Sear adjustment on Stevens 200 trigger

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polarterc

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Hello all,

Just picked up a center-feed Savage Stevens 200 and got to try it out at the range. After fiddling with the factory trigger adjustments and setting the wire spring as light as it will go without slam-fires I’m still not particularly impressed with the trigger weight (my mosin is lighter than that after some shimming). So being both an eternal tinkerer and a cheap bugger (read not willing to spend $+100 on an aftermarket trigger for a $300 rifle), I’m wondering if anyone has attempted adding a set screw for sear clearance on this trigger. I figure with a tap, some careful drilling, and a $0.98 headless screw, one could lighten this trigger up quite a bit – set to no less than 0.015” of course. My only concern (and the reason I haven’t gone ahead and done it already) is the surface hardening Savage adds to the sear contact of the trigger. Than again, the base of the sear notch on the trigger is not a friction point, but just holds the sear at a given clearance, right.
I’d basically be adding the sear set screw that comes with all the pre-accutrigger Savages, placing it in the same location as on these. Your thoughts…
 
There are 3 factory adjustments. Two for limits of travel (and sear engagement), and one for the safety. Plus the tension spring you mentioned.

It's trivial to set the trigger to have sero take up or over travel. Polishing the sear and trigger can reduce creep and lighten the pull somewhat. Beyond that, you'd have to bust out the stones and start removing material from the sear (a very tiny amount). I suppose adding a setscrew would achieve the same effect (partially, anyway. It wouldn't do anything to smooth the operation of the trigger)

The consensus is that you can safely take the stock trigger down to 2.5-3 lbs using the above methods. This is on the light side of where a 'normal' hunting trigger is (most are ~5lbs off the shelf in my experience). Past that, you get into an area of potential accidental discharges.
 
Am I missing something? My Stevens has 3 adjustment screws: one for safety clearence, one for overtravel (both of these are at the rear of the trigger), and one for wire spring tension adjustment. From what I understand, pre-accutrigger savages also came with an adjustment screw that sat right at the sear of the trigger, but mine has no such thing. This is what I wanted to add.
varminthunters dot com has a write-up on this
 
Here is a couple of pics of a pre-accutrigger trigger that might help you out. You can clearly see the sear engagement screw which the Stevens does not have. I don't know what kind of luck you would have trying to add that screw. You could always try, I suppose.

HPIM13831.jpg


HPIM13851.jpg


Adjusting the wire spring does very little to lighten the trigger pull, you really need that sear engagement.
 
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There are three ways to reduce sear contact with the trigger which lightens the trigger pull.

The most common is as pictured above with a set screw in the trigger to adjust for sear contact.

The second is the machine the top of the trigger reducing the height of the lip that the sear butts against.

Thirdly, reducing the sear itself so less contacts the trigger.

The set screw is the least 'dangerous' as it is reversable. modifying the trigger and sear are fine unless you go too far. Then welding or replacement are the only options.

With polishing and a bit of the above, the Stevens triggers can get into the 2/2.5lbs range and still be safe. If you want lighter, spend the $100 and get a SSS trigger unit.

Like parachutes, triggers is not one place to go cheap.

Jerry
 
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