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TC trigger job

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Joined
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I put together an old TC Hawken kit my father had in his closet, I intended to keep it pristine as a tribute to my father. After he died I decided I didn't need a closet queen and took it out to sight it in.

As I posted before the barrel had runout and it took some finagling and parts changing to get it on target.

My next concern was the awful trigger, I thought I would never shoot the gun so I didn't check the finer points when I put it together. I considered a Davis Deerslayer but thought better look at the TC trigger closely first. I was surprised at what I found, I have rasps that are smoother than the trigger bar and sear of this gun.

Sorry for the out of focus picture but I thought it was in focus and proceeded on to polishing the whole trigger. Both trigger bars were as rough as what you see in the right side of the picture from one end to the other, actually much worse as I have run some sand paper over the whole trigger bar already.

100_5171.JPG


This is all hardened metal so I sanded the bulk of the grooves out with 220 paper, hit it a little with 400, then emery cloth, and finally with a polishing wheel on a dremel, I did the same on the sear at the contact point. Of course I only needed to polish the contact points but I didn't want to leave one end ugly and the other nicely polished.

I had a catchy, grating front trigger of at least 6 to 8#, and ended up with a smooth as silk front trigger of about 3#. Set and not readjusted after the work, the front trigger went from about 2# to 1.5# or less.

This is the first TC I have owned since I learned a little bit about gun building from a few plank builds and a couple of precarves. I guess Davis just lost a sale.
 
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It seems to be a common thing for a factory part to be of good design but of poor finish. You do good service to point out how a bit of detailing puts things in order with minimum effort. :thumbs up:
 
In 1976 I assembled a .50 cal. TC Hawken kit and seeing this was a hunting gun, I removed the heavy spring and replaced it w/ a steel block to make the rear trigger inoperative and concentrated on the front trigger pull. .....which became a crisp 3lbs. This rifle has shot many deer and a few elk w/ a 410 gr. Buffalo Bullet and my son's friend still uses it.....Fred
 
A number of deer have escaped my wrath because of set triggers on my rifles, cold fingers often make more contact with a hair trigger than you want, I have sent a bunch of rounds over their backs in these situations.

All of my serious hunting guns have single triggers except for my squirrel rifles which lend themselves more perfectly to head shots with a double set.

I have the front trigger so sweet on the TC it is unlikely I will ever use the set trigger while hunting with it.
 
I am very friendly with very light triggers. Fact is, I can't shoot anything over 2 lbs.... I want to throw the gun down range..... I'll flinch like an explosion....

I think this is all what you get comfortable with. I was taught by my farther to shoot a light trigger.

All that being said I have learned to work my triggers to suit myself and my wife.... she also likes a light trigger although not as light as mine.

Glad you were able to find a "sweet" spot Eric.
 
A few yrs back we were elk hunting in CO and my buddy was told prior to the trip to make the rear trigger inoperative and I would make the front trigger pull at 3 lbs.. He didn't want to do it.

The 3rd day of the hunt he's climbing a steep slope and spots a 6 X 6 bull about 60 yds awayl and he was breathing hard because of the 10,000 ft altitude and the climb. He mounted the TC Hawken, set the rear trigger and before he could put the bead on the bull, the gun fired. For some reason the bull just stood there while my buddy reloaded and the premature firing happened again.....and the bull was never seen again.

He didn't have another chance at an elk that trip and when we were home, he asked if I would make the rear trigger inoperative and make the front trigger pull 3 lbs.

I don't like set triggers because I'm able to refine the pull of a simple trigger on my hunting rifles. My flint squirrel rifle has head shot 100s of squirrels and its trigger pull is a crisp 2 lbs. The MLers used for big game have 3 lb trigger pulls.

If one uses double sets for target shooting and possibly squirrel hunting w/ success, keep using them....no need to have a simple, single trigger.

But I just like to keep things simple......Fred
 
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