Gunsmithing Xmark tune up

rc2125

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 24, 2007
172
0
50
Granger, Indiana
Took this standard xmark apart, polished all the engagement areas and replaced the spring that does the pull weight. Used the spring off of an automotive air stem valve as the big "fix". The factory spring is only like a 1/4" long, and when you back out the screw trying to reduce pull weight much under 3 or 4 pounds (on this one), I'd run out of spring tension inside and get random sear engagements and pull weights. Wasn't sure where the spring was or how it worked, so that's why I took it apart. WIthout taking the trigger apart, it can be removed from just unscrewing the adjustment screw out, fishing out the factory spring and replacing it with the valve stem spring (*cut mine at least an 1/8" longer than the heavy factory spring). Got alot more range of adjustment due to the longer spring, in much lower weight range......right about 1.5# now. No slam fires, no drop fires with this one! My sear engagement screw absolutely would not free up. Tried heating several alan wrenches cherry red, putting heat into the screw......nothing. Tried a red hot soldering iron, nothing. Tried a pencil torch, nothing. Gave up on it, not much creep at all(polish job may have helped that), just coulda used a touch less engagement. Still plan on replacing, but for now, it's so much better than the 6 pound "feel" it had. Overtravel won't budge either. This may or may not work on others.
 
Re: Xmark tune up

Excellent post, thanks very much. I have my X-Mark set @ 2.5 lbs. It was @ 3lbs from the factory. I have heard nothing but bad about this trigger. Mine feels great, but I have yet to put a round through this rifle as I am waiting on an ST-10 to put on top of it. I think it's gonna be a while before I shoot it.
 
Re: Xmark tune up

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RC2125</div><div class="ubbcode-body">My sear engagement screw absolutely would not free up. Tried heating several alan wrenches cherry red, putting heat into the screw......nothing. Tried a red hot soldering iron, nothing. Tried a pencil torch, nothing. Gave up on it, not much creep at all(polish job may have helped that), just coulda used a touch less engagement. Still plan on replacing, but for now, it's so much better than the 6 pound "feel" it had. Overtravel won't budge either. This may or may not work on others. </div></div>

You can free up the engagement screw by using the pencil torch. Just touch the inner flame to the sear engagement screw (you may have to take the trigger off to get to the screw directly from the other side-trigger side). This is what I did. You will need to heat the screw until it becomes red hot and you can see white smoke coming from the screw (this is actually the glue coming off and vaporizing). Once you do that, while the screw is still hot use an allen wrench of the appropriate size to unscrew the screw (the screw should move at this point if it is still not budging then heat some more until the white smoke does not come from the screw anymore). This should work for you as it worked for me. The only problem with the sear engagement is that with the Xmark pro trigger you need to also move the overtravel screw once you move the sear engagement screw. One thing everyone hates about the xmark pro trigger is that you can not have small creep AND small overtravel at the same time if you want to use the safety because the way it is designed (Safety lever is connected to the overtravel screw)
 
Re: Xmark tune up

Tried a pencil torch on it from the inside part of the trigger, directly on the inner side of the screw for awhile, 30+seconds, smoke was gone, still wouldn't turn. It has alot of visible engagement, but I think polishing lessens the felt creep (which isn't much). Stripped the overtravel screw with hardly any force, might have used a metric allen wrench that was on the small side in error. Still gonna replace, just a whole lot better with the different spring until I do that.