I know that tinkering with the non-Accutrigger MkII's has been mentioned before, but now that I have a little firsthand experience, I thought I'd pass it on.
A short time ago, I bought a Savage MkII Model F, as part of a package deal from Barton's Big Country - $189.99, with 3-9X40 Bushnell scope, mounted & bore sighted, included. It was listed as a "Savage MkII FXP".
This is one of a series of special-order-from-Savage deals that come up from time to time.
It has a medium-heavy barrel (but not the straight, varmint barrel) with some taper to it, and no iron sights provision. I intend to use it in club-level, hunter-class silhouette events (and some plinking, of course!) and in that class, varmint (non-tapered) barrels are prohibited & open sights are useless - a scope is mandatory. So, this gun looked like a perfect match, with the lack of an Accutrigger being the one undesirable trait.
[/IMG]
Anyway, I was not put off by the lack of an Accutrigger, having read several threads on tuning the standard trigger. The stock trigger, untouched, had a crunchy, creepy pull, that finally let off at just a hair under 6 pounds - more than the rifle weighs.
I started off with just the standard .025" shim (some thin brass sheet I had lying around) under the rear of the trigger group. Creep was almost entirely gone, but trigger pull was still heavy, probably 4.5 lbs. I was aiming for 2.25-2.5 lbs.
Various trigger spring options have been mentioned, the most common being to use the spring out of a click-type ballpoint pen. That plan has some issues, though, as the base of the spring fits into a recess in the top of the trigger itself, and the pen spring is too large in diameter, so, drilling the trigger-spring hole larger would be required. Since the rifle is brand new, I figured that making irreversible changes would void the warranty, which I don't want to do, so I looked for an alternative.
While walking down the road to check the mail, I found a smashed Bic lighter, with a dandy little spring sticking out of it. Its diameter is a little less than the Savage spring, but its compression strength seemed perfect (the stock Savage spring is very small, but extremely stiff).
I cut a piece of the lighter spring, to the same length as the stock spring, and installed it. Testing the trigger (with a fancy water-jug-suspended from-a-string-to-the-trigger) gauge revealed that the trigger pull was down to a consistent 2 lbs. 4.8 ounces, pretty much what I was aiming for.
There's still a tiny bit of two-stage effect, with about a 1 mm creep and a faint "tink!" sound, then letoff occurs with the slightest increase in pressure.
At this point it's an excellent hunting and plinking trigger, and certainly acceptable for silhouette competition. Once I get the gun broken in (it's only fired about 100 rounds so far), I expect it to evolve into a true, match-quality trigger.
The hardest part of the whole thing was trimming the brass stock (neatly) to the required shape. Everything else was dirt simple. No tools required (except for removing the screws holding the trigger group on), and I did the entire disassembly and reassembly of the trigger group using only my fingers. Aside from "sourcing" my new spring & making the shim, total time for the job was around 20 minutes. Now that I know my way around the MkII trigger group, I could do it again in 10 minutes, easy.
As I've mentioned on another thread, even before I touched the trigger group (i.e., when it still had the 6-pound trigger pull), the gun was shooting 50-yard, 10-shot groups under 1/2", in a wind & rain storm. I expect it will be even better, now.
As an added bonus, I now know the intimate workings of my rifle. If it develops any issues, I'll know what's going on, and how to fix it (unlike several of my other guns!).
So, don't be put off by the lack of an Accutrigger. If you don't mind doing a little tinkering, you can have a fabulous trigger for, well, no cost at all.
A short time ago, I bought a Savage MkII Model F, as part of a package deal from Barton's Big Country - $189.99, with 3-9X40 Bushnell scope, mounted & bore sighted, included. It was listed as a "Savage MkII FXP".
This is one of a series of special-order-from-Savage deals that come up from time to time.
It has a medium-heavy barrel (but not the straight, varmint barrel) with some taper to it, and no iron sights provision. I intend to use it in club-level, hunter-class silhouette events (and some plinking, of course!) and in that class, varmint (non-tapered) barrels are prohibited & open sights are useless - a scope is mandatory. So, this gun looked like a perfect match, with the lack of an Accutrigger being the one undesirable trait.
Anyway, I was not put off by the lack of an Accutrigger, having read several threads on tuning the standard trigger. The stock trigger, untouched, had a crunchy, creepy pull, that finally let off at just a hair under 6 pounds - more than the rifle weighs.
I started off with just the standard .025" shim (some thin brass sheet I had lying around) under the rear of the trigger group. Creep was almost entirely gone, but trigger pull was still heavy, probably 4.5 lbs. I was aiming for 2.25-2.5 lbs.
Various trigger spring options have been mentioned, the most common being to use the spring out of a click-type ballpoint pen. That plan has some issues, though, as the base of the spring fits into a recess in the top of the trigger itself, and the pen spring is too large in diameter, so, drilling the trigger-spring hole larger would be required. Since the rifle is brand new, I figured that making irreversible changes would void the warranty, which I don't want to do, so I looked for an alternative.
While walking down the road to check the mail, I found a smashed Bic lighter, with a dandy little spring sticking out of it. Its diameter is a little less than the Savage spring, but its compression strength seemed perfect (the stock Savage spring is very small, but extremely stiff).
I cut a piece of the lighter spring, to the same length as the stock spring, and installed it. Testing the trigger (with a fancy water-jug-suspended from-a-string-to-the-trigger) gauge revealed that the trigger pull was down to a consistent 2 lbs. 4.8 ounces, pretty much what I was aiming for.
There's still a tiny bit of two-stage effect, with about a 1 mm creep and a faint "tink!" sound, then letoff occurs with the slightest increase in pressure.
At this point it's an excellent hunting and plinking trigger, and certainly acceptable for silhouette competition. Once I get the gun broken in (it's only fired about 100 rounds so far), I expect it to evolve into a true, match-quality trigger.
The hardest part of the whole thing was trimming the brass stock (neatly) to the required shape. Everything else was dirt simple. No tools required (except for removing the screws holding the trigger group on), and I did the entire disassembly and reassembly of the trigger group using only my fingers. Aside from "sourcing" my new spring & making the shim, total time for the job was around 20 minutes. Now that I know my way around the MkII trigger group, I could do it again in 10 minutes, easy.
As I've mentioned on another thread, even before I touched the trigger group (i.e., when it still had the 6-pound trigger pull), the gun was shooting 50-yard, 10-shot groups under 1/2", in a wind & rain storm. I expect it will be even better, now.
As an added bonus, I now know the intimate workings of my rifle. If it develops any issues, I'll know what's going on, and how to fix it (unlike several of my other guns!).
So, don't be put off by the lack of an Accutrigger. If you don't mind doing a little tinkering, you can have a fabulous trigger for, well, no cost at all.
