Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Recommend a trigger pull gauge?

That's very interesting, because one thing I have noticed over the years is how much the "crispness" of a trigger affects how shooters judge the pull. Have owned two tradtional lever-actions .30-30s, a Marlin 36 (not 336) and a Winchester 64 (not 94) with VERY crisp-breaking triggers. All the people I asked to try the triggers guessed their pull-weight at 3-4 pounds--yet on accurate gauges both went around 5.5 pounds....

I like "numbers". It is a unit of reference to tell me what I am doing and where I am going. It assigns a unit of reference that a qualitative trigger finger cannot do. I dig tools too.

The Timney is my go to. I have the Lyman digital but it took a dump and won’t turn on.

I used to be that way, slave to the chronograph and weigh every load and all the other stuff loony obsess over. Sorting Sierra bullets by weight was probably the ultimate.I relished it. It was fun. Then one day I took a step back and asked myself just what did I think I was accomplishing. Like trigger pull. So what if it's precisely 3.25 pound so long as I have good control in deer season weather.

Again, whichever gives you pleasure. Just that there is more than one valid perspective. Sometimes adding bullets to a paper cup until the trigger trips is good enough.

JB,

I recently installed a TriggerTech and found it to be very crisp compared to some other triggers. I ended up setting the pull weight ~4 ounces higher than some other rifle triggers, to match the perceived pull for commonality.

Jason

I think the comments about perception of trigger are valid. I’m not planning to become a slave to a gage. But, I’d like some objective data to go with my subjective experience.

It's personal preference. A friend was nuts about very light and very crisp which courts the impossible with standard geometry triggers. Got the triggers on his Rem 700s surprisingly close safely (I could trust him to do good maintenance).

I on the other hand I don't care so long as the pull is smooth and the break consistent. Grew up on 2 stage military triggers.

Concentrating on smoothness and consistency I was surprised to find the trigger pull on my rifles were between 3 and 4 pounds (counting the bullets in the cup method). I would have guessed maybe half that. 6mm set up for varmints excepted. That has a Timney at 2 pounds. Really too light for me - have to use my finger as I would on a set trigger.

I see no downside to your approach.

J

Trigger pull - how it feels is very personal.

Who decided a hunting rifle needs 3 lb of pull? Or a varmint rifle should have 2lb?

I bet everyone here read something to that effect years ago. Some bought a gauge because "if my deer rifle isn't 3 lb, it's going to the gun shop, or I'm getting rid of it!"

I i expect someone will say, "The pull felt bad, so I bought a gauge to check it."

Ok, but if it felt bad, and you couldn't correct it, why didn't you take it to the gun shop, save the money on a gauge, and let the smith work his magic?

If you could fix it yourself, how did it feel then?

Do you know the actual pull weight of all your firearms? If the trigger feels good, but measures 5 lb, what will you do?

You want to tell everyone that your 700 trigger is 3 lb, but how does it feel? That's more important than what some uncalibrated gauge indicates.

Do you even trust a gauge, regardless of maker, that doesn't get calibrated? Do you even know what calibration is? And many shooters think that spending more means better accuracy. It doesn't.

Example:

You are satisfied with the feel of your trigger. It measures 3 lb according to your gauge. Later, the trigger tests 5 lb using a calibrated gauge. What will you do?

A gauge is a comfort device. Grip the rifle the same every time. Develop a repeatable method. Let your finger tell you it's okay. If it's no good, fix the problem. Gauge it after, if you want, but ask your finger first.

Pull-weight at a set number, and a clean break are not mutually exclusive.

If the trigger is good, 3lbs will not feel the same as 5lbs. If the trigger is bad, then, yes, it can be hard to distinguish a difference of a few pounds by just feel.

Myself, I want a clean break, and all my triggers at 2.5lbs. No guess work on something so important. Such repeatability is beyond my ability to detect (which is the whole point), so I know no matter which rifle I pull out of safe, the trigger will feel the same as every other rifle I have. If the factory trigger won’t get me there, then I put in an aftermarket trigger. Obviously some types of action designs won't work with this method. My only applications are big game hunting, load development, and causal target shooting, so that makes things easier.

If someone’s trigger finger is calibrated to within a few tenths of a pound, then lucky them. But I bet they’re in the minority.

To each his own.

I think that this is another phase of shooting where we can happily fool ourselves into thinking that we achieve much greater precision than we actually do.

Precisely. The majority of gauge users feel better if they see a low number - even if it's not accurate. It's a big dose of psychological feel good.

Your finger is the best indicator of a good trigger pull. You won't have a number to quote to your friends, but it will feel right. Sadly, most people don't get it.

My only point is that my few rifles have no weight-measured pull. I want to feel the cusp, and trip the trigger with the last nudge. For me this can't be defined by a gauge pull weight.

In no way do I suggest your preference is wrong.

I want to set my TriggerTech triggers at a lower pull weight than my Timney triggers. Set at the same pull weight (somewhere 2.5-3 lbs), the TriggerTech feels more positive to me, like it’s set at a higher weight. At about 0.5-1 lb lighter the TriggerTech feels about the same to me.

Again, not to suggest your perception is wrong. Just interesting that I have the opposite perception!

That is interesting. Thanks for sharing. Everyone is different.

I was never able to get my Timney triggers to feel good at the min. 1.5 pounds for the 510, 510 thin, and nickel version. These triggers were used in hunting stocks, tactical stocks, and chassis systems with pistol grips.

At 1.5 lbs, my last Timney felt heavier than the TT at the same pull in the same rifle. I no longer own any Timneys, and only have one TT right now. Sample of one.

Also, the geometry and location of the trigger blade/shoe play into the feel and perceived pull weight. Grip geometry also factors in. I suspect that most people can tolerate a bad trigger with closed grip or pistol grip, compared to a more open grip.

I never thought I needed a trigger gauge since I can tell a good from a bad trigger. But once I got a simple wheeler it came in handy. I knew that 2.5 lbs. was what felt right. But as long as the trigger is crisp up to 4lbs. Is just fine. Measuring relatives & friends rifles is very handy to decide if the trigger needs adjusting & testing how consistent the pull is.