Since trigger modifications have been mentioned in another thread, I thought it would be good to start a thread just on that. just did a search using the KCA search feature and found no mention of after market triggers for Krag. Maybe I did not hold my mouth right.

I bought a Traister trigger for my 1917 Enfield (several others have been available in the past Canjar and Timney come to mind), my dad's had extensive mods to the original trigger either by my dad or his gunsmith buddy. I have seen many reprinted adds on sights and other specialty accessories for Krags but remember none for triggers. Seems like there should have been as many Krags are out there.

This thread could be place to discuss trigger mods as well as the pros and cons of such modifications. I will repost a photo of my assembled trigger and maybe some others can post close ups of standard Krags to see the difference.

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If you enjoy a small laugh, here's the blurb on the "Huber Concepts" Krag trigger -

30-40 Krag-Jorgensen Trigger

The 30/40 Krag proved its effectiveness in the hands of the Marines of Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” at San Juan Hill. Originally of Danish/Norwegian design, with a side load magazine. Huber’s Triggers with patented ball bearing technology provides better timing aspect in shot delivery sequence. Provides adjustability’s for creep, set, and over travel. The 30/40 Krag is only available in black Teflon finish. Typical short duration break weight at 2-3# on drop in, and replaces the trigger component only. Minor wood relief may be required.

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Those 'sneaky' Marines get everywhere .... in the Rough Riders!

It should be noted for CMP and most military matches, a Krag would have to have an 'issue' two-stage trigger, with at least a 3 pound 'let-off'.
(The free wheeling World of Dr. Hudson is long past).

Cleaning & de-greasing, judicious 'stoning', and proper lubrication, will likely improve your Krag's two-stage trigger.

IMHO - A better quality 'fresh' trigger-spring would likely help improve smoothness.

For 'Sportered' Krags, match rules are irrelevant, "have at" with human ingenuity!

Parashooter,
Wowsers, that Huber site is a mess. Afraid to stay on it long as there might be viruses lurking. Maybe the site looks different with a different browser. Did not know of any available triggers till your link. If that Huber site is for real that could be a plus for sporter shooters.
Reading the Huber ad again the first part is just historical notes and the second part is about his trigger?

(The free wheeling World of Dr. Hudson is long past).
Butlersrangers were there any drop in Krag triggers back then? You and others have copied so many sight advertisements and other accessory ads from days gone by but I do not recall a single trigger ad.

The basic problem with many schemes that eliminate the first stage of a trigger designed as a two-stage is that this can leave very small sear engagement, possibly enough to allow vertical play in bolt assembly to disengage sear from striker if rear of assembly is lifted just slightly. Unfortunately, lifting the bolt assembly can occur as we disengage the Krag* safety! Result: accidental discharge when the safety is turned to the "OFF" position. Not a desirable outcome.

Effective single-stage triggers for quality bolt-action rifles normally incorporate a "propped sear" design to provide generous sear engagement with that floppy bolt assembly by engineering a mechanism that releases the sear so it pivots away by mainspring pressure. Image below shows a recent Winchester example.

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*My late-production Norwegian M1912 Krag features a nifty spring designed to keep upward pressure on the "cocking piece" to eliminate vertical play and enhance a consistent pull. I don't know if this is common to all M1912's or not - but would like to learn if it is/isn't present on other Norse Krags.

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Parashooter wrote on Dec 11^th, 2019 at 10:59pm:

The basic problem with any scheme that eliminates the first stage is that it leaves a small sear engagement, possibly enough to allow vertical play in bolt assembly to disengage sear from striker if rear of assembly is lifted just slightly. Unfortunately, lifting the bolt assembly can occur as we disengage the Krag* safety! Result: accidental discharge when the safety is turned to the "OFF" position. Not a desirable outcome. *My late-production Norwegian M1912 Krag features a nifty spring designed to keep upward pressure on the "cocking piece" to eliminate vertical play and enhance a consistent pull. I don't know if this is common to all M1912's or not - but would like to learn if it is/isn't present on other Norse Krags.

Parashooter,
Thus my concern about eliminating the first stage pull. Myself I did not mind the easy take the "slack out" pull of the first stage. I just wanted to know that additional squeeze would touch it off after the slack was taken out. Not sure how much was added to my first stage much less how I generated the radius for the cam as I am real certain my boss did not have a radius wheel dresser when I worked at that shop.
Right now I am thinking a minimal effort way to lessen the second stage travel would be to add a spacer to the receiver to contact the "A" area in your earlier illustration. Holding a shim in that area by hand might tell if that is practical and safe.

On your 1912 Krag is that a rivet or screw holding in the spring?

FredC wrote on Dec 11^th, 2019 at 11:28pm:

. . . On your 1912 Krag is that a rivet or screw holding in the spring?

Rivet.

I thought this thread would have generated more interest. With many here doing CMP type matches were trigger mods are not allowed and not that many doing casual or other target work maybe there is not much need. I do not have a spare receiver to try a bunch of experiments with shimming the "A" and "B" cams of the Krag trigger.

Since Parashooter's pointing out the Huber trigger, I opened up the web site with Firefox this morning and it looked a lot better. The price for the Krag trigger is $97.00, maybe someone here will have a need, try one, and give us a report.
If someone could take a photo of an assembled trigger with the same perspective of my photo, we could figure out what changes I made and see if any could be done to a standard trigger. Made several million parts since and I remember few of the details, I know I winged it with zero drawings, but that is about all.

Interesting.  I have a 1916 made action that has the spring.  I looked at the Stomperud, originally an 1897 Steyr action and noticed for the first time that there's a screw where the rivet is in para's pic.   It bears on the rear of the trigger and has a range of motion of about 1/8".  Adjusting the screw down (turn right) takes out most of the first stage.  I've been playing with it some, it has a bigger range of motion than what I originally thought.  So far I have all the first stage taken out.  I guess the guys at the US Armory missed this feature!  Thank you fellows, now I have an adjustable single stage trigger.  Vertical bolt movement in the action is minimal, but I won't adjust it down enough that I don't have good sear engagement.  There might be a hint here for US Krags, least the sporterized ones.

That screw was all the way up, hadn't been moved since the phosphate was applied.  Norwegian workers leaving the Nazis a long two stage pull on purpose?  It's fully single stage now.  A bit heavier than what I like.  A little movement before it comes off the sear.  It feels like I'm about at the end of the adjustment, needs a little oil to soak in.

WD did its thing, I was able to adjust to the point that the sear lets the striker go a milisec after I close the bolt!

for the shooters that have the sight mounted on the bolt knob that spring under the bolt would limit the amount the sight moves. That would be a big plus not having the sight move as you pull the trigger.

Yes it would.  An interesting change between Norwegian models too.  I had to back the screw back out about 1/2 turn to get enough sear engagement that I couldn't make it trip by thumping the cocking piece in various directions.

Somewhere around here I have a Viggo Miller trigger attachment.  I had it on a 98 in a benchrest stock.  Oh, I remember taking it off when I put the barrel in the action.  It's in a box somewhere, I may even have a new one stashed away.

I found mention of some Norwegian 1894 rifles having this adjustment screw here:    (You need to Login; Works pretty good, may have been the reason the US trigger heel bearing surface had walls on the side up to around serial #25000.  The walls would keep the trigger from slipping off the surface of the adjusting screw.

butlersrangers wrote on Dec 11^th, 2019 at 7:03pm:

Cleaning & de-greasing, judicious 'stoning', and proper lubrication, will likely improve your Krag's two-stage trigger.

FWIW, my 1898 had some drag in the trigger, caused by some scratches in the engagement components.  I spent some time with fine, very fine and strap stones and it smoothed right out and is a respectable 3.5 lb pull!  It can be done... and is absolutely CMP legal.

Just to reiterate, back in 'Dr. Hudson's Time' (early 1900's), the term "drag" meant the first-stage of the two-stage trigger. It was new to shooter's. They didn't like it and got away with eliminating it from their competition Krags.

If you like two-stage triggers, (I do), they serve the shooter well and are required by match rules.

IMHO - A good two-stage trigger has lots of sear-engagement and allows you to smoothly and predictably take up the first-stage and come to a distinct 'Stop'.
The second-stage crisply releases with 3 to 3 1/2 pounds of additional pressure.

The problems to solve in a two-stage trigger are 'creep' (grittiness, roughness and friction in movement) and a heavy release of the second-stage.
Personally, I have never been bothered by 'over travel' on a rifle trigger.

A nice two stage trigger can give the shooter a lot better control over the last bit of "break" before the sear is released or the "hammer drops". I got used to this with shooting my Colt Pythons since I was a teenager where the double action trigger pull would raise the hammer to mid point with the first stage and then a distinctive, but slight, change was encountered that allowed a slight pause, milliseconds, to get the final sight picture aligned and then pull through the second stage with about a 1/2 pound pull to release and fire.

Two stage triggers are really nice for this control.

I have a single stage on a long distance rifle and it breaks with no travel at about 8 ounces of pull. You really have to be ready for that but there is no movement created by working the trigger for the sear release.

The Krag trigger seems to work quite well for the heavy rifle if you smooth out the rough spots. It makes a difference and is quite surprising how well these triggers can work for us after 120 years!

For BR and Whig, I too like the 2 stage pull. On my 222 Savage it has that new fangled trigger with the safety blade in the center of the trigger. Take the slack out and the next little bit of motion sets it off. Reminiscent of the military 2 stage.
If any want to take a good photo of the trigger on the action and compare to my shop made trigger, it would be nice to compare them to see if the desirable features could be easily had by modifying a standard trigger. Maybe Parashooter's trick plus modifying the "A" cam. May or may not be legal for your sanctioned shoots.

I'm not sure exactly what you want to compare in pictures, Fred?

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Maybe another photo from the other side might help. I made that trigger free style with not drawings or notes. Just too many years ago to remember any of the details. It did have the same favorable pull characteristics in both my dad's Krag as well as my sporter.

With your photo I do see the gap to the "A" cam as greater on mine. Not sure if it is just moved or it is a combination of the "A" and "B" cam changes.

I changed my post to show a new photo of a model 1898 Krag trigger. (The model 1896 action hid detail from the right-side).

That helped, thanks. Kind of looks like both my cam surfaces are higher, Parashooter's trick will make the "B" cam higher. I do not know an easy way to make the "A" cam higher.
Just a couple of hints to improve the trigger. Everyone will mention flat stoning and polishing the sear contact surfaces, but the cam surfaces, as well as the surfaces they contact on the receiver could be helped by honing flat and polishing also. Do not forget the lube on the cams and sides of the trigger (temperature appropriate and correct quantity). The wrong lube or too much can gum things up in cold climates. Did I mention I picked tomatoes out of my garden yesterday?

FredC wrote on Dec 16^th, 2019 at 10:56pm:

. . . Parashooter's trick will make the "B" cam higher. I do not know an easy way to make the "A" cam higher. . .

First off, let's get away from the "A" and "B" business before we confuse the recruits. Those letters are in my picture (shown at bottom here) only to provide a ready reference for someone looking at that individual image and text. In general usage, those two elements of the trigger are called "front hump" and "rear hump" (except Lee-Enfields, where it's kind of vertical and we have upper and lower humps :-?).

Please note that the "trick" is needed only if one wishes to avoid altering an original trigger. If that's not a problem, we reduce the second stage by stoning the rear hump where it contacts the receiver at the end of the first stage take-up or reduce the first stage (and lengthen the 2d stage) by stoning some height off the front hump. (Stone both too much and go find a new trigger! :'()

Here's an image of the US M1903 trigger - different layout, same two-hump principle:

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Parashooter,
Points well taken about newcomers not knowing the related discussions. In a couple of years the 2 threads will be separated by many pages.
Your adding your photo again will help with understanding my earlier posts. My memory is not what it used to be but I will try to always refer to the 2 humps as front or rear and the tension as first stage and final stage maybe. For my taste material should be added to the front as in your illustration and not removed. If I honed an original it would be only to remove dings and smooth slightly maybe leaving most of the bluing. Same thing on the contact points on the receiver, minimal material removal, just make it smooth.

Not sure if that is allowed at Camp Perry or other sanctioned shoots. Please chime in if anyone knows.

My reference to tomatoes was because I am in the deep south and I am not familiar with the tricks on keeping things lubed but not sticky when shooting in frigid circumstances. Anyone care to share things that are not trade secrets?

One other thing to watch out for on sporters with custom stocks: the trigger guard may not be perfectly centered in relation to the receiver. If not the trigger will be binding on the side of the trigger guard. Besides the added friction from rubbing on the guard the trigger cams will be canted and not flat on the receiver casing excessive wear and more friction. This happened on my sporter, went though a lot of pain to correct it, in the end it was worth is as the trigger became free and the trigger guard screws lined up after the correction.

Links to related threads:
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