Marlin 81 trigger

[borderman]

When I was a kid my father gave me a JC Higgins .22 rimfire which I have recently identified as a Marlin 81. The rifle has sat on a rack for about 50 years until I finally decided that it needed shooting. The trigger pull is dreadful, unbelieveably heavy. After taking it apart I am thinking the problem is in the springs. The trigger has a spring as does the sear. It would be no problem to cut off a coil or more but I don't want to start doing this unless it is a reasonable fix. Nothing will occur until I get some spare springs from Numrich. Does this sound like an okay approach? Do springs influence trigger pull? If so which spring would have the most influence? I am in no way a gunsmith but it seems that smoothing up the trigger and sear cannot possibly make as much difference as is needed. Taking it to a gunsmith is an option of course but I would really like to fix it myself, this cheap gun means a lot more to me than it ever will to someone else. Any opinions would be most appreciated.

[OldBob]

I've done a 781, think it is the same trigger and, yes, you're right. Clippping or grinding a coil or two off the springs helps a lot, even more than polishing the trigger/sear engagement surfaces. It also helps to make a small guide pin to slip inside the rear spring, slip fit, not tight. That pin should be about 1/2 the length of the spring, maybe 2/3. Best advice I can give you is trim a bit and try until you get where you want to be, go slowly. Mine has a very acceptable trigger, good enough so I use it for Sporterifle offhand matches. Don't go too far stoning and polishing the sear/trigger surfaces on these, the hardening isn't very deep and the metal is relatively soft. There are also commercial aftermarket triggers available I believe, from Jard and Rifle Basix. I've shot a gun with the Jard trigger and it is excellent.