Gunsmithing Trigger Job Ruger Hawkeye

[highfinblue]

I recently purchased a Ruger Hawkeye in 6.5 Creedmoor. I'm a lefty so choices were limited, not a knock on the Ruger, but I've never seen one with a good trigger and this one is no exception. The rifle shoots very well, but a better trigger would be nice. What are the best options out there? There's a Remingtion factory gunsmith in Tulsa around 50 miles away, but i'm not sure he would mess with this. I've done lots of minor adjustments on my own rifles, properly torquing action screws, relieving stocks, making sure bases and rings were properly torqued, but other than changing springs I've never tackled a trigger. I've read simply changing a single spring in the LC-6 trigger or whatever they call it can have dramatic results, but it's probably going to need some honing and polishing to really make it clean; not sure i'm up to that task.

 

[dustingaunder]

Does the Timney M77 trigger work on the Hawkeye? I’ve installed a few of them on M77s and they’re excellent upgrades to the garbage factory triggers.

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[rhsc]

The Hawkeye is a 77 MkII as far as the trigger is concerned. Mechanically, it's simple and easy to work on - but always keep in mind that less is more and any stoning you do on the metal (especially to the sear engagement to minimize creep) should be done slowly and carefully with lots of re-fitting and test pulls to judge your progress. Same for polishing contact surfaces; do it very gently and stay away from the sear as you want to keep that step sharp.

Timney makes a very good replacement trigger (see here), but you may still need to perform some work on the sear to get a really crisp release. The Timney will also likely require a considerable amount of filing on its safety tab to make it functional, and again, you don't want to over-do it and remove too much metal there. The Timney I fitted to my Scout rifle breaks very cleanly at 2 lbs. with no perceptible creep.

There was a thread recently at Long Range Hunting about improving the Ruger's trigger. I strongly urge you to read through the entire conversation and study the illustration at the bottom of post #13 (here) to get a good idea of what you'll be dealing with.

 

[NWnewguy]

The Timney replacement is pretty good, but it usually requires a bit of fitting for the safety.

I would just take the factory trigger apart and polish the surfaces and see what that does. If there is creep then that can be stoned away. Once again very little at a time if you're removing material. I think you will be impressed if you just polish the surfaces and pivot points.

 

[spife7980]

Yes, the timney mkii replacement is worlds better than factory. I didnt mess with touching or polishing any sears. I just took my time grinding the new trigger down on the corner for the safety to roll over, scribed my line, got it close and then took it very slow, probably 4 or 5 trials where I was short but I worked up to make it a perfect fit.