I've got some rimfire shooting to do this weekend so I dug my 5" bull barrel, blued 22/45 out of the safe.
It was slightly grungy from the last time I shot it so I did a quick cleaning job. The bore in this pistol is VERY smooth and after only a couple of patches and a pass or two with the brush, there was absolutely no copper fouling (or any other fouling) left in the bore. I shoot copper plated ammo exclusively in my rimfire guns because I absolutely hate lead fouling.
While I had it out and disassembled, I noticed that the trigger was showing some overtravel as well as some side to side play. I pushed down the trigger pin keeper spring (towards the front right side of the trigger between the trigger and the receiver) with a small flat blade screwdriver and easily poked out the pin. That let me pivot the trigger and trigger bar assembly up out of the top of the receiver. When the front of the trigger (not the blade, but the blocky part that fits inside the receiver) cleared the receiver, the head of a tiny allen screw became visible. This is the overtravel adjustment on the Ruger rimfire semi-autos.
I backed the screw out a bit and then pivoted the trigger back down into position and slid the pin in backwards. Since I was going to have to do this a couple of times, putting the pin in backwards keeps the keeper spring from locking it into place. The groove for the keeper spring is only on one end of the pin and I put the pin in from the left side of the receiver ungrooved end in first. You have to remember to put it in the correct way the last time or the pin will work its way out during shooting.
I pushed forward on the hammer with my thumb and tried the trigger. Too much adjustment, the trigger wouldn't pull the sear forward enough to let the hammer drop. I pushed out the pin and turned the screw in a tiny bit and repeated the process until the trigger would just barely let the hammer clear the sear when pressed fully. I left it a little tight intentionally since a little dryfiring or shooting will allow the trigger action to compress any burrs on the screwhead and also maybe dimple the frame slightly. That will loosen up the adjustment slightly and things should be perfect after 10 dryfirings or so.
The side to side play in the trigger doesn't help things either, so I dug through my washer stock until I found a thin stainless steel washer that just fit over the trigger pin. I pushed the pin into the left side of the receiver (grooved end first this time) just enough to let it clear the slide stop and put the washer over the slightly protruding end up inside the receiver. I swung the trigger back down, pushed the pin home (sometimes you have to depress the keeper spring to do that, but not usually), dabbed a little lube in strategic spots and then reassembled the gun.
About 15-20 minutes of work and now my 22/45 has the best firearm trigger, by far, in my gun safe. I let Lisa try it and it put a smile on her face.
The nice thing about all this is that I didn't modify any parts, nor did I stone or polish any surfaces. In spite of that, I'd say that a gunsmith would be hard pressed to make a significant improvement over the performance of this trigger as it currently stands.
We'll see how it shoots this Saturday!
Good shooting,
John
It was slightly grungy from the last time I shot it so I did a quick cleaning job. The bore in this pistol is VERY smooth and after only a couple of patches and a pass or two with the brush, there was absolutely no copper fouling (or any other fouling) left in the bore. I shoot copper plated ammo exclusively in my rimfire guns because I absolutely hate lead fouling.
While I had it out and disassembled, I noticed that the trigger was showing some overtravel as well as some side to side play. I pushed down the trigger pin keeper spring (towards the front right side of the trigger between the trigger and the receiver) with a small flat blade screwdriver and easily poked out the pin. That let me pivot the trigger and trigger bar assembly up out of the top of the receiver. When the front of the trigger (not the blade, but the blocky part that fits inside the receiver) cleared the receiver, the head of a tiny allen screw became visible. This is the overtravel adjustment on the Ruger rimfire semi-autos.
I backed the screw out a bit and then pivoted the trigger back down into position and slid the pin in backwards. Since I was going to have to do this a couple of times, putting the pin in backwards keeps the keeper spring from locking it into place. The groove for the keeper spring is only on one end of the pin and I put the pin in from the left side of the receiver ungrooved end in first. You have to remember to put it in the correct way the last time or the pin will work its way out during shooting.
I pushed forward on the hammer with my thumb and tried the trigger. Too much adjustment, the trigger wouldn't pull the sear forward enough to let the hammer drop. I pushed out the pin and turned the screw in a tiny bit and repeated the process until the trigger would just barely let the hammer clear the sear when pressed fully. I left it a little tight intentionally since a little dryfiring or shooting will allow the trigger action to compress any burrs on the screwhead and also maybe dimple the frame slightly. That will loosen up the adjustment slightly and things should be perfect after 10 dryfirings or so.
The side to side play in the trigger doesn't help things either, so I dug through my washer stock until I found a thin stainless steel washer that just fit over the trigger pin. I pushed the pin into the left side of the receiver (grooved end first this time) just enough to let it clear the slide stop and put the washer over the slightly protruding end up inside the receiver. I swung the trigger back down, pushed the pin home (sometimes you have to depress the keeper spring to do that, but not usually), dabbed a little lube in strategic spots and then reassembled the gun.
About 15-20 minutes of work and now my 22/45 has the best firearm trigger, by far, in my gun safe. I let Lisa try it and it put a smile on her face.
The nice thing about all this is that I didn't modify any parts, nor did I stone or polish any surfaces. In spite of that, I'd say that a gunsmith would be hard pressed to make a significant improvement over the performance of this trigger as it currently stands.
We'll see how it shoots this Saturday!
Good shooting,
John
