Guys, I gotta' share a story, meant in good humor, but with a serious moral. As a gunsmith I will not even share in the debate on what is an appropriate trigger pull weight, other than saying that I have seen some low numbers thrown about recently. I don't even want to be a footnote in the next lawsuit on this matter.
Incidentally, cartridge gunsmiths have been advised by professional groups to be most cautious in trigger work and to never go beyond their "reasonable belief of appropriateness." As you know, competitive shooters abide by weight limits for both fairness and safety reasons.
Now the story. Built a rifle to spec. one day for a local hunter. He demanded an accurate rifle, but it didn't need to be fancy. I asked him if he wanted a double-set trigger; nope, a single, but it must be light.
Ok, I said. When the rifle is done we'll take it out to the range together and see if it is to your satisfaction. We did, and after adjusting the rear sight, he shot a decent group off a bag then hit the steel deer at 100 yards 3 times in a row.
Deal closed. Well, not exactly.
Next week, he's back. The trigger is not light enough. So I tried it, found it acceptable, but went in and polished it. The weight by my trigger scale was about 1/2 pound less that I guessed it to be and over a pound lighter than I deemed appropriate. I was happy. Gun back to customer.
One day after hunting season. Back again. Wayne, I missed a deer bacause I was pulling too hard on this trigger. I said. "Let me see this thing." I try the gun, works fine, light for my tastes, crisp as can be, and simply handed it back to him. "Sir, you need a psychiartrist, not a gunsmith." He either found another gunsmith, learned to live with it, or, worse, tried to improve on things himself. All I know is that I refused to lighten it further.
