Acton Screw Torque on Mannlicher Schonauer

[ekp]

I own a 1952 Mannlicher Schonauer in which I find that torquing the screws determine how the double set triggers perform. I had to back off the screw or the trigger would not set or would not release the firing pin. The problem occurs to me that it may be effecting the accuracy of the rifle. I have been very frustrated with working up loads for the rifle. Sometimes it seems to shoot OK other times it is terrible.

Is there any special settings for the screws or a technique to insure they are tight and the triggers still work correctly.

[waksupi]

Sounds like it was not bedded properly. It's not unusual for the rear screw to need to be somewhat loose for best accuracy, though. Tighten the front screw, then just snug the rear.

[Tedly]

+1 waksupi

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Sounds like it was not bedded properly. It's not unusual for the rear screw to need to be somewhat loose for best accuracy, though. Tighten the front screw, then just snug the rear.

Yes, I agree that this sounds like a bedding problem. But there are two ways I can imagine this happening. Is this Mannicher's own double set trigger like the one in this picture - which my Mannlicher-Schoenauer, unfortunately, doesn't have?to

If accuracy when the thing fires normally appears bad, it is likely to be just as Waksupi describes it. With the action badly bedded, and sitting differently from what it ought, it is possible that tightening the screws may warp the housing of the double set trigger, which only hooks into the integral magazing housin at its front end. Note that there is usually a steel tube around the rear receiver screw. If the wood has contracted, or if someone has deepened the bedding of the tang to compensate for worn wood, you might find that screw tightening up on the tube, but not on wood.

If you got the trigger problem with an accurate rifle, I would suspect that the problem lay with the trigger housing being improperly bedded, and capable of rocking and warpin around a fulcrum near its middle.