New trigger spring made all the difference

[mugsie]

I built a 260 on a Savage LA which started out in life as a 300 Win Mag. I kept the original trigger and built my rifle. It shot well, but not as well as I thought it should have. It was always about 1 MOA, maybe slightly less, but never impressive. The trigger always felt a little tough, although it was adjusted down as far as it would go. I never realized it was a "hunting" trigger and consequently the spring was a little stiffer than the other Savage springs.

I tried to buy one from Savage but I had to write a letter saying I wouldn't hold them responsible if anything happened, and it was a minimum order of $10, although the springs were only $2 each. I called SSS and they had the Varmint spring for $5, so I purchased one and installed it the other day. Today I took the rifle to the range.

I would never have thought a simple trigger spring could make such a difference. Today, off a bipod, I put six shots into .45"! It would constantly shoot into virtually the same hole. Only difference from previous outings was today I had the lighter spring installed. What a difference it's made. It's like a new rifle.

I would never have thought there would be such a difference, especially when I'm so careful of my trigger pull, but there was. Amazing!

[GaCop]

Nice to hear so simple a fix made such a difference in accuracy.

[mugsie]

I was amazed - I would never have thought something this simple could have made this much difference, yet I saw it myself. Six shots previously would have had a few touching, a slight distance between another group etc. All within an inch but seperate groups (I hope I'm explaining this right). Now it's all together.

I guess even the concentration I place on my trigger pull isn't what I thought it was. The fact that it was a "hunting" trigger spring and not the varment spring, caused me to move the rifle ever so slightly when pulling the trigger back. I would have bet before it was the rifle - here all along it was my technique on this particular trigger. Ouch!

OK Barkeep - set 'em up - light springs for everyone.....

[dsculley]

We experienced similar results. My son wanted a Browning A-Bolt (left hand) in .300 WinMag. With his .308 he shot 1 hole groups. With the Browning, his groups opened up to about 6 inches. I tried reinstalling the scope, tried different ammo all to no avail. Finally, I convinced him to let me shoot it. I knew immediately what his problem was, it had the "Lawyer" factory trigger that must have been 8 lbs! I had our gunsmith do a trigger job that lowered the pull to an acceptable 2 lbs. His groups shrunk to less than 1/2 inch.

Now we know why bench rest shooters have such light triggers.

Congratulations.

[bbradford71]

Any and all factory rifles should get a trigger job if you are not going to replace the trigger with a after-market one. When I buy a new handgun it goes to a gunsmith for a trigger job before I ever even take it home. Since I shoot savage rifles I will be changing out the trigger for a lighter after-market one.


Brent

[airaddict]

Was urs the old 2-3 screw trigger or the accutrigger version?

Brian

[mugsie]

It was an Accutrigger, albeit the hunter version. Apparently Savage makes three versions - the Hunter, the Varmint (which I installed) and the Benchrest (which only Savage will install - they don't sell the springs for this version and it also includes a different sear, so it's not simply changing the spring to make it better).