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traditions kentucky heavy trigger

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Howie1968

Howie1968

40 Cal.
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I acquired a traditions Kentucky rifle in .45 I got it pretty cheap stock looks good metal is good bore nice and shiny

the trigger is very heavy. I polished the inards careful to not change angles. lightly lubed it and very little difference.
any advice how to get it lighter
 
Howie1968 said:
I acquired a traditions Kentucky rifle in .45 I got it pretty cheap stock looks good metal is good bore nice and shiny

the trigger is very heavy. I polished the inards careful to not change angles. lightly lubed it and very little difference.
any advice how to get it lighter
Click to expand...
The first thing you need to do is to remove the lock from the stock and then check the tightness of the screws that hold the bridle in place.
Assuming for the moment you aren't familiar with the names of things, the bridle is the part that supports the end of the tumbler (the part that rotates and has the half and full cock notches cut into it). The sear arm is the part of the sear that sticks out away from the inside of the lock plate. The sear is the part that engages the notches in the tumbler and holds it in the half cock or full cock position.

That said, all of the screws in the bridle except for the one that goes thru the sear should be tight. The screw that goes thru the sear should be just lightly, "snug". If it is tight, the sear will be difficult to move so the trigger will have a hard time moving it.

With the sear screw just snug, the sear should move quite easily with just finger pressure on the sear arm. The only thing that makes it difficult to move is the sear spring that pushes against the sear.

If the sear spring seems to be too powerful, that is the source of the heavy trigger pressure. Many of the factory reproduction guns have a sear spring that is much more powerful than it needs to be.
If the sear spring is the problem, unscrew the screw that holds it in place, just a few turns. Then, pushing the rear of the spring away from the lockplate, the tang on the spring will disengage from the slot in the lockplate and it will rotate upward. Remove the screw and the spring.

Using some locking pliers clamp them on the upper leg of the U shaped spring next to the screw hole. Now, using a metal cutting flat file, file the lower leg of the spring to reduce the legs width down where it would contact the sear. You will want to leave the sear spring at its full width at the bend of the U and taper it down so that it is about 3/32" to 1/8" wide at the tip. Do not make the tip of the spring any narrower than 3/32 (.093").
Do all of the filing in the direction of the leg. Do not file crossways to it.
By reducing the width of the sear spring at the tip, you will reduce the pressure it will exert against the sear which will reduce the force needed on the trigger to fire the gun.

When you've finished filing, reinstall the spring and test its action on the sear. It must have enough power to engage the sear with the tumbler half cock and full cock notches, each time, every time, 100% of the time. If it doesn't do that, you will have to buy a replacement spring.
 
Look inside the lock, normally you can see a small screw with a little coil spring: that is for the adjustment of the penetration of the trigger in the starting notch.
All the Tradition rifles I have seen have this screw (years ago the Traditions brand was was Jukar, Dikar and Ardesa). I do have a Dikar Kentucky Pistol, a Plain rifle Jukar, a Pennsylvania rifle and a Hawken rifle Ardesa and all them have this little screw that make possible to get the start very light. Did you seen that screw ?
Perhaps it does't exist on the Kentucky Tradition but I don't believe...
IJjwNitGLtf_Vis-de-noix.jpg
 
Last edited:
Erwan said:
Look inside the lock, normally you can see a small screw with a little coil spring: that is for the adjustment of the penetration of the trigger in the starting notch.
All the Tradition rifles I have seen have this screw (years ago the Traditions brand was was Jukar, Dikar and Ardesa). I do have a Dikar Kentucky Pistol, a Plain rifle Jukar, a Pennsylvania rifle and a Hawken rifle Ardesa and all them have this little screw that make possible to get the start very light. Did you seen that screw ?
Perhaps it does't exist on the Kentucky Tradition but I don't believe...
IJjwNitGLtf_Vis-de-noix.jpg
Click to expand...
Assuming the screw exists, in my opinion, it's purpose is not to make the lock easier to fire. It is there so that the nose of the sear won't be deeper in the full cock notch than it needs to be.

How much engagement does it need to have? Again, in my opinion, the full thickness of the nose of the sear should be engaging the full cock notch with the corner that is the first to disengage with the notch right at the outer edge of the notch.

Yes, there are people who screw the adjustment screw in so that only half or less of the thickness of the sear nose is engaged with the notch. Some have even gone so far as to adjust it so that only a few thousandths of an inch are engaged, but by doing this they are making the gun dangerous to use and they are increasing the possibility of the nose of the sear breaking off.
As we know, if the sear is almost ready to let go of the full cock notch, a slight bump on the stock can cause it to release causing the gun to fire.
If the material of the sear breaks because too small of an area of the sear is trying to keep the gun at full cock, the gun can fire even without the stock being bumped.

It's a good idea to use this adjustment screw to set the nose of the sear for a 100 percent engagement. If it is deeper than that then yes, by all means screw the screw in to reduce it but if the sear is engaged less than the thickness of the nose of the sear then by all means, unscrew that screw to increase the sear's engagement.
 
thank you mr zonie and thanks erwan. mine does not have the coil or spring
Click to expand...
Well, an other way that is fully used on the old continent is the small wedge in brass tin soldered and adjusted step by step in the bottom of the notch to disengage the trigger...
The firs to do this way is to see when the sear is full engaged if you have more than the extremity in the starting notch you can also try it.
 
Zonie said:
Assuming the screw exists, in my opinion, it's purpose is not to make the lock easier to fire. It is there so that the nose of the sear won't be deeper in the full cock notch than it needs to be.

How much engagement does it need to have? Again, in my opinion, the full thickness of the nose of the sear should be engaging the full cock notch with the corner that is the first to disengage with the notch right at the outer edge of the notch.

Yes, there are people who screw the adjustment screw in so that only half or less of the thickness of the sear nose is engaged with the notch. Some have even gone so far as to adjust it so that only a few thousandths of an inch are engaged, but by doing this they are making the gun dangerous to use and they are increasing the possibility of the nose of the sear breaking off.
As we know, if the sear is almost ready to let go of the full cock notch, a slight bump on the stock can cause it to release causing the gun to fire.
If the material of the sear breaks because too small of an area of the sear is trying to keep the gun at full cock, the gun can fire even without the stock being bumped.

It's a good idea to use this adjustment screw to set the nose of the sear for a 100 percent engagement. If it is deeper than that then yes, by all means screw the screw in to reduce it but if the sear is engaged less than the thickness of the nose of the sear then by all means, unscrew that screw to increase the sear's engagement.
Click to expand...
Adjusting the depth of sear engagement is indeed about making the trigger easier to pull. I adjusted mine from around 8 pounds pull with the screw fully retracted to about 4-4.5 pounds. Light enough to pull smoothly, deep enough to not misfire. I agree that too light is dangerous and one needs to ensure the gun remains safe.
 
I just picked up an unfinished Traditions Kentucky. Here is the lock. Pointing to trigger set screw.
20191010_000355.jpg
 
Thanks to all I did as zonie suggested, upon closer inspection on the yumbler there was a screw that ran through it.previous owner must have broke the head off as the rest was still protruding. but not engaging the sear. I took the sear spring and filed it as suggested and the pull weight is a lot better. I ordered 2 replacements just in case did the bump test and the sear held.
 
Howie1968 said:
Thanks to all I did as zonie suggested, upon closer inspection on the yumbler there was a screw that ran through it.previous owner must have broke the head off as the rest was still protruding. but not engaging the sear. I took the sear spring and filed it as suggested and the pull weight is a lot better. I ordered 2 replacements just in case did the bump test and the sear held.
Click to expand...
There is a crude but effective way to measure trigger pull. Hang a milk jug from the trigger, fill with water until the trigger releases. Measure the volume of water. One ounce volume weighs one ounce. A pint is a pound. A half gallon would be a four pound trigger pull. Adjust so you have a firm but easy pull. Generally, anything under 2 pounds is too light to be safe carrying cocked. I have mine set for about 4 to 4.5, I can squeeze a shot without jerking the trigger or gun and there's still plenty of engagement on the sear.
 

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