I recently purchsed a scoped .22 rifle for what I thought was a great deal. Great, that is, until I got the gun home. The trigger is stuck in the 'closed' position, as if it had become stuck the last time the rifle was fired. I'll admit, I stupidly thought it was a saftey feature of the rifle, and the trigger would come into the firing position when a round was chambered. Obviously not. I don't believe that the guy intentionally sold me a defective firearm (He's a co-worker and after he sold me the gun, he gave me his surplus ammo) but I'm now concerned that I've purchased a worthless gun. (the scope is worth about what I paid for the combo.) My questions:

Is there an easy way of 'unsticking' a jammed trigger on a bolt-action rifle or do I need to leave it to a gunsmith? Does this mean that the weapon will always be prone to do this? The gun is a Remington 851 .22 bolt-action rimfire.

-- StevenB (thicketyrowfarm@aol.com), December 10, 2001

Answers

You might try the WD 40 saturation and then tap it some. Could be some corrosion has held it up. Triggers are touchy...if it won't come loose with the WD and some tapping, I would take it to someone who knows quite a bit about firearms. I'm just a hack;).

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), December 11, 2001.

1) I agree with Doreen try wd-4o saturation.

2) Is your safety on or off?

3) what happened when you tried to put a shell in the rifle?

One possible cause could be a broken trigger return spring.

If the scope is worth the price of the combo. Then by all means get it fixed. I kinda like the Remington series.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), December 11, 2001.

Thanks for responding ya'll.

1)Kenneth and Doreen: WD-40... I took the rifle apart last night to see if I could find anything obviously broken and to check if there was any corrosion. There were no signs of any corrosion anywhere and the entire gun seemed well lubricated. In cluding the trigger assembly.

2) Kenneth:Safety off. The safety 'switch' is pushed forward to disengage the bolt and that etire assemly works fine.

3) The round goes into the chamber just fine, both feeding it manually and auto-fed from the magazine. Absoloutly nothing happens to the trigger assembly. Thinking it COULD have been an INCREADIBLY fine hair-trigger I attempted to fire the gun. Nothing happened. There is only about an eighth of an inch gap between the back of the trigger and and the trigger guard.

I had done some research last night on the weapon and had come to the exact same conclusion: It may be the trigger return spring. I'm keeping my ears open for a good gunsmith in the area, as I am going to get the rifle fixed. Thanks for the help.

-- StevenB (thicketyrowfarm@aol.com), December 12, 2001.

StevenB Since you've already had it apart Sounds like you could make this repair yourself. The return spring runs about $2.25 s&h included from Wolf Springs. I'm sure there's plenty of other sellers online that could fix you right up. In the past I've made springs out of pieces and parts laying around. Yup my wife says I'm a packrat "But those old parts do come in handy." I think if you still have it apart look for the indention where a spring would go. You should be able to move the trigger forward then chamber a round and at least see it fire. Good Kuck and be safe.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), December 13, 2001.

Luck that is (sheesh) BTW the library may have a book on auto- loaders. Ours has a pretty fair collection.

Let us know how it goes.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), December 13, 2001.

The trigger mechanism is enclosed in a pinned metal housing about 1" x 2". It is most assuredly not open to view. The trigger return spring is apparently within that mechanism. Even if its not the spring, the problem is definately somewhere in this small metal housing. As its pinned together, I'd rather a gunsmith look at it now than have me butcher it up, just to have a more expensive repair from the gunsmith later. ;^)

UPDATE: Finally found a reputable gunsmith in the area. He came highly reccommended from 2 different sources. I'll let ya'll know what happens.

-- StevenB (thicketyrowfarm@aol.com), December 13, 2001.

Final Update:

It was the trigger return spring. It was stretched, not broken. It was apparently caused by leaving the gun cocked for 10 years. He re-strtched it, and told me to be careful; that the safety worked, but the trigger operated once right after he fixed it with the safety ON. I told him to order a new spring, I'd feel MUCH better. No problem. The cost for the 'temporary' repair, the spring and the cost to replace the spring when it gets here-$10.00 total.

-- StevenB (thicketyrowfarm@aol.com), December 19, 2001.

Egggggcelllent! Not too shabby for a repair bill. Let us know how it performs when you get it out;).

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), December 19, 2001.

StevenB if you want to give that Remington 851 to a good neighbor. I could send ya my address. :o)

Sounds like a simple repair. I agree go with the new spring. Just stretching one won't retemper it.

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.