Trigger Pull Help Needed

[Leatherbelly]

  Fellow Shooters,Builders,
    My Pa Fowler sits on the shelf more these days then in the field due to its heavy trigger pull. What is the best way to remedy this problem. Does the lock need to be tweaked or are there other ways to fix the pull. I would like to achieve a four pound pull or better. Taylor built this gun and is unavailable right now. Any help appreciated and thanks in advance.

[Roger Fisher]

whydidnja call him up on his cell phone where he is hunting and give him $#*!??
I know what your thinkin but he may have cell phone service in that bistro where is huntin' 

Seriously (I I can manage that)  I had the same trouble since I got the sear a bit too far away from the axle of the trigger and the trigger is in that casting with the standing ears to hold the axle.  I didn't try major surgery by trying to pull that trigger out and go to one w/o said casting and pin it higher.

Actually is is a durs egg and I'm on the third main spring (I shoot her a lot) .
The original m spring etc gave me a sweet pull until the spring broke and I replaced it.  Then I had the ol 90 lb pull.  What I did was end up learning more about the innards of a durs egg than I ever cared to know.  I thinned down the main spring, I thinned down the sear spring paper thin, I stoned the full draw notch and sear nose til they were snot sl;ick.  (Gotta tell you my friend that I had that area of the lock apart mucho times til I got the 'angle' just right.  That is a very critical thingeee be careful.  I was tempted to cut a slot in the guard and have a friend (I have one or two of those) weld an extension on the trigger so's I could lay my trigger finger below the guard for more leverage; but gave up the idea since I get more than enough ridicule at home so I don't need more at the shoots.
I do however, take the trigger as low as I can with the pad 'tween' my first joint and the second (of my trigger finger that is )

If you want to do these things be careful or wait for ol Taylor to rest up from that hunting trip then have him have a look at it.  We can't allow that smoothy of yours to sit ignored in the corner.  They are made to shoot!!!!

Let us know what cures it and best of luck with the ol girl!

[rich pierce]

Many fowlers and muskets are set up for a 7 or 8 pound pull because you don't aim like with a rifle.  Might wait to work on it if the builder will become available.  Generally it is the mechanical advantage at work here.  To fix that requires a new tricker pinned higher in the stock or further back toward the sear.  If you go with "higher" that may also require inletting the taller "blade" of the tricker.


In this crude sketch the rectangle is the old blade of the tricker.  Pretend there's a pivot hole near the top right corner of the rectangle.  By moving the pivot up and back, you double the mechanical advantage and halve the tricker pull.  That can be done with a new tricker with a taller blade.  It is also possible to simply solder or braze a piece of steel atop the old blade, but it is tricky to make it hardened in that case. It can be done with a brazed piece.  Even with solder it won't ever come apart because none of the strain has leverage on the joint.

[Robby]

Finger transplant?

[northmn]

Increase the leverage if it wasn't done, as Rich suggested.  You also have to look at the sear tumbler engagement.  To lighten a trigger pull generally you have to hone the tumbler notch to match the sear.  There is a difference between a long pull and a hard pull.  In a long pull you hone off the outer part of the tumbler only.  In a hard pull you hone the engagement of the two.  It takes time and a lot of dissassembling and reassembling for the first time.  Also, if the lock does not have a fly or detent you can have it go into half cock if you lighten it too much.  Sometimes there is a slant in the tumbler notch, such that the hammer is slightly pulled back further as the sear is disengaged. Also polish the sear trigger engagement.  Good luck.

DP

[bob in the woods]

This is a different approach, but it worked on a friend's gun [smooth rifle] that had the trigger pinned too low. I could not pin it higher without a lot of work [ ie making a new trigger ]  .After talking to him,  I ground the contact surface of the trigger lower, if that makes sense, and then bushed or rather "sleeved" the sear arm. Problem solved.
Pull is now about 3 #.

[Daryl]

LB - take it to Taylor and pay him to 'fix' it.