Quick and Easy Trigger Job On 1860 and 1866 Rifles

[GeezerD]

Having recently purchased a 1866 Trapper, I was disappointed to find that the trigger pull was about 9 pounds.

I found that a Colt style Trigger/Bolt spring can be used to replace the factory trigger spring on the 1866. You need to remove the short leg on the Trigger/Bolt spring and remove enough from the long leg to make the overall length about 1 inch. Using the factory screw, install it the same as the factory trigger spring. Then you can back off the mainspring screw about a half turn. This results in a trigger pull of about 3 1/2 pounds with no other changes.

                                                                                               GeezerD

[Coffinmaker]

  Hey Geezer D !!! 

How the heck are ya??  Haven't seen you around in a while.  Be well Compadre.

Atz a really interesting fix.  Surprised I never thought of it when I was building Toggle rifles for a living.  In my sordid past, I put the OEM spring in my machine vice and had at it with file to narrow it and reduce the spring effort.  Your fix sounds a bunch easier and much more consistent.  Cool Trix !!!

People are Hazardous to Yer Health
Avoid Them

[GeezerD]

I found that you can also make up a new trigger spring using .015 tempered shim stock. It looks much better than the modified Colt trigger/bolt spring. ---------- GeezerD

[Kent Shootwell]

I once asked a boss why he always seemed to give me the hard job? He said because lazy people find the easiest way to do things. You must be even lazier then me! I tip my hat! 

[GeezerD]

  I prefer to think of it as -----  " even an old blind squirrel finds a nut now and then." ---------------------  GeezerD



I had a boss once, and it seemed that he always got in the way of doing a good quality job.