The Moisin Nagant trigger is not a nice crisp trigger as, say, the Lee Enfield usually is. Every one I have tried has a lot of creep.
I recently acquired one of those clone snipers and since I intended to shoot it in Vintage Rifle shoots, wanted to see if I could tune up the trigger a bit.
I took the rifle out of the stock and discovered how to shorten the sear engagement until it was nice and crisp, but still safe. All I used was a piece of Coke can as a shim and a dab of contact glue.
In the first picture you see the trigger before modification. The key piece is the little rectangular tab you see bearing against the bottom of the action, just behind the trigger. That is the end of a 2” piece of steel that is anchored at the other end by a big nut. A stud protrudes up from this piece and acts as the trigger sear. When the trigger is pulled, this piece moves down, away from the bolt, and releases the cocking piece.
Here is the important part. When the trigger is released, that little rectangular tab moves up, until it hits the bottom of the receiver. That moves the sear up to catch the bolt cocking piece, when the bolt is closed. If a little piece of shim stock is slipped under that tab, the sear does not move up as far, and there is less sear engagement.
When I worked on my rifle, I could not find my stash of calibrated brass shim stock, so I folded a piece of Coke can in half, giving about 8 thou of thickness. This resulted in a perfect trigger. I took it out and put a dab of contact cement on the shim and receiver, let it mostly dry, then slipped the shim back in place.
I have used the rifle a few times, and the cement seems to hold the shim in place. If I replace the shim, I might try a more durable type of glue.
For the sake of illustration, here is a picture of the rifle with a white piece of plastic where the shim would go.
Whenever reducing sear engagement, you must be careful to not reduce it too far, since there is a danger of an accidental discharge. The object here is to improve the trigger by reducing creep – not try to make it into a light, crisp match trigger.
I recently acquired one of those clone snipers and since I intended to shoot it in Vintage Rifle shoots, wanted to see if I could tune up the trigger a bit.
I took the rifle out of the stock and discovered how to shorten the sear engagement until it was nice and crisp, but still safe. All I used was a piece of Coke can as a shim and a dab of contact glue.
In the first picture you see the trigger before modification. The key piece is the little rectangular tab you see bearing against the bottom of the action, just behind the trigger. That is the end of a 2” piece of steel that is anchored at the other end by a big nut. A stud protrudes up from this piece and acts as the trigger sear. When the trigger is pulled, this piece moves down, away from the bolt, and releases the cocking piece.
Here is the important part. When the trigger is released, that little rectangular tab moves up, until it hits the bottom of the receiver. That moves the sear up to catch the bolt cocking piece, when the bolt is closed. If a little piece of shim stock is slipped under that tab, the sear does not move up as far, and there is less sear engagement.
When I worked on my rifle, I could not find my stash of calibrated brass shim stock, so I folded a piece of Coke can in half, giving about 8 thou of thickness. This resulted in a perfect trigger. I took it out and put a dab of contact cement on the shim and receiver, let it mostly dry, then slipped the shim back in place.
I have used the rifle a few times, and the cement seems to hold the shim in place. If I replace the shim, I might try a more durable type of glue.
For the sake of illustration, here is a picture of the rifle with a white piece of plastic where the shim would go.
Whenever reducing sear engagement, you must be careful to not reduce it too far, since there is a danger of an accidental discharge. The object here is to improve the trigger by reducing creep – not try to make it into a light, crisp match trigger.
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