Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Worst trigger on a factory rifle

Recently acquired a model seven in 300 saum while shopping for an elk rifle for my daughter. This one is mine as I loved the platform! After acquiring brass I made up some loads and discovered this is the worst trigger ever manufactured. I have a old model seven trigger on the way just now from the classifieds. I took 5 rifles to the range that day and raised my head to see if the safety was on a few times and at least twice I was surprised when the Bergra went off before I was ready (never shoot a junk trigger the same day as a quality one). Replaced the firing pin assembly with a quality item fro. gar-ten. So far I love the cartridge getting good groups at 100 with the Barnes 165 Tsx and 4895

Shawn
Pleasant Hill, Mo

Mine was on a Marlin 983S in 22 Mag. MAn, that was a crappy trigger.

My Nevada brother handed me a his Rem 740 series "elk rifle" back when I was gunsmithing, several decades ago. Primarily for the fact that the first shot went about 6 inches high and to the left of all subsequent shots. Cold and clean, or cold and fouled. After doing everything I could think of I called Remington.

"Well, if you happen to figure it out, would you give us a call ?. Sometimes a new barrel helps, but not always" was what I got.... . Nope, never figured it out. Either of us.

My home built trigger weight scale only goes to 17 lbs, and would not trip the trigger. I got it down to 6.

I put together a RU77 tang .270 on a modified Brown Precision stock for him. The modification being to cut the wrist out a bit on top for the ball of the thumb and a Bondo palm swell. I had done the same previously for a M98 I had. Worked and felt really good.

He's still using it 30+ years later. The 98 is long gone... another one I shouldn't have sold....

A Mendoza air rifle from Mexico. I don't have a trigger scale but you basically had to heave on that trigger to touch the thing off.

Yeah - my Gamo is pretty bad- and no way to alleviate that I can see.

Those are great stories! Yes the Gamo, I forgot I have one of those too

Shawn

My Gamo trigger is so bad I don’t even feel bad it sits in the garage with surface rust

Shawn

On the plus side, my rescue dog, Honey HalfLab, extremely gun shy when I got her, ain't no more... Or not as bad, anyway, thanks to the Gamo. The reason I bought it.

Had to teach her about grouse hunting using the Gamo, after working her up through just picking up and putting down a gun until she quit hiding, then gun carry on walks, and dry firing a staple gun in the garage.

I had to teach her everything on our first Gamo grouse hunting, right down to looking for the bird.

2nd trip out was " Hey! I got this, Boss!!! I'll just scoot back and stand here behind you until you shoot...."

Was going to graduate her up thru .22 cb, shorts, L.R.

Instead, going straight to 30-06 on a caribou hunt a bit later without thinking about it,- didn't faze her.... " I'll just scoot behind you until you shoot... "

She still doesn't like guns, but....sacrifices have to be made for hunting!

We are going with a .22 or the 20, for grouse next fall.

Not a damned thing to do with trigger pull weight, tho.

My picks would be the average SKS or worse yet, the Russian IZH single shot rifles. From what I understand, the IZH trigger system is such a piece of "engineering", that you cannot alter it to a good pull weight without making it very unreliable (as in dangerous) or getting misfires. RJ

Ruger mkII bolt action, then closely followed by the Stevens 200..

CZ bobwhite. Sent it back twice and it was still like beating against an anvil. Down the road it went. No more CZ shotguns

I have a Winchester 1300 12 gauge shotgun that has the worst trigger on any gun I've ever hunted with. As far as a rifle goes, I've had a few military rifles that had to have ten pound trigger pulls. The OP is talking about his Remington Model 7, and I'm going to assume that it has the XMark-Pro trigger.That one was a crap shoot. I like my hunting rifles to be around a 3 pound pull. I've had some Remington rifles with one that would not adjust at all, staying in the 4-5 pound range. Others would adjust to about where I liked them, but then that stupid screw in the trigger shoe would be sticking out. The two solutions I came up with were to either replace the trigger, or put an Ernie the Gunsmith spring in the XMark trigger.

Ruger 7mm Mag wood stock, you could pick the whole rifle with scope up (around 9 lbs) by the trigger and it would not go off.

Ruger M77 Mark 2 300 win mag.

Yes my model 7 has the X mark with only the three tiny adjustment screws covered in clear sealant. I have an old style on the way. I assume it’s a walker. Anyway I am not going to do further load development until I get the trigger resolved.

A friend just brought me a Ruger 10/22 to massage the trigger on. My gauge goes to 8lbs and it would bottom out before the trigger would release.


I’ve seen several Ruger MKII’s in the 7.5-8lb range also.

Winchester 100s and 88s could be pretty bad. As in cat on a screen door. Uh......heavy cat on a screen door.

Easy, hands down, a Ruger 10-22! Scoped it, tried to use it for squirrel hunting, no way!

The worst trigger I have ever owned is actually two triggers, It was marketed for a time by Remington as the SPR94 (Special Purpose Rifle), It is just a rebadged Baikal IZH94 over and under. It is a 12ga on top of a 223, never found a trigger pull gauge that would go high enough but both triggers are well over 10 pounds.
Never found a gunsmith that would touch it.

If you like the rifle, that Ruger Mk II trigger can be made into a very nice trigger.

Remington 700ADL that I owned for a while. I believe it was a mid-90s vintage.

Had a Whitworth Mauser that I bought used with a terrible trigger, that would sometimes catch the firing pin, sometimes not, when it did, it was about 15 pounds with creep and over travel for variety. Took the gun apart and was able to secure the trigger to the action, the housing had been flopping, and adjusted the sear engagement, trigger travel and weight, applied a little lube and had a very nice 2.5-3 pound trigger that worked every time. I figure bubba had gotten hold of it. Sold the rifle, kicking myself, yada yada.

Old70

Old style Savage worst I've used

7600.

I have to say my 7600 has the worst trigger of any Centerfire rifle I’ve owned- it’s not that it’s THAT heavy, but it’s creepy and long travel make me not like it at all.

Worst trigger period is a Marlin .17 HMR- really accurate rifle, but that trigger has to be about 8 pounds. I’m going to fix that, just keeps getting put further down on the to do list.

I have a Whitworth Mauser single shot that I bought used that has a fantastic trigger breaks at a clean 14oz.
It is obviously not a factory trigger but of unknown origin, never seen another one like it

My fairly early production, (5 digit serial number) Ruger .44 Carbine has a terrible trigger. Accuracy sucks, too. I had a very accurate walnut stocked 10/22 that had a trigger nearly as bad as the 44 Carbine.

Agree with Ruger M77 mk 2. Terrible, but all 3 were taken to a gunsmith, and 30 bucks later they are much better.

I don't know which model you have but my GAMO had a horrible trigger. According to the box it came in, the trigger pull is adjustable. Damned if I can remember how I did it but it's now right around three pounds and lets off very nicely. I'll have to see if I can find the instruction book. I'm guessing it's somewhere out in my shed as that's where it was when I finally figured out how to make the adjustment.
On hunting rifles, both the Browning BLR and B78 took a bit of getting used to but now they're useable if not perfect.
Paul B.

If you are willing to glass bed the lug that holds the rear of the action and the fore end where the barrel rests so it’s stress free, it may help your accuracy. Float the rest of the action. I’ve done that to three of the Ruger 44s and all three would group from 1.5-3 MOA after that. Plenty for what they are usually used for. The best of the three was a 6 MOA gun before, and I won’t mention the worst, but the safest place around it was directly in front of it. That one had to be recrowned, too. Can’t help with the trigger, they suck.

Old70

My Browning BL-22 was the worst. A 12 lb trigger pull is a bit rediculous on a 5 lb. .22 rifle.

I think the single worst I've fought was on a Browning BLR in 7mm mag. One of the most disappointing was on a Winchester 94/22M .. sweet gun, but the trigger was mush making it hard to shoot up to its potential.

Ruger 77s are often bad, 77/22 as well. Most of the Ruger triggers can be improved with available aftermarket parts. To me that kinda moves them out of the "worst" category.

Browning BLRs are pretty sucky.

Maybe a different category rifle, but I’ve pulled som mil-spec AR-15 triggers that were awful. Felt like they had 1/2” of creep.

Savage Model 24 early 90's vintage. Never put a scale on it but it was horrible. Sent it back to Savage but it wasn't much better afterwards

For centerfire rifles, the average stock AR15 ranks about 3 or 4 steps below a Daisy bb gun.

Dad bought me a Model 57 Marlin as my second rifle. A 13 lb weight would not trip the trigger. Dad was sure the safety was on.

Mine is not too bad .. it's the stock / upgraded trigger Ruger puts on the MPR. I shot a bear with it 2 weekends back .. well, a gummy bear anyway. Splattered it nicely. It'd like smoother and lighter when I'm load testing from the bench but in the field it's not bad .. no complaints. And I'm a trigger snob.

HK 91, G3. I have never shot an HK rifle or pistol with a decent trigger. The P7 and MP5 are better but still awful.


mike r

Ruger 10/22 magnum and first edition Ruger PC-9.

Non of you guys ever shoot a Rossi

I have Savage 99 that is horrible.

I'm betting this is what you really wanted to type...

Rem triggers are some of the very worst out there.. But all makers can have a turd leave the bowl...

My worst one is a Mossberg SSi single shot. It's got to be all of 7 lbs maybe 8. It would be an accurate fun rifle if I could get it reduced.

kwg

I am kind of a miser, I usually go the cheaper route first and when it doesn’t work I’ll buy the Trigger tech. I’ve heard the original Remington triggers were not too bad. It was $55 shipped. I’ve had rifles with the original Remington trigger but that was before I knew it mattered

Shawn

Ruger #1, Ruger 10/22 and Win M94

Mossberg 800.

Bushmaster M4 spent a few hours with it under a microscope and some ruby stones/ 3000 grit sandpaper. Better but still horrible in my book.
CMC 2.5 lb drop in fixed that Shiite. Other junk went in the trash. Totally different gun now.

Same here. My worst trigger of any rifle I own.

Model 88 Winchester by far and you can't do much with them

I will have to concur. On a factory rifle, that one and a Ruger 10/22 were the worst.

The absolute worst trigger on any hunting implement that I have purchase goes to a Centerpoint cp400 crossbow. The trigger is plastic, so it actually starts to deflect before the damn thing fires. It is horrible. The bad thing is that I purchased it for my nephews to use until they can get strong enough and good enough with regular bows to hunt our property (bow only), and the trigger is so horrible that it really hampers their ability to shoot it accurately. Borrowed a friends Barnett with the Trigger Tech trigger and now will be selling the Centerpoint to purchase one of those.

Yup, that's my only complaint with my BLR81. I measured it at 6 lbs. and there isn't anything the average guy can do about it other than sending it off to Neil Jones for a $120 trigger job.

I was going to say BLR as well; Neil did do one of mine and it came back ok, but far from great.

My 10/22 is brutal, and I had one of the 2nd-gen Ruger 44 mag carbines that was awful.

You must be doing much better after your head injury? Glad to see you still up and kicking. You've been posting a lot as of late. Time for another shooting through the brush thread...

I always wanted a BLR until I bought one. Sold it pretty quick because the trigger was so bad. One of the worst triggers I've ever had on a center fire rifle. I've since heard there is some guy that works on them. Would buy another and send it off for work, but they're in my opinion now ridiculously priced for what they are.

I am, thanks. Had a couple dark years there... head injuries are some weird stuff, I’d advise against it.

On average, Rugers have been some of the worst I've felt in guns of the price range. Worse ones usually in $99 single barrel shotguns.

But one 77MKII was a champ with an estimated 9-10# pull. Wish I'd rigged up something to actually measure it with, But you could cock it & lift the rifle & scope combo with the trigger. Then had to shake it a bit to make it fire. I actually started the trigger job with a bench grinder, so much material had to be removed from the sear engagement.

Semi automatic 22 rimfire rifle that my buddy has. I don’t know what it was, something cheap cheap! Trigger was very narrow and extra extra hard. My finger started hurting when I took the first shot. My finger is hurting just thinking about that trigger…