doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Recommendation Needed on Trigger Pull

I'm the proud new papa of a nice 12 gauge AyA 4/53. I've adjusted well to the double triggers. However, they seem to pull hard. I haven't had a chance to find out the exact weights of the pulls yet. I know the back trigger should be heavier than the front. I'd love to know if any of you have recommendations on preferred trigger pulls for your hunting guns. I'd hate to miss a bird because I jerked the trigger. Thanks.

I doubt you would miss a bird by jerking the trigger on a shotgun, unless the trigger pull was substantially more than the total weight of the gun.
You will have people opine that your triggers should be in the same class as a sniper rifle's trigger. That hasn't been my experience, in the heat of the moment of a bird flush, it doesn't seem to matter what the weight of my shotgun's trigger is.
I own a couple with heavy trigger pulls, near the weight of the gun, and I have a few that are really pretty light, 3 lbs or so, in the case of a certain model 12, but, neither condition seems to change my shotgunning much.
Practice, with the gun in question, will likely lead to better confidence with the triggers as they are. Do make a go of that.

Best,
Ted

The recommended pull weight is approx. half the weight of the gun with the second trigger a half pound or so heavier.
I have found doubles weighing about six pounds with eight pound trigger pulls and found them impossible to shoot well.
I am certain that the trigger was the reason as only one trigger was heavy on a couple of examples and it was predictable which shot would miss. If you're not comfortable with it, get it adjusted by a qualified Smith.

I like both triggers 3.5 to 4 lbs. I definitely do NOT want the second trigger heavier than the first. It gives me fits on doubles. JMO, of course.

4 to 4.5 lbs on the front and 6 lbs on the rear is what I believe most manufactures strived to get. I find that combo just about right. I have a Fox A-grade that has a great front trigger, set at about 4.5 lbs....and the back trigger breaks at over 9.5 lbs!!! Terrible and I cant hit shinola when I "try" to shoot the left barrel...I will soon have the back trigger set for a crisp pull of 6 lbs.

Dustin

Would someone please inform the uninformed (me) as to why these double trigger "experts" recommend a heavier weight pull on the rear trigger? If it is because they assume that the rear trigger will be used second it is the height of hypocrisy, because these same people tout the advantage of instant trigger selection. The greatest advantage of double triggers, aside from reliability, is instant selection of barrels (chokes). By making the rear trigger heavier one is assuming that the front will always be used first, which is a faulty assumption.

From someone who has shot double triggers for fifty years, my opinion is that the perfect double triggers should be adjusted to as near the same weight pull as possible, and that somewhere around 3-4 pounds. And I will again state that I believe the vast majority "experts" who tout the instant choke selection of double triggers never pull the rear one first anyway. This has always been the case. If you've messed around very much with original sidelock hammer guns (breechloaders and muzzleloaders) you will have noticed that most all of them that have normal wear have a much weaker right hammer spring than left.

Stan

The thought behind it according to Churchill (who I would say is an "expert") was that the leverage to pull the rear trigger compared to the front trigger makes it feel proportionately lighter. That is why he recommended the front trigger pull to be 1/2 the weight of the gun and the second trigger to be 25% heavier than the first. By making it 25% heavier the "feel" for both triggers would seem the same.

I agree with Stan on this topic. I don't really buy what Churchill said, either. As to sometimes using the back trigger first, I shoot skeet with my doubles and usually use the back trigger(tighter choke) for the first bird on doubles. I have no trouble switching from left barrel first to right barrel first. Guess I'm totally amphibious.

Just my opinion, I like em the same. 4 lbs is nice. I think most people (not the avid shooter) will find 3 lbs too light and may even have problems with it that light (AD).

Thanks, wburns, for the rationale behind it. I do not agree with Mr. Churchill, however. When the hand is repositioned ever so slightly, after taking the first shot, the leverage should be very nearly the same. I have never noticed any difference in leverage, but I DO notice a hard, or creepy, trigger. I am fussy over my triggers, not tolerating what I consider a bad one on my guns.

I shot the NWTF Sporting Clays Shoot this past weekend, and in the S x S event I was talking with a fellow competitor who was shooting a M21, and rather poorly. He blamed a lot of it on his rear trigger, which he said was something approaching 10 lbs. He is a seasoned S x S shooter, who used to compete with a Purdey. Though I did not, I wanted to ask him why in the world he even brought such a useless thing to shoot. I'd much rather shoot a 311 with fine triggers than hi-bred queen with poor ones. Anything that takes the shooter's attention away from the bird in flight is to be avoided, IMO.