Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Question on my Model 1920 Rifle

On the rifle I have I've noticed that when the rifle is not cocked, the trigger is free to move fore and aft with no spring tension. I hadn't run in to this before on any rifle I've owned. Is this normal for this gun, or is there a spring missing and thus requires a trip to a gunsmith? I haven't fired this rifle yet, but am concerned that perhaps the trigger will not position correctly to prevent an inadvertent discharge.

There should be a short coil spring on the trigger.

And I think Gun Parts just may have that spring in stock.

Looked at Stu Otteson's "Bolt Action Rifles, A Design Analysis" Volume 2 which talks about the 1920. He illustrates a small spring at the front of the trigger which is called an anti-slack spring, which I assume is the spring you're referring to, as this was meant to keep the trigger from flopping. Interestingly enough however, in all the parts lists I have checked I see no mention of this part. In addition, in Frank DeHaas's "Bolt Action Rifles", he only mention the sear spring as controlling the safety, sear and trigger. Makes me wonder if the Anti-Slack spring was used on some rifles and possibly not others. My serial number is in the 8000 which makes it a later rifle. In any case, it would seem to be a generic little spring that a competent gunsmith could slip in if it's really required.

I could be wrong but I believe the part you want is identified by Gun Parts as Part #29, "Sear Spring." They have them in stock for $9.15. I bought an extra one for my 20/26 some time back. My hunch is that the entire rund of rifles were made with the spring and, considering it's a relatively thin piece of wire, some just broke over the years.

Here is a picture I took while putting a 20/1926 together, the small spring that keeps the slack out of the trigger is not in parts list, which is early, the gun pictured is a late gun and Dick M. might be right about early guns possibly not having them.



More info here - savage-1920-26-project

I'll look again, however, I believe the sear spring is the elongated wire shown in the photo above. It extends from the safety to the sear. The spring I'm talking about is the little one in front of the trigger. My basic question though, is that spring necessary for proper functioning of the rifle. I really don't think it is, looking at the arrangement of the spring and sear. The anti-slack spring goes between the front of the trigger and seats in the sear. It seems to have nothing to do with positioning the sear on the cocking piece. That is the function of the sear spring. The trigger is only a lever to pull the sear down. When uncocked, the trigger flops around, I can live with that. When cocked everything is tight, and seems to be working properly. Although, I have not fired nor dry fired the rifle as yet. Gene, I read your thread on your 1920 project, super stuff!

That's interesting. Would a spring from an 03 Springfield or Mauser fit? Judging on GeneB's info I'd say to take a look at your trigger. If it wasn't drilled for the spring then you are in factory stock condition. If not, then you might be able to use one of the springs I mentioned of find a stock pile of small coil springs and play with them until you do find one that fits. I situations like this I start ploughing through the schematics on Gun Parts looking for parts that are similar.

And I think you are correct about the spring I mentioned.

What I found is the trigger spring keeps the play out of the trigger and works against the sear spring, I used a very light spring so it has little effect on the sear. I tried a couple springs from my miscellaneous parts drawer until I found one that seemed acceptable. The trigger can be pushed forward against that spring. The gun would work fine without it but the trigger would flop back & forth. I no longer have access to the rifle to double check this so I hope I remembered correctly.

I thought I would close this thread out with a final comment. Want to thank all for the discussion. With that, I've concluded the flopping trigger is not a safety issue, therefore not a problem. It really doesn't bother me that much that I have to have the gun taken apart. Perhaps at some point I will have it looked into, but from what I have read it is a bit of a pain to separate the barreled action from the stock. I don't like taking guns apart anymore. I do thing it might be wise to take some advise from S99VG and buy a backup sear spring while they are available. That spring looks like it would be hard to replace if it fails. Anyhow, thanks to all.

My 20/26 wasn't necessarily difficult getting out of the stock and it did daylight a crack in the grain between the trigger and mag mortise. But I totally respect not taking guns apart when it's not needed. Best of luck.

Ya, it's like, two screws and then pull it apart, not hard at all. Just have to make sure you line the magazine spring back up when you put it back together. Probably one of the easiest guns to seperate.

To pull the stock on the late 1926 version I worked on you have to pull a small screw in the forearm, pull the trigger guard's 4 screws, only the front screw attaches to the action into the recoil lug and the rear is a wood screw, then under the trigger guard there is another screw at the rear of the action that has to be pulled - it's the small screw shown in this picture at the rear between the stock on the trigger guard, it also has a washer and screws into the part labeled 'broken piece'.