TC New Englander Trigger Job

I finally decided to tackle my little TC New Englander trigger and either ‘make it livable for me, or break it!’ I am happy to say i made a VERY nice trigger out of it! I shot the little rifle the other day and i had forgotten just how horrible the trigger was, it was BAD, 9-9.5 pounds BAD on a Lyman trigger scale. After cleaning the rifle i sat here contemplating inletting and installing a set trigger, after some thought That seemed like more hassle than i cared to go through. I pulled the lock and studied it well, From the fired position as you start to cock the hammer you first enter the Halfcock position, as you continue the Sear passes over the Fly and finally drops in the Full Cocked notch, i noted how deep that notch was, it is a DEEP angled step. I knew i did NOT want to change the angles of the Notch, or the Sear. I wanted to ‘Shorten’ that Deep Full cock Notch. I fully lowered the hammer and pulled the lock apart, first removing the Hammer, then the Main spring, then the Bridle (after the Bridle is removed you need to lift the little Fly out or you will forget and lose it) Then push up on the Sear and the Tumbler will be completely free to remove. The Sear will also easily come out now as well, There is a small detent type spring that the Sear pushes up against, There is a Housing built in the lock for this spring and metal cup, you want to be careful and not lose that little spring and Cup. With Tumbler out I took my calipers and measured from the bottom of the Tumbler to the top of the Full Cock Notch, i got .570 (There is a nice flat spot on the bottom of the Tumbler for the Jaw of your caliper to sit flush, therefore giving consistent readings) I have 3 Brand new Tumblers, i checked all 3 of them as well and got the same .570 on 2 of them and .572 on the other.



I removed 5 Thousands from the Top of the Full Cock Notch, Then used Flitz Metal polish and a Qtip with the tip broken off, the stem of the Qtip will take shape of the Notch when pushed in to it, I polished it to a mirror! I didn’t want to mess with the Sear other than lightly polish the rounded tip (where it makes contact in the Full Cock Notch) I used a tiny bit of the Flitz metal polish on my Leather Strop i made for Finishing my knives on (My Leather Strop is Glued down on a pine board shaped like a paddle so it stays flat) i then pulled the Sear tip across the Strop, 2-3 passes and it looked really good!

I put the Lock back together, installed it back in the Stock, using a folded piece of leather under the hammer i shouldered and checked the pull, Not much if any noticeable difference? Back apart, i took another 5 Thousands off, put everything Back together again and tested, this time i could tell i was getting it, but stil wasn’t to my liking, Back apart again and removed 5 more, this time i checked with the trigger scale and got 4-4.5 pounds, i almost stopped here but decided to pull it apart again and take a few more thou off, Why not make a good thing a little better? Plus i had 3 more brand new Tumblers in case i screwed up and went to far   in total i removed 18 Thou off the bottom of the Full cock notch!! I knew i was done this time whatever the pull ended up being, so i took extra care in the polishing end and got it to a literal Mirror finish, lightly oiled everything and put it back together again and checked it, it felt AMAZING!! It now breaks at 2-2.5 pounds, and ZERO creep. I bump tested it GOOD N HARD several times, she holds like a ROCK. Again, I didn’t change angles!

Here is a pic of the underside of the lock when put together and in the full cock position, Note the super shiny flat looking spot? That is what i removed, in comparison if you look just below you will see the Half Cock notch tip, The Full Cock Notch Tip looked identical to that before i started removing Material. Sorry about the blurry pic, but you get the idea

This is not a difficult job, I was in and out of the lock enough i could do one blind folded now!  

I understand that this kind of stuff is not everyone, if you are not comfortable with it, DON’T mess with it!!

I am so accustomed to light triggers that nothing else will do! A rifle is only as good as it’s trigger allows. A quality trigger is the VERY first thing i do with a new rifle

Here is another view, you can see where i am removing Material from (The one on the Left) I am NOT Changing ANYTHING about the Angle of the Notch!! I am ONLY Removing material from the Top

I just did another one of these the other day (Thanksgiving morning) I came up with a MUCH better way

I used a 4 Flute Mill End in my Drill Press, Which i have a Cross Slide Vice mounted to




Before i started


And when I finished Milling the Top off, I took this one down .022 Thou, This Trigger is light, VERY Safe, But also very light, The Trigger breaks at 1 pound 13 Ounces, I like it a BUNCH

Thank you for the information. I just did this on my New Englander. It’s a significant improvement.

Would anyone like to tackle mine in exchange for $ ?

Northern IN