Trigger choices

[Divernhunter]

A plane Jane Timmy has always worked well for me. I am a hunter but one hole 5 shot groups or slightly larger with hunting bullets has always been good enough for me. Especially when I am outshooting the want-to-be snipers/target shooters with all tricked out rifles. All the tricks on my hunting rifles are one you do not see but help CONSISTANT accuracy.

You are new to the rifle game, as you say, so start walking before you try to be a national champ runner. You may later find you want a high dollar stock, barrel, scope, firing pin/spring and even a more costly trigger. On a stock rifle it gains little with a very costly trigger over a less costly GOOD after market trigger like a plane Jane Timney of Jewel in my opinion. But then I am more of a hunter than a bench rest shooter............but I like shooting squirrels/PD(sometimes pronghorns) at very long range and that take an accurate rifle.

[bsumoba]

Jewell all the way. I have two in 700s and they are GREAT. Very easy to install and adjust. Both of mine have safetys.

I have 4 Jewells and will stick with them. 2 in F-Class guns, 1 in a tactical rifle, and a backup trigger.

I will say that I had one trigger go down because it got gunked up. That was my fault as I accidentally had solvent go down the trigger when cleaning (didn't have a bore guide in the gun) . I took it apart, cleaned it and it works like a champ.

[ar15barrels]

I will say that I had one trigger go down because it got gunked up. That was my fault as I accidentally had solvent go down the trigger when cleaning (didn't have a bore guide in the gun) . I took it apart, cleaned it and it works like a champ.

This is why I recommend Timney 510's in field guns.
On a 510 (or an old style remington trigger or any other 2 lever design), you can simply push/pull the trigger shoe to free up anything that might be jamming it up.
On the 3 lever designs (jewel, calvin elite and most other super-light triggers), the trigger shoe is disconnected from the intermediate lever which trips the sear so the only way to clear a jam is to clean it out with chemicals/air and that's not something you generally do at the range with the action in the stock.

[ExtremeX]

I have Timney 510 and a Timney 501T

http://www.timneytriggers.com/shop/timney-remington-tactical-replacement-trigger.aspx

There are times I wished my 510 was lighter and more refined like the 501T... and there are times I wish the 501T had a saftey and was setup more like a regular trigger (no bolt release and a more traditional curved shoe).

My 501T is amazing for shooting groups, but I only use that trigger shooting from a bench, not in the field. I also shy away from letting others shoot that rifle without some decent dry fire practice...

The Timney Calvin Elite appears to be that middle ground... so that gets my vote. That said, I haven't used one.

[TKCastle]

I have a Calvin elite and love it. Saw one go down at the Caprc class a few month back so I shoot it with lighter fluid and air to clean it out every other range trip. Is it worth the hassle? For now yeah, but Im buying a 510 for my next rifle.

[LynnJr]

HotRail
Where are you located?
I have all the triggers listed except the two stage triggers and you can try them out before purchasing.

[eric n]

[LynnJr]

EricN
My father has one and I can use it. I have two Bix&Andies as well.
If you live in NorCal you can try it out as well. Dan Killough sells them and you see them mostly on 22 benchrest rifles like Calfee makes.

[bsumoba]

I have a Calvin elite and love it. Saw one go down at the Caprc class a few month back so I shoot it with lighter fluid and air to clean it out every other range trip. Is it worth the hassle? For now yeah, but Im buying a 510 for my next rifle.

I think every other range trip is overkill to clean it. if u are in a dirty environment, then clean it.

[eric n]

Thanks for the offer Lynn.
How does it feel compared to a bix? I just bought a bix, only have a few rounds on it but it sure is different then a Jewell.

Op. Any trigger that breaks consistently will improve your groups with practice and experience with that trigger. Something to keep in mind.... nobody increases their pull weight shooting from the bench.
I've never touched a Calvin elite, can't help you there.
I've broke 2 sears on jewels from blanked primers(my fault) and locked one up because I stuck a bullet while opening the bolt for a cease fire and filled my action with powder. Again,my fault. Other then that, I've had a lot of trouble free rounds down range with them. They are the standard for bench shooting.

[hotrail]

HotRail
Where are you located?
I have all the triggers listed except the two stage triggers and you can try them out before purchasing.

Lynnjr -- Thank you for the kind offer. Unfortunately I am in SoCal so based on your other post above that probably won't work out.

And thanks to everyone for the good information. I think I will go with the basic 510 for now, set relatively light in its adjustment range. More than anything I know I need to work on the fundamentals.

[LynnJr]

Hotrail
I am not familiar with SoCal but we hold URSA matches there and those guys will have all of the triggers listed except Bix & Andie and Flavor Flare.

EricN
I have two Jewell's sitting here right now that need to go back for minor issues. No matter what is wrong with a Jewell trigger it always seems to cost $47.
I have blanked my share of primers and it always breaks the tip off of the second lever. I have broken the same bar on Rifle Basic triggers.
Even double sleeved Remington's and custom actions will break the lever or the tip of it.
When a primer pops that little disc pushes the firing pin backwards very very quickly and the cocking piece slams the top lever of the trigger extreme fast. This forces it into the second bar which breaks or snaps the tip.

The Bix & Andie triggers have way too many adjustments for a knucklehead like me. The two sideplates adjust out so the trigger doesn't move around on the trigger pins. If you are very patient you can set one up for a half ounce of pull weight.
I have shot my father's benchrest 22 with the Flare trigger and to be honest with you there is very little difference between them. You get the feeling they are better but you can't describe why.
The next time you pull a Jewell trigger out of a gun get some 1200 grit sandpaper a piece of glass and remove the Phillips head screws from one side only. There are long screws and short screws so make yourself a cheat sheet so you don't mix them up.
Put some diamond paste on the sandpaper and make a figure 8 pattern 4 dozen times. You will notice the area around all of the holes are now shiny.
Clean with hot soapy water then dry and reinstall the plate.
Do the same thing to the other plate. You will be shocked at the improvement.

Edit: To hold the plate while running it in the figure 8 pattern use Duct tape shaped like the letter "T". This gives you something to hold onto and something to hold each plate while polishing.

[FourT6and2]

I tried the Bix-n-Andy trigger. Returned it immediately. No bueno.

[LynnJr]

Was it broken or just too complicated to set up?
Or was it too light?

[FourT6and2]

Was it broken or just too complicated to set up?
Or was it too light?

I honestly don't quite remember the details. I made a thread about it at the time: http://www.scout.com/military/sniper...limited-review

It worked out of the box at it's lightest setting. But that's too light for any reasonable application not involving pure bench rest.

When set to its heaviest setting, it wouldn't function. When using the heavy spring, it would compress in a really weird way and not let the trigger function properly. It wouldn't allow for any trigger travel. And yes, it was adjusted properly. I talked to the company and they confirmed it was adjusted correctly. The trigger just isn't designed for anything remotely close to 1.5 lbs. of pull. That's just too heavy for this thing. Even though they provide a spring for that, it didn't work. When set up with the light spring and the trigger pull is down in the ounces, sure... it worked.

It is also made of a really fragile aluminum that I wouldn't trust in any field rifle or tactical rifle or competition rifle.

I sent it back and talked to whomever does the importing here in the US and they didn't really argue or anything. They seemed pretty saddened by my report though.


"This trigger is the Rem 700 Varmint w/ Top Safety version. Single stage. Action is Defiance Deviant Tactical. I have a Timney Calvin Elite and a Jewell for comparison. I decided to give this thing a try after seeing the blurb about them on the Precision Rifle Blog, but ran into a number of issues with this trigger:

The trigger came with lots of scratches and blemishes on it. The included instructions say this is "normal" and is from the QA testing Bix'n Andy does. Ok. Fine. But for $500, I'm not too happy about it.

The top safety lever is quite a bit thicker than the safety levers on other triggers. And because of this, it is not possible to gently bend it to "fit" it to your action. This safety does not clear the Defiance Deviant's tang. It binds ever so slightly. You can still manipulate the lever, but it will certainly take Cerakote off your receiver by doing so and/or scratch and wear a receiver that is "in the white." The actual "throw" of the lever is also a little longer than that of the Timney or Jewell. Meaning when in the "safe" position, the lever is farther to the rear and when in the "fire" position, the lever is slightly farther forward. In either case, the lever will hit the edge of the tang when in "safe" and hit the little wall of the cutout in the receiver when in "fire."

The weight of the trigger does not match the advertised specs. Not even close. The spring that comes in the trigger is said to have a max of 11 ounces. But I couldn't get it higher than 7 ounces according to my digital pull gauge. The heavy spring is supposed to max out at 25 ounces. But I couldn't get it higher than 14 ounces. And it wasn't consistent. One pull would give me 10 ounces, then next 14, the next 12, the next 11, the next 14, and so on. By contrast, the Jewell and Timney were fairly consistent. Either way, I couldn't get the trigger set to it's advertised max of 1.5 pounds, which is what I would want. At 14 ounces, it's too light for my intended application. The spring would literally be compressed all the way, which would lock up the trigger and provide for no actual trigger travel. I tried adjusting the sear engagement as the instructions describe, which wasn't hard. But that didn't seem to make a difference in this regard.

Unfortunately, I decided to send it back for a refund. Maybe as a dedicated bench rest trigger it's ok. But I prefer the Jewell and Timney. And maybe I got a lemon or something."