Model 64 Trigger Job

[Bathrobeman]

As yÂ’all probably all know the Model 64’s trigger leaves something to be desired. There is a lot of play and over travel and the pull isn’t the lightest either. So I figured I’d tear into it to see what I can do to remedy itÂ’s short comings.
I don’ have a “before” reading, but I got the pull weight down to two point some odd lbs (tested via luggage scale, another hack for another time) by cutting two coils off of the return spring. As stated previously, I don’t know what it was before, but it’s significantly lighter now. The trigger used to have a little side to side wobble, but I fixed that by adding a thin layer of Quick Steel epoxy (JB Weld type stuff) where the trigger goes into the action. This the trigger a little thicker so there was less wiggle room. I think it might had also made the trigger less likely to break (literarily) since the epoxy is near the holes where the pins go which is the thinnest part of the metal. I shot an hundred rounds or so without issue. It’s a much lighter but it still has about a mile of travel before it fires. You pull and then it hits a wall and then a two lbs or so more it shoots. It takes way less than a lb to pull it to the” “wall.”So I’ll just hold it there while IÂ’m aiming.
I have it apart again and I polished the sear. I also think I might had found a remedy for the excessive over travel but I donÂ’t want to let the cat out of the bag until I know if it works or not.
Quick Steel & Cutting a spring- Cheaper than an Mcarbo Target trigger and spring set.
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/cargo-quiksteel-quiksteel-reinforced-epoxy-paste-2-oz-17002tri/10465469-p?c3ch=PLA&c3nid=10465469-P&adtype=pla&product_channel=online&store_code=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0-6ABhDMARIsAFVdQv-sbusopFoxn3AuyQ8aUZS-zXgVVoRDZwu8gVshWWjuTmw9WjfV7YwaAuebEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Bathrobeman]

Why does all the punctuation in my post have look funny? I tried to go back and edit but it was too much.
Also, how does one add pics using an iPhone? All I see is the icon that’s asking for a url.

[Fasteddie01]

Hi there - welcome to the world of 64s :eek: I think that's what iPhones do to punctuation on some forums. I've seen it before, but I have an Android so I don't know how to fix it. Maybe someone else can advise. For pics, you need to have them saved on-line. I use " Postimage .org ". Then you get the url and paste it into your message. Again, I don't know the i-Process.
However, I do have some ideas on trigger and other mods. You can find some on Y-tube, but here's my ideas. 1) I got the MCarbo spring kit - about $15, only to use the sear spring (the return spring is stiff). It's a complicated bend to try to make yourself. It will take almost a pound of the trigger. I've heard that you can bend the OEM spring back and forth to 'weaken' it, but the MCarbo one works fine and you could then bend it. 2) Great idea to polish the sear itself, and I went on to polish the pin it runs on and the hole inside the sear too. Just makes it smoother. 3) I took the spring out of a clik-pen and used 1/3 of it for the trigger return, just stretched it to fit. This really took the pull down a lot. 4) I also polished the trigger pivot pin and the hole in the trigger. 5) I use bits of plastic container lids to make washers to reduce drag, like where you put epoxy on the trigger to take up wobble. 6) I took a Self-tapping Bolt and with a nut for a spacer, put them into the Charging Handle to extend it. I ground the bolt-head and the nut to ‘near-round’ to improve the visual and the nut rotates freely to reduce the force needed to rack the action. It looks sorta 'bubba' but I like that style, not too pretentious. :o 7) I drilled a small hole in the Mag Release to insert a bit of clothes-hanger wire and covered it with JB Weld. This made the Mag Release much easier to operate w/o being obtrusive. Some people drilled and tapped for a bolt instead :rolleyes: 8) Inserting mags into the well was troublesome and awkward, so I rounded and opened the Mag Well by filing the opening, the stock area and the ‘Bottom Plate’ much wider and slanted into the action. 9) I polished the inside of the receiver and the outside of the Bolt to reduce any ‘drag’ that would slow the action’s function. 10) I run the bolt & action 'dry' cause oil collects powder residue. Maybe a tiny drop on pins, touch pin with end of oiler.
Take a break - that's a lot of stuff to do :cool:
Good luck with your project, this has my trigger around 2# or less and super crisp.
Ed

https://i.postimg.cc/0NBrpcGd/DSCN6796.jpg (https://postimg.cc/3y2Khjcd)
https://i.postimg.cc/6phvGr1Y/R-R-t-return-spring-w-pen-sprng.jpg (https://postimg.cc/ZWCRGdmd)

https://i.postimg.cc/1XjC3gy3/Savage-22-Charge-Knob-2.jpg (https://postimg.cc/bS1H6wG7)

https://i.postimg.cc/zB3TXxvT/Sav-64-mag-well-opened.jpg (https://postimg.cc/R65WgQc0)

[Bathrobeman]

Quick question, is the spring from the ink pen longer or shorter than the stock return spring?

Also, about the charging handle, you screwed the bolt into the stock charging handle?

[Fasteddie01]

Hi B-man -I used about 1/3 of a pen spring, so I had to stretch it longer to fit in place. That makes it really squishy, hardly any resistance on the trigger. Trigger just goes to the sear, pull a bit and Bang! Not much travel at all.
For the charger, yes I screwed it into the OEM handle. I think it was a self-tapping bolt. I don't recall tapping threads. The nut was just as a spacer, NOT screwed onto the bolt. It is loose, rotates when I pull the handle. I used a grinder to 'mostly' take off the flats of the nut before putting on the bolt, then ground the head off the bolt AFTER I had cranked it into the handle. And 'opening' the mag well makes it easier to insert the mags - a bigger, sloped opening.

[Fasteddie01]

I think the bolt was only like 1" long - don't want/need it to be too long and catch on things. Same with the mag release. I've seen DIP mag release and they look pretty big. Check DIP products on inet to see what they have, if they still do?

[Bathrobeman]

Well here she is back together again. It’s it’s definitely a two stage trigger, but it’s decent two stage. I sort of prefer a two stage anyway when looking through a scope. The first stage is very light and it is easy to “rest on the wall” while aiming. The trigger break is light and crisp. Cutting the return spring alone had the pull weight in the high two lb range. After I polished the sear and added epoxy to the trigger “face” the pull came down into the lower two lb range.
Here she is https://youtu.be/6Bckw_m8LxE

[Bathrobeman]

I took a page from Fasteddie’s playbook and I used a spring from an ink pen as the return spring. Doing so dropped the pull weight to about 1.5 lbs.
https://youtu.be/8eG6EejJM84