Winchester 94 trigger pull.

[texasminer]

Any ideas on how to improve the trigger pull on a 94...short of smith work?

[J Miller]

Welcome to the forum.


Are you asking about one with the half cock action or the rebounding hammer action?
They are quite different.

Joe

[texasminer]

Thanks for the welcome. My question pertains to half cock.

[J Miller]

Thanks for the welcome. My question pertains to half cock.

I do a couple things. First I take it apart and smooth everthing that makes contact with anything else. Especially if it's got the coil main spring. Sometimes the edges of the main spring strut will have sharp edges and burrs on it. Stone them down.
After that if it still needs more help I'll take it to a gunsmith and have them work on the sear and hammer. This retains the full strength main spring for positive primer ignition.
I had a 1980 Trapper done this way and asked the gunsmith to set the pull at 2.5 pounds. It's still at 2.5 pounds 28 years later.

Someday I'll try to do my own sear work, but so far I haven't.

Joe

[bbleverfan]

what about the pull on the rebounding hammer models?

[20cows]

Smooth helps all kinds.

[texasminer]

Thanks Joe. I'll do it.

texasminer

[Nath]

I got mine down to 2 1/2lb only by time spent with a stone friend. At 1 1/2lb it was unsafe in my opinion.

Nath.

[BenT]

Get a wolffe 15 lb hammer spring if it uses a coil hammer spring. If it's a leaf spring it can be narrowed. Just take off the butt stock to see it.

[Hillbilly]

So far all the pre-64's I have owned improved with a good detail cleaning... 40 or 50 years of closet crud and woods-mung in a Winchester action sorta adds up.

all the 94's I own probably have triggers in the 3-3.5 pound range and none look like they were ever messed with
Jeff

[J Miller]

Anything from 2.5 to 3.5 pounds was normal before about 68 to 70. After that Winchester started heavying them up. One of their early CYA moves.

My 1950 94 Carbine started out with about a 5# trigger pull. It had the heaviest trigger pull of any pre-64 I've had. As I've used it the parts have mated and the pull weight has dropped to around 3.5#, best guess.

My 1980 Trapper trigger pull weighed in at around 5 to 6 pounds. Way too much when you consider the Trapper didn't even weight that much loaded. I had a really good gunsmith rework the hammer sear engagement and it's still holding at 2.5#.

The original rebounding hammer action in my 94AE Trapper was about 8# when I first got it. Rediculous to the max. I worked it down to about 3# and then when the gun went back to the factory to have the broken front sight replaced they replaced the action with one that had a 5# trigger pull. Still too much.
The half cock action currently in my 94AE Trapper is around 5+ pounds, but the sear angle is cut wrong and you can actually see the hammer move backwards as you pull the trigger. I'd bet it would drop to around 3# if the sear was re-cut. Considering there are no gunsmiths in this area I may try to re-do it myself.

This is what I was talking about when I said to polish every thing and then take it to a gunsmith if that won't do it. I've done a grand total of one 94 trigger job where I messed with the sear and it came out OK. I just wish I could remember how I did it. It was after all almost 30 years ago.

Joe