About Me: A certified yet non-professional gunsmith learning the trade through trail and inspiration

Friday, August 5, 2016

The 10/22 Target Rifle Project part 2: The Trigger Assembly


Like all my 10/22s I had planned on giving this gun a full on trigger and action tuning, by polishing the parts and installing a reduced power trigger spring.

We will also install a KIDD auto bolt release and aftermarket billet aluminum trigger.

We will finish it up by polishing the whole housing to a bright shine. 

We start by sanding the finish off the aluminum housing

Sandpaper, Dremel, buffer multiple items were used to get the aluminum shiny. I found the aluminum to be quite soft. 220 grit paper would leave deep scratches, I had to stick with 320 and higher grits.

I wanted to give the interior a serious cleaning, so I removed the safety while I was polishing the housing. To fit it back in I used a cheap trick, I drilled a 1/4" hole in a pencil and used it to hold the spring and plunger in place while I inserted the safety



I didn't bother with the top portion of the housing, it will be hidden by the stock, I may go back and polish it more later


Next I performed an action/trigger job by polishing the internal mating surfaces including:
Hammer strut
Hammer sear engagement and the top where it engages the bolt
Trigger sear
Trigger spring plunger
Magazine catch
Magazine catch pocket


I used the 2 1/4 lbs spring (the white one) from the KIDD spring kit


The KIDD kit came with a "slave pin" to assist in installing the trigger/sear/dis-connector assembly

A little oil and some patience and we have a complete trigger assembly. I checked the trigger pull and inexplicably it came in at around 5 lbs??
It may be the mixing of old and new parts, I will do some additional investigating to see if I can get it down below 3lbs




I took the assembly back apart and compared the old sear to the new one, I then polished the new one and installed in the the trigger. I also swapped out the spring for the next lighter one.

After re-assembling the parts and some fresh lube, I rechecked the trigger pull, it was averaging just under 4 lbs, but also seemed to be getting lighter after a few pulls. So perhaps some break-in is required.

I'll keep investigating options and report back.


I also may end up installing an extended magazine release, I haven't decided yet