Tuning up the old Marlin 22MN .22 mag

[cabmandone]

I've owned my Marlin 22 mag for over 25 years. I always felt that the trigger was too heavy but I liked the gun and it was reasonably accurate. I was doing some bench shooting the other day and couldn't group worth a damn. I did a lot of looking into changing the trigger spring but that would only have an effect one issue I had with the stock trigger. The other issue I had is the length of pull to get the trigger to release. The stock trigger always felt long and had almost a two step feel to it. I could feel the trigger slide on the sear until it reached almost the firing point then it would stop until I gave it that last little nudge.

Enter the Rifle Basix MAR-1 https://riflebasix.com/product/marlin-rimfire-trigger-15-25-283-880-17-mar-1/ It's a replacement trigger for earlier Marlin rim fire rifles. It comes with a lighter spring that can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing pressure by turning a bolt in or out. It also has an adjustment for the sear. MAN what a difference! The spring for the trigger is light. I haven't fully adjusted the shear yet because this is ultimately a gun that I'll take into the woods rather than rest shooting so I don't want it to fire when I merely think "bang".

My groups went from really bad to dime size at 50 yards and 1-1/2 inch at 100 yards shooting off of bags from the back of my truck. I'm going to put the rifle in the lead sled and do a little fine tuning on the scope at 100 yards. I think adjusting the sear just a bit will tighten the groups even more but like I said, I'm going to resist making it shoot like my 22/250 simply for safety reasons and how the gun will be used. I'm going to get a trigger scale and see what the trigger is set to but it's WAY lighter than factory.

I bought my trigger for $93 shipped from an online vendor. The assembly installs easily and is easy to adjust. I know for about $150 more I could have bought a new .22 mag with a fully adjustable trigger BUT it wouldn't be the rifle I've owned for a few decades and that I knew would be far better once the trigger was added.

[cabmandone]

I took the rifle out on Thursday to do some shooting off the lead sled. At 100 yards I had two in the bullseye touching. That's better than I do with my 22/250!

[Jeff Higgins]

Congratulations. I always like reading success stories like yours.

Many shooters discount what a really nice trigger can do for them. I'm a bit of an admitted trigger snob, having several firearms with truly world class triggers. Once you become accustomed to them, it is really difficult, or annoying, to try to deal with most other triggers.

Bad triggers are almost expected on lower priced .22's and such. It's amazing to me, however, what has come to pass as an acceptable trigger on many of today's centerfire rifles and handguns. Lots of shooters call them "lawyer triggers", blaming our litigious society for their existence. I'm not sure I buy into that. I think it is more due to the constant downward pressure on price that gun manufacturers are forced to cope with. It takes a fair amount of fitting and fiddling to get a really good trigger. It's something precise machining alone can not yet achieve. And hand fitting is just expensive...

[cabmandone]

I had my 22/250 go wild on me again btw! 3 weeks ago I was out and shot a groundhog at about 150 yards. Last week I go out and take FOUR shots at the same groundhog at less then 150 yard and miss all 4 times! So, I go back to the back corner of the property where there are some trees piled up that I can use as a backstop. I put up 2 pieces of 4" clay tile, pace off 100 yards, and MISS on 3 shots! Mind you, this is after I dropped some coin on a new Vortex scope last year.

Back home I go. Clean, clean and clean again. Back to the farm, setup a target, wheel off 100 yards. First three shots are FOUR inches high!! Dial down 12 clicks so I should be 1" high at 100 and Bam! I'm spot on again.

I'm extremely careful with the handling of my 250. It doesn't get tossed around or bumped. I did have some copper buildup in the barrel but my first three shots being 4 inches high at 100 was through a clean barrel. I don't know if the crosshairs stretched a bit over the winter on a new scope and the first shot this spring jarred the scope off? I would hope not with a quality scope like Vortex.

[flatbutt]

Not just .22s. I changed out the trigger group on the Glock and put in a lighter striker spring as well. That made it an entirely new pistol.