Remington 581 trigger tuning on the cheap

JMortensen · October 4, 2009, 04:18 PM

I have finished this project over on rimfirecentral.com and figured I'd share it here since I'm so pleased with how it came out. My 581 was a good shooter but the trigger had to be a 8 lb break from the factory. It required quite a pull. After this very simple spring swap I got it down to probably 1.5-2 lb or so. It's exactly what I wanted: heavy enough that it won't slamfire but light enough to shoot decent groups with. I wouldn't hesitate to take it out in the field either.

So here's what I did to figure this all out. First, disassemble trigger:

Here you can see the spring under the sear as installed on the rifle:

Here is the disassembled trigger assy (make sure you loosen the peened screw at the front of the trigger assy before driving out the roll pin and removing the trigger from the action):

The spring sits in the recessed pocket on the sear here:

And the top of the backside of the trigger here:

The simplest ways that I see to adjust the trigger weight are:

1. lighter spring
2. shorter spring (can't go too much shorter)
3. grind on trigger to make space between sear and trigger longer reducing spring pressure
4. grind on sear to do the same. The sear isn't very thick so I think this would be the worst way to go.

Grinding anything seems like a bad way to go, springs seems much easier, so I focused on #1 and #2. I went to the local fastener supply store and bought $4 worth of springs to try. I got two lighter weight springs and two that are roughly the same as stock. I got them twice as long as the factory spring, so this would give me 6 or 8 attempts. I was going to try the light one with a couple extra coils, then try the heavier one cut down.

The springs are #158C, part number 602-045 and 157C part number 603-021 from Tacoma Screw, a local hardware supplier. I think they do mail order just in case someone is looking. The spring is a little big for the pocket in the sear but works fine.

After about 5 minutes of screwing with the springs around I nailed it. I used the softer spring and left it about 3 coils longer than the stocker as was suggested at RFC. That got me a very nice pull of probably 1.5 lbs, judging by the finger-o-meter. The break was already super crisp, so that's the end
of messing with it for me.

There is another way to modify the trigger. You can drill holes and add springs, and take most of the tension off of the main spring and use a smaller spring in the front of the trigger to set the pressure. There is a diagram of how that works here: http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...4&postcount=14

The guy posted that right about the same time that I had just figured out the soft spring, so I said thanks but I think I found my solution. If someone preferred an adjustable spring setup, there it is. If I needed to adjust mine in the future it wouldn't be often, so I'd go play with the rest of the springs I have for a couple minutes and figure it out.

dhenzler · August 25, 2013, 01:11 PM

I looked at the diagram of the 541 trigger and decided to disassemble my trigger and drill it for two 8-32 screws. One from the rear to adjust sear engagement, and one from the front to adjust overtravel. This leaves the trigger pull to the only spring in the mix. The previous article recommends purchase of a new spring, which I have done, but the part has not arrived yet. However the two adjustments work well. The measurement from the bottom of the trigger housing is .4 in the rear, and should be .285 in the front. I did mine at .3 and installation of the screw is hindered by the bolt release mechanism. Since trigger housings may vary with rifle age... be careful to measure and make your final decision based on your situation.

Use nylock set screws for the work so as to prevent any creeping. There is a sear engagement sight hole in the housing. Be sure to operate the safety, slam the bolt into fire position, and bump the butstock on the floor to be sure your engagement is adequate for safety purposes. I had to cut 5 turns off the spring to get the height back to normal.

You may contact me at 252 503-0923 with questions.

dhenzler · January 6, 2016, 08:39 PM

MikeK3500 did a great job on Rimfire Central of showing "how to" mod your stock trigger. Beats my photos...

Dave

Rem580.jpg

Rem580-2.jpg

The images on the post above have been moved to this location.

My photos are at http://24.172.105.90/Remington/541 trigger

DNegen · May 8, 2018, 11:47 AM

Previous threads relating to the 581 trigger work are great, but I would like to add two more steps for a quick and easy fix. First, lay the trigger (that portion of the trigger that went up inside the housing) on a fine stone and with a few swipes on each side remove any burrs. Second, using a jewelers file remove any burrs from inside the housing where the roll pin goes through that holds the trigger in place. Trim the spring as instructed in previous threads, clean everything up with some Gun Scrub and assemble. This should all take about 10-15 minutes and give you a 2-3# trigger pull. I don't use any oil on the trigger mechanism as all it does is gather dirt.

January 6, 2016, 08:39 PM	#3
dhenzler Junior Member Join Date: August 25, 2013 Location: Newport NC 28570 Posts: 5	Better Trigger mod drawings Rem 580 series MikeK3500 did a great job on Rimfire Central of showing "how to" mod your stock trigger. Beats my photos... Dave Rem580.jpg Rem580-2.jpg The images on the post above have been moved to this location. My photos are at http://24.172.105.90/Remington/541 trigger Last edited by dhenzler; January 6, 2016 at 08:46 PM.

May 8, 2018, 11:47 AM	#4
DNegen Junior Member Join Date: May 8, 2018 Posts: 1	Remington 581 trigger job Previous threads relating to the 581 trigger work are great, but I would like to add two more steps for a quick and easy fix. First, lay the trigger (that portion of the trigger that went up inside the housing) on a fine stone and with a few swipes on each side remove any burrs. Second, using a jewelers file remove any burrs from inside the housing where the roll pin goes through that holds the trigger in place. Trim the spring as instructed in previous threads, clean everything up with some Gun Scrub and assemble. This should all take about 10-15 minutes and give you a 2-3# trigger pull. I don't use any oil on the trigger mechanism as all it does is gather dirt.

October 4, 2009, 04:18 PM	#1
JMortensen Member Join Date: May 27, 2009 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 27	Remington 581 trigger tuning on the cheap I have finished this project over on rimfirecentral.com and figured I'd share it here since I'm so pleased with how it came out. My 581 was a good shooter but the trigger had to be a 8 lb break from the factory. It required quite a pull. After this very simple spring swap I got it down to probably 1.5-2 lb or so. It's exactly what I wanted: heavy enough that it won't slamfire but light enough to shoot decent groups with. I wouldn't hesitate to take it out in the field either. So here's what I did to figure this all out. First, disassemble trigger: Here you can see the spring under the sear as installed on the rifle: Here is the disassembled trigger assy (make sure you loosen the peened screw at the front of the trigger assy before driving out the roll pin and removing the trigger from the action): The spring sits in the recessed pocket on the sear here: And the top of the backside of the trigger here: The simplest ways that I see to adjust the trigger weight are: 1. lighter spring 2. shorter spring (can't go too much shorter) 3. grind on trigger to make space between sear and trigger longer reducing spring pressure 4. grind on sear to do the same. The sear isn't very thick so I think this would be the worst way to go. Grinding anything seems like a bad way to go, springs seems much easier, so I focused on #1 and #2. I went to the local fastener supply store and bought $4 worth of springs to try. I got two lighter weight springs and two that are roughly the same as stock. I got them twice as long as the factory spring, so this would give me 6 or 8 attempts. I was going to try the light one with a couple extra coils, then try the heavier one cut down. The springs are #158C, part number 602-045 and 157C part number 603-021 from Tacoma Screw, a local hardware supplier. I think they do mail order just in case someone is looking. The spring is a little big for the pocket in the sear but works fine. After about 5 minutes of screwing with the springs around I nailed it. I used the softer spring and left it about 3 coils longer than the stocker as was suggested at RFC. That got me a very nice pull of probably 1.5 lbs, judging by the finger-o-meter. The break was already super crisp, so that's the end of messing with it for me. There is another way to modify the trigger. You can drill holes and add springs, and take most of the tension off of the main spring and use a smaller spring in the front of the trigger to set the pressure. There is a diagram of how that works here: http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums...4&postcount=14 The guy posted that right about the same time that I had just figured out the soft spring, so I said thanks but I think I found my solution. If someone preferred an adjustable spring setup, there it is. If I needed to adjust mine in the future it wouldn't be often, so I'd go play with the rest of the springs I have for a couple minutes and figure it out. __________________ Jon