[Jakeway]

I thought the trigger on my new 10/22 was bad when I was sighting in the rifle from the bench, but the other day I did some off-hand shooting and realized how horrible it is.

Would a tune of the OEM trigger (roughly $65) be a good fix, or should I get an aftermarket trigger? I could maybe swing the $150 for a Timney, but the Volquartsen is out of my budget.

Oh, the intended use is plinking, squirrel hunting, and just plain practice off-hand shooting. I don't intend to ever enter any competitions with it, other than the informal gatherings at the range or farm.

 

[Sinbad12-2007]

Anything you may do to the factory trigger, in the way of stoning and polishing, will be well worth your money. Personally, I wouldn't but I did buy an aftermarket trigger and sear for my first 10/22. Don't know how much those two would be. Typically, you'll buy them in a set. I finally ended up with a Volquartson trigger group for my magnum and appreciate the difference. But I expect they're around $250 by now. So, in my opinion, yes, the $65 job will be a heck of a lot better than what you are putting up with right now. The trigger pull on my magnum was 24 pounds. I actually thought the safety was on.

 

[Range Junkie]

The hammer and sear are not very hard to polish and stone if you are handy at all. I have done a couple of them and had no problem getting them down safely to under 3 pounds. Your other option is to buy a hammer from Power Custom, VQ, Rimfire Tech. or a couple of other builders. They will get you at or below 3 pounds too. Of course you could just drop in an entire trigger group. There are several out there that make a full trigger group including KIDD, PWS, VQ, Jard, and a couple of others. KIDD is supposed to be the best. Tony Kidd offers a two stage group that is available is several factory adjusted settings. It is capable of adjusting safely down to 3 ounces. He also offers a 1.5 pound single stage, as does Jard, and PWS. I have not tried any of them but I have tried Jard in other rifles and they make a good product. However, if i was going to pay to put a full trigger group in one of my 10/22s I would go with a KIDD. He is ahead of the game in regard to everything 10/22 these days. You can find all the info on it at www.coolguyguns.com . Hope this helps ya.

 

[VA Bigbore]

When I did my 10/22 triggers I just went to MidwayUSA and looked at all the options they have for replacement trigger parts. You can pretty much build the Volquartson trigger set up from the parts on Midway's site and save some money. I haven't checked my triggers with a gauge, but they are crisp and no creep. If you care, check out my webpage I did when I built my last rifle. You can find it at: http://www.brleather.net/Ruger_1022.html.

 

[SD Handgunner]

On my first attempt I followed the instructions at RFC in the Tips & Tricks section. The result was a very crisp & smooth trigger but a bit heavier than I wanted it. I ended up installing a Volquartsen Target Hammer (that I also polished) and now have a crisp & smooth 3 pound trigger.

I have done several for friends since then and most turn out at 3 Lbs or slightly under. It is not all the difficult.

I recently built up a 10/22 for our Indoor Bench Rest Compeition. I wasn't quite sure if I could get the trigger as good as I wanted it so I sent my unmodified Trigger Group to TT Shooter with a postal money order for $105.00 for one of Todd's Precision Trigger Jobs and I am not sorry I did. This trigger is great. Todd does a few modifications that I felt I couldn't do justice to. Rather than the Coil Spring and Plunger for the trigger return spring Todd uses a Torsion Spring, and in place of the factory trigger spring and plunger Todd drills & taps that hole for an overtravel adjustment screw. One other thing Todd does is he locks the hammer bushings to the hammer pivot pin to eliminate one point of movement.

All in all I am happy with both of my 10/22 Triggers but each gun is used for different purposes.

Larry

 

[Jakeway]

Thanks Larry. I watched some videos on line last night, and had come to the conclusion that the VQ Hammer is the way for me to go. I don't want it too light, because this will be a hunting gun and will sometimes be used with thick gloves on. Also the kids will be using it for practice, and their deer rifles have fairly heavy triggers.

 

[kc outdoorsman]

I also did the VQ trigger about 20 years ago- when there was hardly any parts to be had. Very easy- drop in and you don't really need to buy the entire assembly/package/kit just the trigger. heck I think you can get that for less than $75

 

[Jakeway]

I finished the installation of the VQ Target hammer last night. I didn't replace any of the springs, and didn't stone any parts, just replaced the hammers.

Frankly, I'm a bit dissappointed. Granted, it's a big improvment over the terrible stock trigger, but it still has noticeable creep (half as much) and the pull weight is a bit less, but I feel it still needs some stone work to get it down to a minimal creep 3 lb pull.

I'm going to shoot a couple hundred rounds first and see if it smooths out a bit before taking it apart again. The pin was a very tight fit in the bushings, and I'm not sure how easy it will be to take apart again.

 

[land&groove]

Jakeway,thanks for the post. I was about to order the VQ hammer, and changing just one part seemed too good to be true. A fellow who does trigger jobs on 10/22's here abouts claims that turning the mainspring around can help some, but I havent tried that yet. Just a thought. I'm also looking into the Timney drop in trigger group. Any ideas on that would be helpfull.

 

[Jakeway]

Went hunting/plinking with it yesterday and shot maybe 40 shots. If I squeezed slowly I could actually feel the trigger move and then stop without the gun firing. If I pulled more quickly, like at a running rabbit, the creeping was unnoticeable and the gun fired smoothly.

I might do a light stoning on the sear, and if that doesn't improve things, go with a new sear to match the hammer.