How many of you guys have modifications to your rifles? Trigger jobs, after market triggers, action jobs ect?

My rifles are all factory with the exception of the scopes and Williams Receiver sights and or Front Firesights. Otherwise they are straight out of the box.

I've worked mine. But only stuff I feel confident I can do myself. A lot of it is actual work, like the Marlins and Moisin-Nagant, and others it is just replacing parts, like the trigger on the Mauser or on the 10/22. I think about the only ones I haven't fiddled with are the TC Contender and the Kimber .45.

Glass bedding and trigger jobs for most.

Recoil pads and stocks cut to fit, as necessary.

Recut checkering on a few, and have refinished stocks on occasion.....

Shortened a few barrels then recrowned, and counterbored a couple of old military rifles.

Firelapped, mostly revolvers.....

New iron sights on a few....

Touch-up bluing.....

:D

I assume that your asking about the leverguns folks are using in the match...

Not much. I have had my gunsmith work on a couple of the triggers and he has installed a LimbSaver "grind to fit" pad on all my Big Bores and the 336D. All of them, that's a bunch of work thinking about this, will eventually get firelapped.

My 1951 336A got all the work last year at Boses'. I've written about this rifle... rechambered to 30-30 IMP and refinished. It is probably the finest looking rifle I own. When I finish the pressure work, I'm going to treat the 336SC (35 Rem) to the same finish as it is a "beater" but a heck of a shooter.

I've installed Happy triggers in all my Marlins. Other than that, just stocks shortened and Decelerator pads installed.

Interesting question.

I'm not sure if adjusting a factory trigger or stoning the factory sears would qualify as modification. Installing an aftermarket trigger certianly would. I'm not sure that a glassbed job would qualify as a modification whereas installing an aftermarket stock that differed from a factory stock would.

I think things like recutting the checkering or refinishing a stock, changing a recoil pad our would probably be considered a repair rather than a modification.

I know for sure that most shooters want a nice trigger or perhaps sights that are easier to see or a recoil pad that treats your shoulder nicer, Mabe get a bolt put on an old mauser that would clear a scope, could these be considered modifications or repairs?

One thing for sure your question made me think about modifications or repairs.

I ran a small gunsmith business for a bunch of years and mostly paid for my hunting and fishing doing those modification/repairs. Thank goodness and thanks to all the folks that wanted something just a little bit better or different than out of the box guns.

Let me give a specific example, and the crowd can decide what is 'gunsmithing.' I'll note any alterations from factory configuration that were not done by me, all else was my work.

My .35 Rem / 336 has had the following done to it:

synthetic stock (which came on the gun but it's aftermarket, this was not done by me).

Recoil pad put on synthetic stock, which also changed the length of pull to suit me better. At the same time, filled the interior of the buttstock with expanding foam to make it less noisy.

Ashley front sight put on to replace factory bead.

Rear sight removed.

Weaver 63B scope base modified & installed by removing about 1/2" from the rear; this allows a Williams receiver sight to stay on the gun when it is scoped.

Williams peep sight installed.

Trigger engagement surfaces worked over and mainspring modified to get around a 4 lb. pull (factory pull around twice this, estimated).

Hammer extension installed.

Magazine tube relieved at both ends to eliminate binding in the receiver, and touching the barrel ahead at the muzzle.

I still need to re-bed the forend, as it tends to slip around a bit. I may install a shorter mag tube as there are some things about the full-length tube I don't care for.

20 firelapping rounds put through the barrel.

Crown looks OK - no need to mess with this.

Leupold 2x7 Vari-X II installed in Leupold QD rings for night pig hunting.

Can't think of anything else I need to do, but there's always inspiration for a future project! Of course if I had to pay a gunsmith to do these things, the list would get considerably shorter, in a hurry.....

By the way.... I shot one pig before ever doing anything to this gun, so it did 'work' as received.... these modifications are for my pleasure or convenience, to be honest.

You'll note I didn't win any matches last year with this gun so draw your own conclusions as to the necessity of all this!

It is just curiosity on my part. I hear of a lot of guys talking about trigger jobs or after market triggers or having the actions worked over ect. I have considered having the trigger on my 336D lightened up some but have never gotten around to it. Just wondering what everybody else had done with theirs.

A trigger job is money well spent; lever guns in particular seem to be difficult to shoot off of the bench with a heavy trigger. It is hard enough to keep them still on the sandbags, anyway, then you're straining to get the trigger to go off. Add a scope and they're "top heavy" and want to flop side to side on the bags.

Light, tall and thin, and top-heavy.... pretty much the opposite of a bench rest gun.

Let's see. My Marlin was used, so I completely disassembled it and cleaned the dirt out. It needed some touch up blue and Tru-Oil on the stock. A Williams FP receiver sight and a higher front sight to match. I worked the trigger down to 4 lb. and added sling swivels. I modified a Weaver 63B so I can use a scope for load testing.

Bye
Jack

MikeG said "Light, tall and thin, and top-heavy". Sorry, I thought we were going somewhere else with this thread. Ah, my mind.

Anyway, my main interest has been bolt action rifles and I've always tinkered with bedding, triggers, etc. Bedded actions and free floated barrels for hunting always keep their point of impact whether it's 0º or 95º, humid, snowing, raining or dry. This lever action stuff is fairly new to me and so far I have only replaced mainsprings with lighter ones. These springs give lighter pulls but so far I haven't done any lever triggers. Shooting offhand calls for complete trigger control and it's much easier with a consistent 3 pound pull rather than twice that much which seems to be the norm on factory lever triggers.