Another dumb question/trigger

[Gary W.E.]

Are there any double set triggers available that can be set in a range from 1-3 POUNDS?

[EC121]

You could probably make a stronger front trigger spring and increase the pull pressure, but for 1-3lbs. a single trigger would probably work better.

[hanshi]

I have a few rifles with set triggers that measured (set) from 13oz to one pound.  So it's possible if you know what to do and are careful.

[Not English]

Why would you want to do that? Hair triggers are a PIA in my opinion. A friend of mine built a very nice early Hawken half stock with very light triggers. I could never shoot it well with the triggers set.

[Craig Wilcox]

Gary, most double triggers can be set very easily.  The rear trigger has a fairly stout spring, and must be pulled to "set" the front trigger, which, as mentioned above, can be set to a very slight touch.
The best thing about the set trigger is not to decrease the pressure too much, but to eliminate slop or "creep".
The small vertical screw between the two triggers adjusts the amount of overlap between the two trigger sears.  The arrangement for most is that the rear trigger, when pulled or "set", hooks it's front edge under the aft end of the front trigger - and that stout spring really loads the rear trigger.
The overlap between the two triggers really can be set to dangerously light limits.  It is best, IMHO, to adjust so as to give a pull of between 2-4 lb.  This is light enough so the rifle won't move much as the trigger is squeezed, NOT pulled or yanked.
Good luck and happy hunting.

[Gary W.E.]

Craig Wilcox---Craig, you hit the nail square on why I want my trigger pull set in pounds instead of ounces!!! I know about the screw adjustment but cannot get any of my rifles more than 1 lb or less. Can you suggest a set trigger replacement?

[heinz]

My Bob Roller triggers have a wide adjustment range.  I like double set/double pull triggers where you have the option of stetting or just using the front trigger.  Bob's triggers work that way.  With a set trigger I believe you really should not set it until you are on target.

[Hungry Horse]

Heinz beat me to it. Get a set of Roller triggers, they are the easiest to adjust I have ever seen. He’s a real nice guy as well.

   Hungry Horse

[Bob Roller]

Heinz and HH are exaggerating.i am a cranky old geezer
My triggers use a fine thread adjustment screw and the pins are
polished drill rod and the holes are reamed for a precise fit.
I started making double set triggers in 1958 at the urging of Wes
Kindig and so far only two have come back to be repaired.One had
a broken mainspring and the others were a total loss from a very
hot fire and were Hawken triggers with the guard in place.
Bob Roller

[Craig Wilcox]

Without, Bob Roller makes THE best triggers, be they for a Hawken or not.  Davis triggers are not bad, just lack Mr. Roller's precision.
The only downside is that a) his triggers are mostly all sold before he can complete a run - so signup with him NOW!  Then you have b) like all of us, he is getting older and none of us have an infinite life at the workbench!

[Bob Roller]

Without, Bob Roller makes THE best triggers, be they for a Hawken or not.  Davis triggers are not bad, just lack Mr. Roller's precision.
The only downside is that a) his triggers are mostly all sold before he can complete a run - so signup with him NOW!  Then you have b) like all of us, he is getting older and none of us have an infinite life at the workbench!

Craig,Thanks for the nice comments on my triggers.What is seen is my every day standard of shop work.
As I said many times,it shows what I think of myself as the maker and what I think of whoever buys them.
These triggers are individually made and I do not worry about interchangeable parts any more than the old
craftsmen did when these guns were state of the art.I know I am becoming a relic but no good way to avoid it
and when it becomes a pain to go to the shop and make these triggers I will pull the plug as I did with locks
last August when I made the last two to ever come off my bench.
If there is a next run I will do what Ross Dillion did and get a small batch ready and advertise them here and who ever gets them
will be just that.
Bob Roller

[Bob Roller]

Craig Wilcox---Craig, you hit the nail square on why I want my trigger pull set in pounds instead of ounces!!! I know about the screw adjustment but cannot get any of my rifles more than 1 lb or less. Can you suggest a set trigger replacement?

There are hyper sensitive set triggers seen on European target rifles that have triggers so
light that some say a dirty look or the weight of a shadow will fire them.These are complex
mechanisms made by watchmakers usually Swiss/German/French.
Bob Roller

[Dphariss]

Are there any double set triggers available that can be set in a range from 1-3 POUNDS?

If you want a 2-3 pound trigger just use a single trigger with the right distance from trigger pin to sear arm and adjust the lock till you get what you want. I had a side hammer BSG with a one pound trigger I used to shoot Silhouette with. Could break it like a set trigger when shooting standing.
I have another rifle I can't mention here with a 2 stage trigger and the second stage breaks at about 2 pounds. I break it like a set trigger after taking up the first stage.
I like 1/2-5/8" from trigger pin to sear arm. With the trigger pin set about as high as the sear screw. 
Dan

[Bob Roller]

Dan has a good point here.Even if a double set trigger can be made to pick up a 2 pound weight when
set there is still the sear spring and full cock angle in the lock to deal with.I doubt if any of my double set
triggers will pick up even one pound when set.
Bob Roller

[Craig Wilcox]

I dunno, Bob - you can crank down pretty hard on that big back spring!  Might be able to pick up a pound and a half, or even two pounds!

Gary, there are really very few "dumb questions" posted here.  I was always told that the only dumb questions asked, were those NOT asked!  And your question, as you can see by the responses, is truly NOT a dumb question.

Triggers are really vital to us - they set in motion that complex reaction that (usually) results in a piece of lead hitting one's target.  Just think of history if the cave man had had that possibility!

Study the mechanism of your double-set double trigger while it is out of the rifle.  That rear trigger has a fairly stout spring held in by a screw on top of the trigger bar.  But when you pull the back trigger, the trigger bar goes DOWN, not up to the sear bar!  And the front trigger has a very light spring, many times just a thin piece of piano wire.

Now, when you "pull" the front trigger, you barely move it - certainly not moving it enough to reach the sear, much less move it enough to make the sear release the tumbler.  BUT, it does move the few thousandths of an inch to release that Lord-amighty-stout rear spring, causing that rear trigger bar to go flying up fast and hard to smite the sear a whopping hard blow - which releases the sear nose from the tumbler, causing the big main lock spring to rotate the tumbler, which allows the cock to spin forward, hitting the frizzen hard enough to both dislodge it AND creating a shower of sparks, igniting the powder in the pan, causing enough radiant heat to ignite the powder in the breech, resulting in many foot-pounds of force to hit the back of the ball, causing said ball to start forward, out of the barrel, across a big canyon fast enough to smite the mountain goat hard enough to pass right through that goat, which in turn, eventually winds up on your dinner plate!  And all because that front trigger moved just 0,001" (+/-)!
Ain't we lucky to expend so little energy to get dinner, instead of trying to hit the goat with a rock?

So, you see that you have to work with BOTH springs and BOTH triggers, allowing them to work together to let your rifle "fire" with a comfortable-to-you feel.

Need me another cream soda after that discourse!

[Gary W.E.]

I have to admit that after all these really good answers, I must have asked a pretty smart question! Keep the faith, that don't happen much. Thanks to all of you