Trigger pull on my Remington 581-S .22cal rifle is way too heavy. Could someone recommend a good gunsmith that would work on this trigger to lighten the pull?

Brian Voelker in Iowa works on Remington 22's, or at least did. He should be on the web in search.

You may want to check with Timney, but I would bet this would work in your rifle.

https://timneytriggers.com/remington-788/

Thanks guys. I will have to check those options out.

Brian is tops and I think he will still do the modifications - the Timney 788 trigger will work with slight modification to the safety - there are very good tutorials on the internet and if you have any mechanical ability it’s not too hard!

I have a 540X that Brian did the trigger work on and he is first class and I’ve done a few 788s for the 580 series rifles and like I said they aren’t that difficult.

Great little rifles - but the triggers are definitely the weak link!

PennDog

PennDog, I sent you a PM

The 788 trigger will indeed work on the 581, even a Left Hand 581. However, at least for the Left Hand 581, required the removal of a bit of stock material to clear the safety in the full rearward "Safe" position.

Apart from the clearance for the safety, I had to do one tweak. There is a pin that sticks up on the top forward part of the trigger. It prevents the bolt handle from rotating down until the bolt body is fully forward. On my 581 trigger, that pin is round. Moving the bolt forward and then rotating down can be done in one smooth motion. The pin on the 788 trigger was square. It required a very deliberate two step process of (1) push the bolt all the way forward. THEN, push bolt handle down into battery. I spent about 20-30 minutes with a fine file putting a chamfer/radius on the offending corner of that guide pin until it functioned smoothly like the original.

Not a pure "drop in" for me. But, WELL worth the time and $$$'s for the final trigger pull...

Thanks for the information. I think using the 788 trigger is the way I am going to go. With regard to the bolt stop pin. In addition to the chamfering, did you need to file it down to shorten the height too? Thanks, Gary

Hmmm... I do not recall having to reduce the height. Only round off one or two corners to allow a single smooth "forward and down" motion.

I changed out the spring in mine, nice trigger now....nothing else done.

What pull weight did you end up with? The articles I've read from people who have just replaced the spring report a trigger pulls of over 4 pounds. I want to be closer to 3. My rifle now with the original factory trigger is over max on my pull gauge but I'm guessing it is around 6 pounds.