Axis trigger question

[Hdawg]

Looking for a little advice. I’m a new owner of an Axis in 243. I’ve seen some posts on do it yourself trigger jobs. I saw the Mcarbo spring and screw kit and a YouTube video on it. I looked through my spare parts and found a screw that appears to fit. I took out the factory spring and installed my screw and a lighter spring. The trigger is considerably lighter now. I’ve bump tested it and it doesn’t release except when I pull the trigger. Is there anything else I need to worry about before live firing? As long as the trigger is functioning right do I need to worry about the exact length of the screw I used?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[DrThunder88]

No. If the screw is long enough, you can use it as an overtravel stop, but the important thing is that it holds the spring in place.

[Hdawg]

Thanks. It looks like it will keep the spring in place I will put some blue locktite on it and take it out Sunday to make sure it works under live fire. Do you know the proper length tscrew to use it as an over travel stop? If not I guess I could just go to Home Depot and get a few of varying lengths and rest them.

[DrThunder88]

I use a 3/4" long set screw. That sits almost flush with the bottom of the trigger bar. The thread is 10-24, by the way.

[Hdawg]

I finally got the rifle back to the range and I'm much happier with the rifle now. It shoots groups instead of patterns with the lighter trigger. (In other words, I shoot better with a lighter trigger. :smile-new: )

Thanks for the help.

[foxx]

Good. One more thing. Test the safety and beyond bump test.

1. Cock it.
2. put on Safe
3. Pull trigger.
4. Harder.
5. push safety forward.
6. pull trigger.

If all is well, you should be able to pull trigger REALLY hard on "Safe" and then push safety button forward WITHOUT setting it off. Sometimes, if too light, it will fire without touching the trigger just by moving safety off after pulling real hard on the trigger.

[Hdawg]

Good. One more thing. Test the safety and beyond bump test.

1. Cock it.
2. put on Safe
3. Pull trigger.
4. Harder.
5. push safety forward.
6. pull trigger.

If all is well, you should be able to pull trigger REALLY hard on "Safe" and then push safety button forward WITHOUT setting it off. Sometimes, if too light, it will fire without touching the trigger just by moving safety off after pulling real hard on the trigger.


Thanks! There's no such thing as too safe when it comes to guns. I did all of that several times as well as several bump tests before I even thought about shooting live ammo. But as I said, you can't be too safe. Thanks for the reminder.

[Axis223Shooter]

In addition to the spring/screw replacement, if all you do is shoot at paper targets without moving the rifle from rest, and you don't mind potentially ruining the trigger :p then you can shave a bit of metal - using a dremel tool - from the trigger/sear engagement surface to lessen the angle at which the sear will break.

This will void your warranty! but it will greatly lower the trigger pull ( down to about 2 - 2.5 lbs). The downside is that it will make the rifle less safe or even VERY dangerous to use for anything other than "at rest" shooting.

I remove a bit too much and my axis rifle fires by itself if I move the safety on/off for more than 15 times when cocked. It also fails the "bump" test with a rubber mallet if I hit it somewhat hard. I don't mind as I don't plan to carry the rifle loaded. It's such an inexpensive but fun rifle to blast away at targets using cheapest ammo possible. Even the Wolf steel ammo delivers 5 rounds all touching each other at 50 yards.:redface-new:

[DrThunder88]

The safer way to decrease the sear engagement is by gluing a shim to the portion of the trigger that's below the sear. If things go wrong, you still end up with a safe trigger, and you can reverse the work at any time. Here's a video. (https://youtu.be/gJijTbWe2wA?list=PL6mstF7_2-gm3WnoBZZ1QLpjIeoFWXqg9)