Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Best Trigger Weight For Mountain Rifle?

Thought I'd ask your opinions on triggers before I order a Timney for my Vanguard.
What do you feel is the best overall breaking weight for a mountain hunting rifle?
Your thoughts?

the sheriff jim wilson likes a 3 to 3.5lb trigger and if its good enough for a class act like him its good enough for anyone.

I like them in the range of 40 ounces without any creep. If they are not to be used in cold weather, even a bit lighter would work for me.

I am used to shooting light triggers on air pistols, free pistols, air rifles, free rifles, and set triggers, but on a hunting rifle, I don't want lighter than 3 lbs.

The right trigger weight depends on a lot of things:
singe or two stage,
length of takeup,
width of the trigger affecting your felt pressure,
bare hands or wearing gloves

On a mountain rifle especially, you are likely to be hunting in the cold, where you cannot feel the trigger as well. Also, you run a good chance of stumbling, falling, and dropping your rifle, and you don't want it going off accidentally. Whatever you set it at, bounce it on floor a bit and bump it side to side with a snap cap in the chamber to be sure it doesn't go off. If you ever start to squeeze the trigger and stop, put the safety on and cycle the bolt to reset the trigger.

IMO, for a light mountain rifle, 2-2.5 lbs. You will find that, with practice, you can shoot it very accurately.

Lighter the rifle, lighter the trigger pull.

2 pounds is fine

I'll also take 2 to 2 1/4 pounds, but it must be dead crisp. A light creepy trigger will drive you nuts.

+1 on that

I like 2 to 2 1/1 LB's and not creep.

The factory setting on the Tikka T3 Lite seems about right to me.

2 to 2.5 is great in warm country - 3 to 3.5 is better where the frigid winds blow...

I am surprised by the number of people who use such light trigger pulls on hunting rifles. Mine are all set between 4-5 lbs, and that's after a period I went through where I kept them all at 3 or a little less. A cold day wearing gloves, breathing hard, and trying to get a quick shot on an elk taught me a lesson about that.

Thing is, I cannot tell one little bit of difference in accuracy even at the bench with the heavier pull. I just don't think there's any practical advantage to such a light pull.

Lighter pull helps offhand with light rifles, even more so when breathing heavy. YMMV

Yeah, if you can keep your finger off the trigger until the exact split second you're ready to fire. Not an easy thing to do when the crosshairs just won't hold still.

But the split second they find that mark the less resistance the better

i like them between 1.5 and 2 pounds.

We're discussing triggers not burritos........

Nice to see you boys together.

3 pounds works for me.

Been running 20 ounce triggers for a very long time... -20 to 100+ they seem to go bang just fine...

i prefer 36 oz on a smooth faced trigger. on a a serrated trigger i go a little lighter.
Excerpt from: "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries"
November 1997, Vol.5, No.12

Invariably the subject will come up: "How does the Steyr Scout shoot?" Well, it shoots very well indeed. Why wouldn't it?... That lovely trigger, with its clean [b]30-oz break, actually seems to make it hard to miss.

Listen to me purr![/b]