MikeT49
Gold $$ Contributor
hoz53, The triggers are fairly easy to tinker with. Everything loads from top & bottom, no side plates. That and a bunch of jesus clips, as in: "jc, where in fecking hell did that mofo POS go?", make it a slight PITA to work on. Usually though, they don't need any improvement. Adjust down to 2.5# or so, clean break, no creep. Once in a while you get one that is creepier than Hillary. That requires disassembly and polishing all the contact surfaces. Polish only, do not change the geometry. They are MIM parts, surface hardened only. The polishing should take out the creep. On one of the 10 I've worked on, I had to replace the sear. I had one that had a nice clean break, but would only adjust down to 3#. To reduce the pull weight further on this one and some others, I had to install a lighter trigger spring. A ball point pen spring works great. In particular, ones that are black and say us government on the side. A ballpoint spring will be a little longer. You can cut off a few coils or just install it compressed slightly. You can get total pull weight down to the 1.5# area. Just remember the center safety arm requires about 8 oz of the total pull weight. Essentially, 1.5# actually takes 1# to break if you treat the trigger as a two stage. Pull center safety arm till you hit the wall of the main blade then break the shot. I have found 2.5# is low enough. YMMV.
Jim, If you can now torque the rear action screw to ~ 35 in-lbs it should work. If not, check out bushings at Lowes. Do a search for 1/4-in bronze machine bushings. In particular, item #215870. Will need some fitting with dremel and grinder. Even with the bushing, you end up with a suspect plastic pos that will fail.
For those of you on the fence about buying one, I say do it. You can make them into what ever you want. I am not a rich man, far cry from it. I also have other places for my money to go. I can't afford the high dollar chit. for example, I have a boat. BOAT = break out another thousand. Luckily don't have a wife. WIFE = wasting income for enjoyment. If you have both, holy crap. Bottom line is if you wait for sales, you can pick up a complete 783 for $269 or so. If it doesn't shoot to your standards, swap barrels. The action will shoot very well indeed with a decent barrel. You can get a Green Mountain prefit barrel for $200, an X-caliber for $280 & other for more $. You can get a Boyds stock starting at $99. So, for under $600 you can build your own custom rifle to your specs. It will be very accurate, therefore interesting. How many people have an XL7L in 257 Weatherby? I have one, hope nobody else does. I have slowly acquired a bunch of actions over the years. Now, if I want a new caliber, its just a matter of ordering a new barrel and if required, dies brass and bullets. Next thing you know you will need a new safe.
I am not a trained gunsmith, just a self taught basement shop gun tinkerer. If I can do it, you can do it. Build your own, you'll like it. Mike
Jim, If you can now torque the rear action screw to ~ 35 in-lbs it should work. If not, check out bushings at Lowes. Do a search for 1/4-in bronze machine bushings. In particular, item #215870. Will need some fitting with dremel and grinder. Even with the bushing, you end up with a suspect plastic pos that will fail.
For those of you on the fence about buying one, I say do it. You can make them into what ever you want. I am not a rich man, far cry from it. I also have other places for my money to go. I can't afford the high dollar chit. for example, I have a boat. BOAT = break out another thousand. Luckily don't have a wife. WIFE = wasting income for enjoyment. If you have both, holy crap. Bottom line is if you wait for sales, you can pick up a complete 783 for $269 or so. If it doesn't shoot to your standards, swap barrels. The action will shoot very well indeed with a decent barrel. You can get a Green Mountain prefit barrel for $200, an X-caliber for $280 & other for more $. You can get a Boyds stock starting at $99. So, for under $600 you can build your own custom rifle to your specs. It will be very accurate, therefore interesting. How many people have an XL7L in 257 Weatherby? I have one, hope nobody else does. I have slowly acquired a bunch of actions over the years. Now, if I want a new caliber, its just a matter of ordering a new barrel and if required, dies brass and bullets. Next thing you know you will need a new safe.
I am not a trained gunsmith, just a self taught basement shop gun tinkerer. If I can do it, you can do it. Build your own, you'll like it. Mike
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. Id have to buy a magnum model though. When i can get out shooting again ill give these 783s a workout and see how they do.
