Setting up an Accutrigger

[Dave Hoback]

This is for anyone who likes doing things themselves. Doing everything here makes the Accutrigger perform incredibly well, with Zero tripping. Everyone wants to run out & get the Target Spring. The problem there is the Target Model “Red Blade” Accutrigger also uses a lighter Safety blade spring. When only the Trigger Spring is replaced, it can be lighter than the safety spring. So the Sear can drop before the Safety lever is clear, causing the lockup. I have spent a good bit of time playing with different spring combos. (Picture below shows not even all the springs I’ve used.) I ended up using a 0.4mmX4mmX15mm, or roughly 015”X.160”X.59” dimensions for the trigger. That’s wire diam X Outside Diam X length. The Safety blade spring is 0.3mmX5mmX15mm or .011”X.200”x.59”. I found these to provide the best ratio of dependability & light pull. I also use a .75” long set screw with 10-24th rear, with about half turned down to fit the 4mm spring. It’s turned down to about .130” to fit the Spring ID. This holds the second spring & acts as the new Overtravel Stop. Of course Shims do a fine job of eliminating any side play in the trigger. I make my own custom Shims from Titanium. Lastly is stoning the Trigger/Sear contacting surfaces. To each their own on this. As for me, I have over 2 decades experience setting up triggers. Now I say “Stoning” not polishing.. because polishing only makes a surface shiny. Polishing does not address unevenness. And as I have always said, a Dremel is not a friend to trigger work. Manually stoning, and better yet, with a jig, is the answer for perfectly flat, polished surfaces. The stones I use are Ceramic Water stones up to 6000 grit. Below is my polishing. This is the back surface of the Sear. This is the most important surface, as it is what slides against the Trigger surface.


The edge of the Sear which rides the major contact of Trigger.. these are the secondary surfaces of importance. The more important part of the Trigger is the small 90 degree surface which can hardly be seen in the pic. Great care must be taken here. This is the angle which meets the back Sear surface in the first pic. Care is taken to stone evenly, eliminate any high spots, & maintain proper angle.


Here is is my trigger with new springs. I also machined a small brass bung & pressed into the hole for the previous Safety blade spring. The new spring does not have the smaller section of coils, so I turned this brass part to hold it. Could also simply use a set screw. Not sure which size. I did also need to grind down the catch on the safety lever.


Trigger pivot showing Titanium washers on either side. These work outstanding.


I’ve spent some time trying different spring ratios… just some of the springs from the last years. This setup now is the best performing to date.



Ok, so why? Well, number one, I hate spending money if I don’t have to or want to. I learned long ago that the Trigger business in the Firearms Aftermarket is just that.. a Business! And business is a-boomin’! I originally started setting up triggers working on 1911’s. In 1911 building, we don’t rely on fancy aftermarket cartridge triggers. There are aftermarket parts of course, but they need to be hand fit, just as factory parts. And it’s in fitting as to how the trigger performs. Whether to file the hammer hooks to .020”, .018”, .016”. The radius let off of the Sear. And how much preload to literally bend into the leaf spring. These are what make a high performance & dependable 1911 trigger. Not dropping $200, $300 or more on a fancy cartridge trigger. I just was never drawn into it. Reason being I’ve never purchased a single aftermarket trigger for any of my firearms. Not even the many, many AR15’s I’ve built. Yet I’ve worked every trigger on every firearm I’ve ever owned. This is my main reason for setting up the Savage Accutrigger(also the 3-screw & pre-‘66 triggers & even the 2-screw). Here’s the truth of it. A factory trigger can deliver at least 90% of the performance of the best aftermarket trigger. No, a worked Accutrigger won’t be better than say a Sav-2. But it will come very close. The last reason is I genuinely really like the Accutrigger. I like Safe-Action triggers in general because they make it 100% Impossible to have an Accidental Discharge. (Notice I said Accidental, not Negligent! Two different things.) And regardless of what people may believe, when triggers are getting under 2lbs.. 1.5lbs.. even under 1lb, especially into the single digits, there is growing potential for accidental discharge.

Remember: what’s more important than a trigger being light, is a trigger being consistent.

[PhilC]

Nice work Dave.

I spent yesterday getting my brother's 3-screw squared away as trigger sides and trigger bracket pretty rusty. Cleaned those up with bronze wool and feels great now. I could replace the piano wire spring, but a consistent 3lb after cleaning things up is probably good enough for a rifle that gets shot a few times a year.

[vince_ross]

This is for anyone who likes doing things themselves. Doing everything here makes the Accutrigger perform incredibly well, with Zero tripping. Everyone wants to run out & get the Target Spring. The problem there is the Target Model “Red Blade” Accutrigger also uses a lighter Safety blade spring. When only the Trigger Spring is replaced, it can be lighter than the safety spring. So the Sear can drop before the Safety lever is clear, causing the lockup. I have spent a good bit of time playing with different spring combos. (Picture below shows not even all the springs I’ve used.) I ended up using a 0.4mmX4mmX15mm, or roughly 015”X.160”X.59” dimensions for the trigger. That’s wire diam X Outside Diam X length. The Safety blade spring is 0.3mmX5mmX15mm or .011”X.200”x.59”. I found these to provide the best ratio of dependability & light pull. I also use a .75” long set screw with 10-24th rear, with about half turned down to fit the 4mm spring. It’s turned down to about .130” to fit the Spring ID. This holds the second spring & acts as the new Overtravel Stop. Of course Shims do a fine job of eliminating any side play in the trigger. I make my own custom Shims from Titanium. Lastly is stoning the Trigger/Sear contacting surfaces. To each their own on this. As for me, I have over 2 decades experience setting up triggers. Now I say “Stoning” not polishing.. because polishing only makes a surface shiny. Polishing does not address unevenness. And as I have always said, a Dremel is not a friend to trigger work. Manually stoning, and better yet, with a jig, is the answer for perfectly flat, polished surfaces. The stones I use are Ceramic Water stones up to 6000 grit. Below is my polishing. This is the back surface of the Sear. This is the most important surface, as it is what slides against the Trigger surface.


The edge of the Sear which rides the major contact of Trigger.. these are the secondary surfaces of importance. The more important part of the Trigger is the small 90 degree surface which can hardly be seen in the pic. Great care must be taken here. This is the angle which meets the back Sear surface in the first pic. Care is taken to stone evenly, eliminate any high spots, & maintain proper angle.


Here is is my trigger with new springs. I also machined a small brass bung & pressed into the hole for the previous Safety blade spring. The new spring does not have the smaller section of coils, so I turned this brass part to hold it. Could also simply use a set screw. Not sure which size. I did also need to grind down the catch on the safety lever.


Trigger pivot showing Titanium washers on either side. These work outstanding.


I’ve spent some time trying different spring ratios… just some of the springs from the last years. This setup now is the best performing to date.



Ok, so why? Well, number one, I hate spending money if I don’t have to or want to. I learned long ago that the Trigger business in the Firearms Aftermarket is just that.. a Business! And business is a-boomin’! I originally started setting up triggers working on 1911’s. In 1911 building, we don’t rely on fancy aftermarket cartridge triggers. There are aftermarket parts of course, but they need to be hand fit, just as factory parts. And it’s in fitting as to how the trigger performs. Whether to file the hammer hooks to .020”, .018”, .016”. The radius let off of the Sear. And how much preload to literally bend into the leaf spring. These are what make a high performance & dependable 1911 trigger. Not dropping $200, $300 or more on a fancy cartridge trigger. I just was never drawn into it. Reason being I’ve never purchased a single aftermarket trigger for any of my firearms. Not even the many, many AR15’s I’ve built. Yet I’ve worked every trigger on every firearm I’ve ever owned. This is my main reason for setting up the Savage Accutrigger(also the 3-screw & pre-‘66 triggers & even the 2-screw). Here’s the truth of it. A factory trigger can deliver at least 90% of the performance of the best aftermarket trigger. No, a worked Accutrigger won’t be better than say a Sav-2. But it will come very close. The last reason is I genuinely really like the Accutrigger. I like Safe-Action triggers in general because they make it 100% Impossible to have an Accidental Discharge. (Notice I said Accidental, not Negligent! Two different things.) And regardless of what people may believe, when triggers are getting under 2lbs.. 1.5lbs.. even under 1lb, especially into the single digits, there is growing potential for accidental discharge.

Remember: what’s more important than a trigger being light, is a trigger being consistent.

Thank you for posting this Dave! This is a great example of why I joined this forum.