What's in a precision rifle trigger? There are a lot of great options out there. How do you select the right trigger? When is it time to ditch your current trigger?

To start, let's talk about what the trigger does on a Remington 700. Essentially, the trigger contains surface for the cocking piece to rest against, until the trigger shoe (the part your finger actually pulls on) is pulled to a point where the sear allows the cocking piece to move forward, which is attached to the firing pin, which under compression of the firing pin spring also moves forward and engages/strikes the primer component of the ammunition. Simple right?

A lot of engineering has gone into making the trigger mechanism work with the rifle and and ammunition. One of the awesome aspects of the precision shooters' world today is the massive influx of modular/interchangeable products on the market. With this influx there is a wide array of actions, stocks, barrels, and triggers available "over the counter" for the consumer to buy and assemble wonderfully precise rifles.

But sometimes, not everything goes according to plan. Sometimes actions and triggers have to go back to a manufacturer because they won't function at all together. Sometimes you have to move on from a component that isn't working well with your platform.

We recently had a customer have to do the latter. They had installed a trigger on the Vudoo V22. Initially the V22 was having some ignition issues. After receiving a new firing pin spring from Vudoo, their ignition failures had abated. A few months and several thousand rounds later they decided to try another trigger. They noticed the rifle was actually decocking slightly upon closing the bolt. Doing so meant the firing pin wasn't getting the full measure of the intended firing spring pressure. This may have been the cause of the initial ignition failures and could potentially create precision issues. In the pics below you can see the difference in location of the cocking piece in reference to the bolt shroud. Notice how some of hole is obscured while the bolt is closed.

It may not seem like a lot, but when measured with a caliper, they were decocking roughly 20% upon closing the bolt. They reached out to us for a trigger suggestion. Knowing it's one of the few triggers with an adjustable sear, I suggested the Bix'n'Andy TacSport series (either standard or pro). Now, I don't know that the adjustable sear would fix this problem BUT it is my go to suggestion when people are having cocking problems with their trigger/action combo. Bix has an adjustable sear AND sells different height top sears. They come with the "medium", you can also purchase a "low" and a "high".

In this particular case, the Bix'n'Andy TacSport Pro was just what was needed. The trigger dropped in with no issues. After adjusting the weight to the preferred setting, and the sear engagement per Bix instructions, the cocking piece was measured again, both opened and closed, and it was found to longer be decocking on close.

Not only was the cocking situation fixed, but the customer noted the bolt opening and closing seemed to be improved a bit.

So, when choosing your rifle components, keep in mind that your trigger is one of the most important components. It not only needs to be agreeable to your trigger finger, it also has to function properly with your cocking piece and bolt work.