Remington 788 w/Timney function

[Remnick99]

Hello all,

Looking for some advice/help on a Timney Trigger for a Remington 788. I have a first year production 788 in 22-250 that had a typically awful factory trigger. I took the gun to a local gunsmith who has done trigger jobs on my 581 22 and 591 5mm, where he drilled and tapped screws to set the original trigger to a crisp 2.5lbs on each and did wonderful work(love the rear lugged Remingtons!). However.. He tried doing this with my 788 in 22-250 and did not get the pull down much, from 5.5lbs to about 4.25, and still tons of creep..

I am thinking about ordering a Timney so that I have a manageable trigger and my question is since this is a pre-1975 788, will a Timney trigger still hold the bolt locked down if the safety is on "safe"? I'm not hip on the function of the safety/bolt lock and whether a Timney trigger will still keep the bolt locked if the safety is on or not. As much as I like factory original, I need a crisper and lighter trigger and also think it would be nice to unload the rifle while the safety is on safe rather than fire.

This is my first thread, thank you all!

 

[Magnett]

Call Timney and ask. They are very helpful.

 

[Fast14riot]

Something isn't right with your factory trigger. I have several 788s and a 582, those with factory triggers still are crisp and although a little heavy at 4ish pounds, are very manageable.

I don't have any timney triggers to answer your question, though.

 

[Xerothermic]

I have a new Timney trigger set at 1.5# from Timney. It is sweet compared to the factory, 1973 in 6mm Rem, that I had. Based on dry-firing. A good investment.

Beings it was a 1973 it still retained the locked bolt on safe feature with the Timney IIRC.

 

[ELR LVR]

Hello all,

Looking for some advice/help on a Timney Trigger for a Remington 788. I have a first year production 788 in 22-250 that had a typically awful factory trigger. I took the gun to a local gunsmith who has done trigger jobs on my 581 22 and 591 5mm, where he drilled and tapped screws to set the original trigger to a crisp 2.5lbs on each and did wonderful work(love the rear lugged Remingtons!). However.. He tried doing this with my 788 in 22-250 and did not get the pull down much, from 5.5lbs to about 4.25, and still tons of creep..

I am thinking about ordering a Timney so that I have a manageable trigger and my question is since this is a pre-1975 788, will a Timney trigger still hold the bolt locked down if the safety is on "safe"? I'm not hip on the function of the safety/bolt lock and whether a Timney trigger will still keep the bolt locked if the safety is on or not. As much as I like factory original, I need a crisper and lighter trigger and also think it would be nice to unload the rifle while the safety is on safe rather than fire.

This is my first thread, thank you all!

Send the trigger to me
I can make it between 2 to 2.5 lbs
---
I mostly specialize in Rem 700's
but do other triggers on occasion
I did my own 788 at 2 lbs as well as another gentleman here on the site 788 at 2 lbs
I am very familiar with that trigger
most guys wont put in the time it takes for that particular trigger to get it right
Due to the way it's designed, it does not allow for the same 3 adjustments as a Rem 700
so there is a lot of disassembling, re-assembling, installing on the action and re-testing involved
---
I can install a take-up screw like pictured here if wanted but isn't really necessary
and there is the safety detent pin where the tip wears off over time that I like to make a new one of
if needed

 

[Fast14riot]

Send the trigger to me
I can make it between 2 to 2.5 lbs
---
I mostly specialize in Rem 700's
but do other triggers on occasion
I did my own 788 at 2 lbs as well as another gentleman here on the site 788 at 2 lbs
I am very familiar with that trigger
most guys wont put in the time it takes for that particular trigger to get it right
Due to the way it's designed, it does not allow for the same 3 adjustments as a Rem 700
so there is a lot of disassembling, re-assembling, installing on the action and re-testing involved
---
I can install a take-up screw like pictured here if wanted but isn't really necessary
and there is the safety detent pin where the tip wears off over time that I like to make a new one of
if needed

The location of your "take-up screw" appears to be pretty low, almost even with the pivot. Typically that screw in the front is about .375"-.400" up from bottom to provide over travel adjustment and a screw is placed in the rear for sear engagement. Is yours angled down to push below the pivot? Kinda hard to tell from the angle of the pic.

 

[ELR LVR]

The location of your "take-up screw" appears to be pretty low, almost even with the pivot. Typically that screw in the front is about .375"-.400" up from bottom to provide over travel adjustment and a screw is placed in the rear for sear engagement. Is yours angled down to push below the pivot? Kinda hard to tell from the angle of the pic.

yes, you can place the screw on one side of the pivot point for take up engagement vs the other side for a limit or stop screw, and it is angled slightly to accomplish this.
The trigger doesn't really care where the screw is as long as it accomplishes the goal ya know.
---
I would have to relook at my trigger again to remember why i put it in front instead of the rear but without it in front of me to see if that was simply the most open area without anything in the way
off the top of my head another reason would be:
1 Maybe there was more meat up front than the rear
2 if the screw sticks out the back a guy might have to dremel out to relieve his stock just to fit for a screw
3 when if it's in the front, there is already room and clearance to not have to worry about an extra step just to reinstall his trigger
There is always a method to the madness, so there was a reason I skinned the cat a different way there
4 Edit: Thanks Boyd Allen for posting the 788 mod PDF
I now remember why I did mine differently, 1 operation to accomplish the same thing
vs. 2 operations and extra parts needed would accomplish
The Sear spring is in the way to come in from the back, and if doing that, requires an extra drilling and tapping operation from the front plus an extra spring, which works fine too but I often find the simplest quickest method of doing something if it can be.
---
I just ran into an issue of trigger not fitting with a Lighter Rem 660 trigger I bought for a 660
the housing for some reason is different enough I have to now relieve some of the rear pillar just to reinstall the barreled action with the new trigger
Not all 660 triggers are the same it appears
As I've also noticed not all 788 triggers are exactly the same
---
Once a proper trigger job is done to begin with, as I mentioned in my earlier post that screw is not really needed, but that one simple take-up engagement screw helps to refine it enough to adjust gnats hairs out of takeup if desired.
I use the same type screw and thread as a Rem 700
but when it comes to triggers, on something like a 788 which had no adjustment screws to begin with...
that one screw alone can provide adjustment right to the edge, but then allow more sear engagement to be adjusted back in if the nose of the sear wears over time.

 

[Remnick99]

Call Timney and ask. They are very helpful.

I called and left a message, and sent an email too. Thanks, I'll follow up when I hear back from them!

 

[Remnick99]

I have a new Timney trigger set at 1.5# from Timney. It is sweet compared to the factory, 1973 in 6mm Rem, that I had. Based on dry-firing. A good investment.

Beings it was a 1973 it still retained the locked bolt on safe feature with the Timney IIRC.

Thanks for the insight here! It's not a deal breaker for me to have the bolt locked on safe but would have been nice to get around it. I appreciate the answer!

 

[Remnick99]

Send the trigger to me
I can make it between 2 to 2.5 lbs
---
I mostly specialize in Rem 700's
but do other triggers on occasion
I did my own 788 at 2 lbs as well as another gentleman here on the site 788 at 2 lbs
I am very familiar with that trigger
most guys wont put in the time it takes for that particular trigger to get it right
Due to the way it's designed, it does not allow for the same 3 adjustments as a Rem 700
so there is a lot of disassembling, re-assembling, installing on the action and re-testing involved
---
I can install a take-up screw like pictured here if wanted but isn't really necessary
and there is the safety detent pin where the tip wears off over time that I like to make a new one of
if needed

The trigger has already been adjusted/modified now. I haven't taken it out of the stock since getting it back, but at this point I may just want to go with a timney for less headache/safety. What do you charge for a trigger job? 2lbs might be a tad light for me, I like 2.5-3lb crisp.

 

[Remnick99]

Thank you @Magnett @Fast14riot @Xerothermic @ELR LVR for the insight and responses

 

[Kracken McGraw]

I put the Timney in a late 70’s 788. Very nice 1 1/2 pound trigger, I did have to remove a little wood in the stock to get it to fit. I can’t remember if the bolt locked on safe or not when it was new, I’ll have to get it out of the safe and check sometime to see what it does now as I don’t remember.

 

[BoydAllen]

http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohland/Cast_Bullet/Rem788/Rem788_Trigger.pdf

 

[Remnick99]

I put the Timney in a late 70’s 788. Very nice 1 1/2 pound trigger, I did have to remove a little wood in the stock to get it to fit. I can’t remember if the bolt locked on safe or not when it was new, I’ll have to get it out of the safe and check sometime to see what it does now as I don’t remember.

I have heard that about the timney's not fitting properly and having to do some inletting.. Anything after 1975 should not have the bolt lock feature, so no need to go digging. I do appreciate the insight! Thank you

 

[Kracken McGraw]

I have heard that about the timney's not fitting properly and having to do some inletting.. Anything after 1975 should not have the bolt lock feature, so no need to go digging. I do appreciate the insight! Thank you

It was pretty simple and I did it with a rasp and file back then. A Dremel would make it a breeze now.

 

[Will Henry]

I did a quite a few conversions on these, back in the 1970's. I installed a sear engagement screw in the rear of the housing. The sear spring rested on this screw and no longer affected the weight of pull. The weight of pull screw, with spring, was just above the pivot, in the front. The overtravel screw was above this. This was a pretty good system. My most ambitious conversion was one I did for a LV rifle. On this one, I moved the pivot up about 1/4 inch. The sear engagement moved to the bottom front, the weight of pull to the top front, and the bottom rear screw still supported the sear spring but now acted as the overtravel adjustment. This trigger was set at 6 oz. This trigger had no safety and the bolt stop pin was separate from the trigger.
By the way, the 788 was not a bad LV rifle but was a little harder to tune. WH

 

[Tommie]

The Timney works. It’s 2-way adjustable.

Doing a sear engagement screw and a lighter spring on the OEM trigger works wonders. Matter of fact just replacing the spring alone helps a lot. As long as the spring is strong enough to engage the striker sear you’ll be golden.

 

[Fast14riot]

If you want to see an interesting 788 trigger set up, I can snap some pics of the workings of my 788 bull-pup, forward trigger mechanism.

 

[Remnick99]

If you want to see an interesting 788 trigger set up, I can snap some pics of the workings of my 788 bull-pup, forward trigger mechanism.

Would love to see that

 

[Remnick99]

Just received a response email from Timney saying that the trigger allows for the bolt to opened with the safety on or off, so now I have conflicting answers from members here and from Timney.. Anyone else with a pre-1975 rifle and a timney installed able to verify one way or the other?