Can I lighten the trigger pull on my airgun?

[Dave R]

I just acquired a Beeman 650, with a trigger pull approximately 10lbs.+. Spec from their website is 3.5lbs, so not their best rifle, by any means.

Its a non-adjustable trigger.

I have done some light home repairs before (replaced extractor fixed a burr in the mag catch of my CETME, fixed trigger slap on a Century AK trigger group, etc.), and have not screwed anything up. Yet.

The trigger assembly is very simple. There's a catch on the mainspring, that hooks onto the sear, which is a piece of the trigger.

Am I likely to permanently ruin this gun if I attempt to lighten the pull, by smoothing, shortening, or reshaping the sear?

[tINY]

generally, a little polishing won't be a problem.

I've never worked on a beeman - is it some kind of striker than flys forward to open a valve by pressing on something?

Does Beeman have spare parts available?



-tINY

[Dave R]

Its not a stryker. Lemme see if I can explain it.

There's the mainspring, that compresses the air that moves the pellet. There's a catch on the mainspring. The trigger catches that catch. The whole weight of the mainspring bears on the trigger. The weighty pull is caused by the surface area of the trigger bearing the weight of the mainspring. The only way I can see to lighten it is to reduce the area catching it. But then I run the risk of making it not catch well enough...

If Beeman sells spare parts, I suppose I can always undo that by installing a new trigger...

[tINY]

First thing I'd try is a good cleaning, then maybe try to seat the sear a bit by using the trigger. Have you shot this much yet? It will probably wear in quite a bit the first 100 rounds of so if it is new.

Don't reshape it. If it doesn't mellow out, you want to use something like lapping compound to polish the engagement area.




-tINY

[Dave R]

I probably have 100 rounds through it. The pull has lightened a little, but not much. I did clean the trigger group and sear area.

[Harry Bonar]

Dear Shooters:
Yes, you can lighten any trigger! My grandson has a remington 338 Ultra-Mag, which he overloads for not only himself but loads a 30-338 for his buddy so that cases are wraped around the bolt at the head and cannot be loaded again! The 338 REM has a match trigger that goes off if he doesn't close the bolt slowly - a jar will set it off, he laughes about it!
I just testified as an expert witness (after they found out I was the expert witness the other side settled out of court) in a trial where the trigger had been lightened on a Browning BBR 30-06 that the gun would discharge on saftey! It did, and the boy blew his foot off! It was not Brownings fault - some jack-leg who thought light triggers were the in thing at the moment did it!
Yes, you can lighten triggers, overload, put 16 gua. shells in a 12 gua and blow barrels up!
You can let your cases get so long by sloppy reloading so that it crimps the bullet in the case and blow up your gun. You can, and many will follow what the idiots say - and someday pay the consequences1
Leave your triggers alone - if they do not suit your taste return the firearm to the MANUFACTURER! They aren't stupid enough to set them so light that it causes a suit.
Harry B.
Sorry I've been so frank - it just might save someones life. My recommendation is no lighter than a good safe 4#!

[Esquire M Busterbury]

Umm...harry, while I understand the benefit of not having too light a trigger, I can't see either of us sending our daisy back to the manufacturer to take a ton, give or take, off the trigger. A 10+ pound trigger sucks.

[Dave R]

The air rifle shows fine accuracy and power, but the trigger pull makes it almost unbearable to shoot.

I'm certainly willing to contact Beeman, but in these days of trigger pulls established by legal counsel, I don't have high hopes that Beeman will say "sure, sent it in. We'll send it back with a 4lb trigger pull." (Which I would be more than happy with.)

Besides, I guess I'm one of those crazy, self-sufiicient types that wants to do everything himself.

I just don't want to ruin the gun in the process. Although, I think the worst case would be that I'd have to replace the trigger if I take too much off the the wrong part.

[Harry Bonar]

Dear Shooters:
I apologize for being so brassy the other day! I do understand your problem. I'm sorry for my littany of outbursts on triggers (and every other problem).
Now, you can take your airgun out of the stock and look at the trigger mechanism, Generally, the trigger is the sear that holds back the spring plunger and these are generally stampings. You could (uncocked) remove that trigger and with a fine stone without changing the angle slick up the parts. Also, you might be able to get a little less stiff spring to use. But be careful. Hope you do it OK. Congratulations on wanting to correct things by yourself. Again, I apologize for my brassy reply - I get that way sometimes!
Harry B.

[Dave R]

Update: I did some light polishing tonight. Cut some fine-grit sandpaper into thin strips and polished the sear a little by pulling the paper around it. Probably rounded it (from side to side) a hair, too.

The result? Possibly one pound off the pull. Barely enough to notice. I'll keep working on it slowly, a little at a time.

Its still too stiff to be comfortable. But I'm getting used to it enough to get some reasonable groups with it. Quarter-sized at 20 yards.

[tINY]

Keep shooting it....



-tINY

[Dave R]

UPDATE! After spending at least 3 hours sandpapering the sear, and feeling maybe a tiny bit of improvement, I did something a little desperate.

I was pretty sure I was on the right track with rounding that honking sear crossways to the piston. That way, I'm not changing shape so much as changing the surface area of the contact.

So, I, uh, well, got out the dremel.

Examining the polishing of the sandpaper, I thought I saw a bit of a hook on the sear. So I carefully polished that off and rounded the sear a touch.

Now the pull is about 4-5lbs.

Downside: I had one or two times (out of a hundred or so) where the sear didn't catch the piston when I cocked it. Made me nervous. But if I cock it with authority, I get consistent result on the cocking and the trigger.

Time will tell whether I made it prone to weakening over time, but for now, Its a lot more pleasant to shoot.

And there's still plenty of meat left on that sear.

[tINY]

Good going - just keep an eye on her.....




-tINY