I have a beautiful 99F, made in '64, with the brass mag and etc. It is astoundingly accurate, when I can manage the trigger, which is about 6 lbs.
I am fairly handy, but have no experience with triggers on a 99. How difficult is the work on this?

The bearing surface between the trigger and sear is the usual culprit, and can be tuned. The trigger spring on 99's is rarely the issue... If you have other trigger-work experience, then 99's are a relatively simple process, assuming all the associated disclaimers and hold-harmless agreements needed for any trigger work are in place before you begin.

What Jeff said. It's a matter of polishing the mating surfaces more so than shortening those surfaces, but the geometry of them is critical and unless you know what you're doing I would let them alone.

buy yourself the replacement parts before you have at..

plab

Hey guys this is a post mil gun!!

Fiddling with the sear/trigger on these things is tricky business. It's a file stroke away from becoming a slam fire.

It can be done but it's nothing like the pre mil sear setup.

Just my personal opinion, but I'd never buy a 99 that had "trigger work" done to it. As Mike said, far too easy to turn them into a slam fire gun.

That'd be kind of cool if your could keep target acquisition squared away while you were slamming it shut. Clack boom clack boom clack boom clack boom.

Hey OP, take it apart and look it, see what you think and get back to us. Be careful.

[quote=Fireball2]That'd be kind of cool if your could keep target acquisition squared away while you were slamming it shut. Clack boom clack boom clack boom clack boom.

Just ask Chuck Conners!

Which trigger mechanism does the rifle have? I have a 99E made in 1964 which has the old style trigger, which can be worked. The new style trigger is best left alone, unless you can get some moly grease onto the proper places. There's an old gunsmithing book by Jim Carmichel and Roy Dunlop, I think, which tells you how to do a trigger job on the old style 9s.

I used that info to work on the trigger on an old 99E and it worked perfectly. That was one of the first gunsmithing jobs that I tackled, so it had to be easy. Soon after that I sold the rifle to my brother, so I could buy my first left handed rifle.

There in lies the problem. "Sometimes" work done is not detectable until it's too late. Call me old fashioned or whatever else you choose to call me, but I don't f u c k with MY guns and I don't buy from someone that does.

I'd call that smart.

Ok, LBK, you're old fashioned.

I never felt that any gun of any age that came from any mass-market manufacturer was/is as good as it could possibly be. Whenever cost/profit is the driving goal, products are made to a price point with relative QC attentiveness going hand in hand. Products from semi-custom boutique manufacturers and/or custom gunsmiths aren't bound by those constraints and quality, fit, finish is much much better as a result (but you'll pay for it).

If a person has low standards regarding triggers, sloppy inletting, poor finish, and any other raggedy-assed feature of a factory gun - IF he intends to work with the gun (ie: shoot/hunt it) and not merely "put it in the collection", then he is missing something. Striving to perfection is where it's at IMO, and if improving upon the work of the wage slaves at a factory improves my shooting experience, I'm gonna do it.

If Savage saved 50¢ in labor on every rifle they made since 1899 because they didn't have a skilled dude sitting at a bench with extra-fine Arkansas stones fine tuning each trigger, then they will have generated enough moolah by now to pay for the current CEO's McMansion. I guess that justifies it, but it also justifies my fine tuning the bits inside my rifles (which those guys on the benches and assembly lines in the plant would applaud since they were denied the time to do it right to begin with).

I can hear it now!- "You're entitled to your opinion, but it would be wrong".

Gary, don't you know a Savage 99 trigger cannot be improved upon, and anyone that attempts said work can only be considered the lowest form of life?

I can understand a collectors reticence when I post up a ceracoated 99, but suggesting a Savage lever gun should never be worked on to improve it? That's as ridiculous a thought process as I've ever heard, short of politics.

Hmmm,.. I read statements of caution if when working on or polishing a sear or trigger surface. The risks are great, could be made worse/unsafe if you don't know what you are doing and then re-cycled for the next poor soul. That's a bad deal, that's all.

I did not read "suggesting a Savage lever gun should never be worked on to improve it?" until you typed it. Jus' say'in....

It wasn't written until I wrote it, it was suggested, which is what I wrote. Probably semantics, and I apologize for making the leap, if unfounded. I don't think it's unfounded. Re-read what was written about guns that are worked on. Apparently one here won't work on his guns, or buy one that's been worked on, or that's what he'd have us believe. Funny I thought I remembered some threads with this poster spending a great deal of time tinkering in the shop. Actually though, who really cares?

The rest of us do work on our guns, enjoy it, and do improve them. Some of us will buy a gun that's been worked on, and they work just fine.

Even if someone ground one to bits and created a slam fire 99, they could just replace and fit the buggered parts and not lose too much sleep over it.

I guess I don't get this whole thing. What's the big deal about whether or not a guy polishes the trigger on his lever gun?

Wow... just... wow.

Slam fires kill people. Plain and simple. I think those people who have been hurt or have had guns go off and kill their loved ones next to them have probably "lost too much sleep over it".

There are very talented people here and elsewhere that wouldn't endanger a 99 by polishing up the trigger. We've also had several people come onto the forum over the years with 99's that DID slam fire because some numbnuts thought he knew enough to do it right but screwed it up and then sold it.

It's probably similar to reloads. Some people will buy reloads at auctions and gunshows and shoot them all their lives without incident and never understand why there could possibly be a problem. Others won't go there.

On the H I built, the original trigger/sear relationship was so bad that it would de-cock itself as the bolt closed. Dunno if it would've fired a round. I simply replaced everything when in the process of re-furbing it. Some idiot had ground the sear to a weird angle. The other class of idiot is the one who shortens the engagement in hopes of eliminating a little creep.*

Even on the older ones you must be aware of the subtle angles of those mating surfaces. You guys with those new-fangled post-mils are on your own. For me, life is too short to waste my time working with one of them.



*sounds like a disgruntled bride-to-be, eh?

Let's back up, the OP has a "heavy trigger" and was looking for input/advice. The replies were essentially "use great care in this area" and we know why. Death, injury or just scaring the sh_t otta ya if you are lucky. Error on the side of safety is pretty sound advice in the world of firearms.

We at the Forum here have a little history of banter as to the merits of working on rifles, what that is, maintenance or modification. I don't think the OP or replies were lumping them all together. Most of us know what camp you are in and that's fine.

btw - If I see a rifle on GB that comes from Oregon, I keep looking.

Because I'm not afraid to think outside the box, don't think for one second I'm careless with what I do. I am not.

It sounds like some of you have experienced slam fires, but I NEVER have, so who's careless?

I love to shoot my lever actions, and I strongly feel trigger quality is the most effective way to improve accuracy so I will bite. I have had three pre-mill triggers worked on and "polished" one or two on my own. They all improved, the least was the ones I had done. I also have three pre-mill that have incredibly nice triggers when I bought them. Two are unreal! I have one more I need to get worked on but I haven't gotten around to it. Lately I have collected a few Browning Lever Actions. They have perhaps THE WORST trigger I have ever tried to shoot. Neil Jones a gunsmith from PA worked on two of my BLRs. He got them done fast! In a phone conversation he stated he did not consider trigger work as his regular job, but would take them home and do the work while he watched golf! They came back very very very nice! I totally trust the forums warnings about screwing with the post mil trigger as I have no expierience. But perhaps a visit with Neil Jones gunsmith might find you an answer. I believe a good trigger is the foundation of marksmanship, BUT safety is the name of the game and most important. Good luck. John

Thanks to all who responded. I will go ahead, as I have experience with a good many pistol triggers. It does have the old style trigger, btw. I use a 2000 grit ceramic stone.

For those who wonder, with 41 gr Varget and 150 Sierra BT's, the rifle is capable of shooting one quarter inch three shot groups at 100. The first two shots can be in half that. The catch, of course, is that this is only possible with a really solid bench rest. The results offhand or even sitting are 2-3 inches, even with a bipod. I'd like a little better.