member has a rifle identical to mine, and he's won money with it

So despite the lawyer-proof triggers, they are really good rifles, and worth some trouble. I think Lee Shaver used to sell trigger fixtures and instructions for the Miroku single shots; if he still does, that would be a good investment.

Seeing this comment about the mainsprings reminded me of the time I spent three evenings trying to get those bast*rds back into position after the first time I detail stripped the thing for cleaning. Thank god I wrote down the solution to the puzzle after I finally got it back together. What a maroon!