[rmaisonp]

It's no secret that these triggers are pretty lousy. Mine's got to be about 7lbs!
The wild west guns drop-in trigger replacement has great reviews but it's pretty spendy at about $80. Any experience out there with improvements that can be done with lower cash out-lay?

 

[MikeG]

Yeah. Buy an extra mainspring. First, get the trigger return spring down to where it only adds about a pound to the pull. That may be enough. Then, knock a coil or so at a time off the mainspring, but test! If you have a hammer extension, take it off. The extra mainspring is in case you go too far and get misfires.... ask me how I know this!

Should be able to get the trigger pull down to 4 lbs. or so without even touching the sear surfaces. Those can be lightly polished but be careful. For field use, this is enough modification for me.

 

[pisgah]

There are some fairly easy things to do to lighten the pull a bit. But frankly, I have never yet met a 336 trigger that I would classify as "lousy" in any way. Frequesntly too heavy, yes, but always crisp, consistent, manageable, and imminently useable and safe in the field. No target trigger, to be sure, but no major handicap, either.

 

[zachaliles]

ok, im not calling you out or anything mike, but i feel i need to say this... i would never suggest to anyone to go cutting springs in a trigger. ever. ever! im not a gunsmith, and im assuming the man that asked the question isnt either(i may be wrong). also, 80 bucks isnt all that much for a trigger. http://www.midwayusa.com/Search/#remington 700 trigger____-_1-2-4_8-16-32
that quick search landed a few triggers over 200 for remington 700's(i know this is the lever forum). food for thought. i hope i didnt offend anyone.

 

[MikeG]

Well, you do take a risk of getting it so light that it won't reliably fire. Not something I'd do on a dangerous-game rifle. On my $200 Marlin? I was willing to work on it myself, and accept the consequences of screwing up....

Mine started misfiring; fortunately, taking the hammer spur off fixed the problem. Got lucky there but bought a replacement mainspring anyway.

I have also lightened the mainspring on a 10/22 with no issues. Again, I accept the risk of having to buy a replacement part to repair.

No issue with folks disagreeing with that philosophy. Thanks for your opinion.

 

[zachaliles]

i should have said also that i previously attempted some trigger work(i end up looking and feeling like an idiot in the end) on a remington 700 with the new trigger. after completion i did all the tests; bolt slam, pull trigger on safe, drop from approximately 4 feet with scope and all(i have faith in my equipment) and nothing went wrong. till about 2 weeks later i was at my father in laws side range shooting and i hand him my rifle(its a .223 by the way) with a round chambered. he sets up to shoot and takes it off safe... round fires... no trigger pull. see, told you i looked like an idiot. i took it to the gunsmith and after he fixed it he told me the pull weight spring had broken in half because some idiot was probably messing with something they shouldnt be. thats one of the reasons im leary to mess with triggers.

 

[MikeG]

Marlin triggers are pretty simple. If you lighten the mainspring, the worst thing that can happen is it won't fire. Mine don't have safeties other than the half-cock notch so it isn't an issue taking it off safety unless your thumb slips and you have the trigger pulled back.

Making the trigger return spring too light or sear engagement too small could cause a hammer to slip off the notch, I guess?

Definitely a different animal than a bolt-action trigger. Being safe is never the wrong thing to do! I have had a gun go off when taken off safe due to someone else's work, so I know what you mean. Wasn't a good feeling.

 

[eagleeye]

One suggestion is to go over to the marlinowners.com forum. There is a whole section on triggers and good descriptions of what you can do with pictures and everything.

One simple thing you can do is to bend the spring that returns the trigger. Not the hammer spring. This when you take the trigger plate off you can see as the spring that you can actually see contacts the trigger and seems to spring it back forward. Just bend the spring and it is pretty darned effective at lowering the trigger pull. If you bend it too far, the trigger won't return and it is pretty obvious. All you have to do in that case is remove the spring with the little roll pin and bend the spring back. No big deal at all. And if you really bugger up the spring they are not that expensive.

I did this on one of my 336's and the trigger went from what I believed was totally unacceptable to acceptable for hunting. Not 3.5 lbs but certainly acceptable. Simple and costs nothing to do. It may be all you need to do to get the trigger the way you want without grinding on anything.

 

[zachaliles]

well, after looking at pictures and doing a little homework, i guess it wouldnt be all that unsafe to do something like was said in here. if the only real danger is not firing, then i guess thats not all that bad. but on a bolt rifle, really your only option when done incorrectly is to fire when you dont want it to. i retract my previous statement... a little. if you have no idea what youre doing around tools, dont do it. if youre fairly competant, id give it a try. doesnt look to complicated.

 

[HIMAN76]

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=16630/Product/TRIGGER_HAPPY_KIT

Try the happy trigger, if it ends up too light or you just don't like it you can take it off and sell it here or on the Marlin Forums.

 

[MikeG]

Having had a bolt-action rifle go off when it was taken off safety.... I do agree that's a bad thing!

 

[zachaliles]

youre preaching to the choir. i will never do that again. anything other than re-stocking or scope mounting and other odds and ends is left up to the smiths that get paid(probably by me) to do it.

 

[Swany]

I have taken them down as far as 24 ounces for a plinking gun I use in my backyard but do not hunt with it.

Good advice on bending the trigger return spring it can reduce the pull as much as 2lbs and a 5lb is a fair hunting trigger.

I take most of mine to 2.5 lb for a hunter, I would not recommend that for everyone.

Having shot bench rest for many years I have become accustomed to a light trigger my bolt gun sports a 1.5lb but never gets handled by anyone other than myself.

Marlin triggers are pretty easy to modify and change the sears angle but it is not for a person unaccustomed to mechanical workings and adjustment.

As stated if unsure take it to a smith and have him do it they range from $30 to $50 in most areas, if much more the Wild West Guns happy trigger is a drop in for $80 it is a good investment, gives you a one piece trigger and eliminates the "Marlin flop"

 

[eagleeye]

The WWG trigger is nice. I really like that it eliminates the flop. I know the flop is not a problem. But it still bugged me.

Also having the WWG trigger allows you to have an extra trigger and parts to keep in your collection. I ended up using the sear (or whatever you call the upper part of the 2 piece trigger) from my 35 Rem that I installed the WWG trigger on and put it on my daughters marlin 30TK. There was a BUNCH of machine marks on the 30TK upper trigger part and my "extra" part was nice and clean. Between the bending of the spring I mentioned above and Swany referred to and replacing of this upper trigger part really lightened the trigger pull. Going from 7 lbs to 5 lbs is huge!

Just for further clarification. The WWG trigger is still two parts. However unlike the Marlin 2 piece trigger. The WWG has a spring between the two pieces. This is what eliminates the flop.