New Benelli MRl Is Varmint-Hunting Ready

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ALL ABOUT GUNS Stephen D. Carpenteri
AFTERMARKET TRIGGERS
Replacing a factory trigger with a
quality upgrade is a good investment
i for improved accuracy.
Falling-block rifle* come with non-adjustable, sloppy
triggers that require a careful touch for long-range accuracy
on varmint-sized targets, making them an ideal candidate for a trigger upgrade.
PROSTAff
STEPHEN 0.
CARPENTERI:
Steve Carpenteri
has been
an outdoor
writer, editor
and photographer
for over
)S years He
specialiies in
shooting and
hunting with
anything that
has a trigger
attached
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WHEN IT COMES TO LONG-RANGE PREDATOR SHOOTING,
few tilings matter more at the moment of truth than
a clean, crisp trigger pull. Slop, slap, creep and jiggle
are just some of the challenges a shooter is likely to
encounter with factory trigger mechanisms, and the
cheaper you go the worse the situation becomes.
I have owned guns with triggers made from
stamjx\l, cast or even plastic parts and sooner or
later I've had field issues with every one of them.
Rather than cause undue embarrassment to manufacturers
who are trying to hold the line on cost, let's
just say, "You get what you pay for." This definitely
holds tme when it comes to low-end triggers.
Aside from misses due to faulty trigger perfomiance
(mostly a noticeable delay between "pull" and "bang"
caused by pull settings that are too heavy) I've had
three standard factory triggers utterly fail in the field.
One (a cheap, department store shotgun) literally exploded
as I shot at a lx>bcat in Maine at -20 degrees
Fahrenheit. Spring, screws and pins flew everywhere in
the snow around me as the cat escaped unharmed.
The worst case (xcurred just weeks after a factory recall
of the trigger assembly on a favorite rifle I'd used (without
prior trouble) for 10 years! This situation was serious
and dangerous. The recall said that when a cartridge
was slipped into the chamber and the bolt was closed,
the gun would fire — without touching the trigger and
with the safety on! I never had that happen up to the
time I received my recall notice,
so I dismissed the notion as irrelevant
to my gun. Sure enough,
on my next trip the gun went off
unexpectedly as I loaded up for
a day in the woods, f ortunately
I had the muzzle safely |x>intcd
toward the ground (always have,
always will), so the only damage
was a smoking hole in the dirt
and a thoroughly rattled psyche.
Interestingly, the replacement
trigger provided by the manufacturer
was of no Ix-tter quality
(cheaply made with sheet
metal and plastic |xirts), so I did
what any serious shooter would
do — hunt the aftermarket for
a reliable trigger assembly!
WHArS THE DIFFERENCE?
In many cases, the shooter will
find that most aftermarket triggers
will cost as much as, if not more
than, the original firearm. Why
is this? Simply |Hit, Ix-tter quality.
Mid-range and low-end gun
manufacturers are stuck with an
o|x?rating budget that allows only
so much for trigger assemblies,
and as long as the safety catches
and the firing pin falls they are
happy. In most cases, the average
pi inker or weekend hunter
won't know or care alxnit the
nuances in specialty trigger manufacture,
assembly and operation.
But when you get into the small
target, long-range realm, you begin
to appreciate the Ix-nefits of a projv
erly made trigger built by a company
that specializes in close-tolerance
production. "Good enough"
is fine for everyday shooting, but
precision vanninting requires
something more in the way of trigger
manufacture and performance.
After my experience with that
first faulty rifle trigger, I saved my
loose change and ordered a replacement
from Canjar, a reputable
tool company that (sadly for us
all) went out of business in 2007.
The price of my new trigger was
S10 more than my rifle cost new,
but the differences in quality and
workmanship were noticeable
right out of the box. Kven the steel
pins that held the trigger assembly
to the receiver were an obvious
improvement over the factoryparts.
One quick session of careful
Installation and adjustment
and my rifle has been spot-on
ever since — going on 30 years
if my calculations are correct.
The best aftermarket triggers
have all the features of a competition
shooter's trigger — no slack
or rattle, no creep, a consistently
adjustable let-off, and imperccptible
lock time (the period of time
from trigger pull till the hammer
or firing pin strikes the primer).
Most low-end and mid-range
commercial rifle manufacturers
provide triggers that are built
"within tolerances," and most
average near a 3-pound pull.
Some rifles have trigger pulls set
to 5 pounds or more, mostly to
avoid dangerous situations involving
shooters having itchy trigger
fingers. IJability, my friends!
But, when the trigger pull in
|x>unds exceeds the total weight
of the gun, you're going to have
accuracy problems. Cozying up to
the bench you will Ix? able to seethe
gun move as you haul back
on these heavy-set triggers, and
accuracy will certainly suffer.
To be fair to manufacturers, the
goal has been to produce rifles
capable of 3-inch accuracy at 100
yards right out of the Ixxx, and
most of today's guns will meet
that level of accuracy with triggers
set at 3- or 4 pounds. Some
manufacturers go a step farther
and guarantee 1-inch groups,
but you won't find these guns
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on the local department store
racks. Because safety is a necessary
concern for manufacturers (no one
wants the blame for accidental
discharges due to factory triggers
being set too light), they tend to
set their triggers on the heavy side.
For the purposes of predator
shooting less than 100 yards, the
manufacturer's standard trigger
is usually good enough to do the
job. I've shot Winchesters, Remingtons,
Rugers, Savages, Martins
and all the rest over my 45 years of
all-species hunting and can't recall
many misses due solely to trigger
failure. If you practice, know
your gun, breathe and squeeze,
you should have few malfunctions
with factory triggers.
If you want more exit of your
rifle or shotgun, however, the
tweaking must begin somewhere,
and the cheapest place
to start is with a new trigger.
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