Savage Benchrest Trigger

I got tired of waiting for Arnold Jewell to make a 2 oz. capable trigger for our rifles, so I made my own using his mechanism. Maybe he'll take a hint. Anyway, all the working parts are 440C stainless steel, hardened where necessary. It uses a modified factory sear to allow it to work just like a Rem 700 trigger except that the geometry is rearranged. All the adjustments are made using a 1/16" hex wrench thru the trigger slot in the stock. See http://www.ada.ru/guns/remington/jewell/manual_en.htm for a tech explanation on the Jewell BR trigger.

This trigger has no provision for a safety and the factory safety will not fit. Therefore, it is strictly a benchrest/competition trigger where the bolt is closed on a live round only when ready to fire. It reliably adjusts to 2 oz and a tad less, but I plan to run it at 2.5 - 3 oz. because it feels a little more controlable to me at that weight. BTW, I am not in the business of making triggers and this is a one-off for my personal use. I made this one as a proof of concept and shows what one can do with sufficient motivation and some free time (retired). ;D

RWO

[img width=600 height=450]http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy247/RWO_photo/Savagetrigger.jpg[/img]

Very nice looking job - do you plan on marketing these?

It's my understanding that Arnold Jewell did a test run of Savage Jewell triggers and decided against continuing the project as 1) they were cost-prohibitive to make and 2) Savage announced the Accu-Trigger. Perhaps some of the more experienced Savage historians can clarify. . .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by torjy

It's my understanding that Arnold Jewell did a test run of Savage Jewell triggers and decided against continuing the project as 1) they were cost-prohibitive to make and 2) Savage announced the Accu-Trigger. Perhaps some of the more experienced Savage historians can clarify. . .

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Feed back I heard, there were some issues with keeping it crisp. Needed frequent tuning.
The action had to be timed also to even consider getting it reliable.

RWO,

Nice job!

WOW! Nice work.

How does the intermediate lever connect to the sear?

Sharpshooter, the intermediate lever has a wedge shaped front end which mates with a v-grooved block mounted inside the sear. It's very similar to the Rem trigger set-up except the lever prevents the Savage sear from rotating.

RWO

Could you take a picture of the set up from the top?

I'm familiar with the Remington set-up, and I figured that's how it connected, but I studied the return spring and had a hard time visualizing how it returned the intermediate lever without getting any slack at some point, but I think I see it now.
I was just wondering how thick the levers are? Where you have to "half" the lever and the trigger to get the overlap is going to be a critical area. I used to do 3 lever conversions for the older model 37 Remington rimfires and had to use the same technique for overlap, but the total thickness of the levers were 1/8", so it left slighly less than half for the thinest spot on the levers. The heat treat was critical on a part that small with that kind of load, and I had a few that were a little brittle and broke just after 50 firings or so. I finally figured how to spot temper the parts with a jewelers torch.

I actually have one of dozen or so triggers that Arnold made for the Savage, and let me tell ya, it is way more complicated that what you have come up with. I don't know how he even justified making that few for what he sold them for.

New to this but have a question about slam fire with that lite of a trigger pull? Let us know how it works.

Sharpshooter, the total thickness of the trigger mechanism is 1/4" and at the overlap the levers are about .110" thick. I did not harden them overall and only spot hardened at the wear/pressure points with a small torch flame. Small parts like this made from 440C will harden by still air quenching, so it is only necesssary to heat the desired spot to about 1800° and hold for a few seconds and then let cool. A 1 hr temper @ 700° is supposed to produce RC 58 or so. All I know for sure is that a file won't scratch those spots.

The beauty of the Jewell design is that the forces on the trigger lever/intermediate lever overlap are tiny. This is what makes such a light pull possible. The heavy sear pressure on the front end point of the intermediate lever is taken at the "crotch" by the point of the "pivot lever" ( small teardrop shape). The small distance between the pivot lever point and a line from the intermediate lever front point back to the pivot lever axis illustrates the large mechanical advantage and a correspondingly small force at the overlap. If the distance were zero( all 3 pressure points in the same line) the mechanism would not move when the trigger was pulled, but it would be statically unstable and would release if you breathed on it.

In fact, the overlap forces are so small that I did not harden the overlap contacts as an experiment. I simply polished them with a fine ceramic stone and achieved a 2 oz. pull with no lubrication and enough trigger spring weight for positive reset. I have operated the trigger at least 150 times under load and the finish on the overlap contacts looks unchanged. The overlap is only about .020", so the area is small. Hardening the contacts would be simple if wear ever becomes apparent.

Slam fire is not a problem since one does not "slam" a benchrest action. It shows no tendency to let off with normal handling of the bolt.


Pic #1 shows the triangular shaped grooved block mounted( soldered) inside the "U" of the factory sear. It's made from 01 tool steel. It's final shape was cut to fit more or less. I had to use a Dremel tool since it was hardened after the 90° V groove was cut on the mill. The groove is the seat for the pointed front end of the intermediate lever. It could be made with hacksaw and files if need be. For a production trigger, I believe the block might be attached with a single screw thru the existing hole in the factory sear. Since the joint is always in compression, the screw threads would take very little load. Also shown are the mounting ears on the front upper corners of the trigger housing. They are plain carbon steel and are soldered to the stainless sideplates because that was the easiest way to fab them as a prototype.

Pic #2 shows it assembled as it fits on the action.

[img width=600 height=443]http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy247/RWO_photo/Savagetriggertopview1.jpg[/img]

[img width=332 height=450]http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy247/RWO_photo/Savagetriggertopview2.jpg[/img]

RWO

I like it, very well done.

I had a couple of Arnold's 2 oz triggers and I just can't shoot them well. There is just not enough feedback for me to shoot them consistently. I just got my re-stocked rifle back from Fred with the trigger set at about 16 oz and that's light enough for me.

the savage trigger is probably the one thing holding back b/r or other shooters using savages in competition. my neighbor shoots competition and he is very careful puttting the bolt in place when loading a s/s due to his light triggers he has made. he has trophys all over his loading room all done with a tuned up remington.

if this isnt too labor intensive i can see someone doing very well with this. its great to have all these great ideas come up.


bob

RWO,

This trigger of yours, what has been done to the action in order for you to use it?

Carvera,

Nothing was done to the action itself. However, the the factory sear was modified.

RWO

now you need to put it in a b/r stock and see what it will do!!!!

bob