I've had my Marauder F&T for a year now and sometimes the sear won't engage when the bolt is pulled back. I'll pull back the bolt and it won't lock. I disengaged the lawyer spring when I first got it and adjusted the trigger weight and the first and second stage screws. This started about a month ago; eventually the sear will engage if I keep opening and closing the bolt. What should I look at?
marauder sear not always engaging
- Thread starter rong1966
- Start date
If all the trigger mechanism parts are clean with no excessive grease then you may have the return springs (trigger pull weight) too light. Could be too little sear engagement as well but weight is the first thing that comes to mind considering what you wrote above about "lawyer spring" and a year of use for springs to compress a bit.
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Almost always the adjustment screw has moved however you certainly should check sear (&all) for wear.
John
John
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.... there is ton's of info on the M-Rods for 'factory resetting' the spring pre-load and hammer settings, as well as the valve adjustment. Is there, or do any of you know, what the factory defaults are for the trigger settings? This thread is timely as coincidentally enough I've recently been experiencing similar issues AND indeed I did muck with some adjustments at the trigger. Did I bother to keep track of *what* I changed? <grin> No of course not - I just twisted this screw that way some and this way on the other one . . . . oh look - a third screw! Let's diddle with that one too!
I'd kinda like to "factory reset" it and take another stab at better ( more intelligently - lol ) adjusting it.
I'd kinda like to "factory reset" it and take another stab at better ( more intelligently - lol ) adjusting it.
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I opened up the trigger and did not see anything obviously wrong. The pull weight adjustment seemed ok--there is a good bit of tension. Although I don't consider it a hair trigger and the gun has never fired by itself, the sear engagement looked very minimal--could this prevent the sear from engaging? Anyway, I adjusted for more sear engagement and I'll see how that does. Could the hammer spring adjustment prevent the sear from catching if it is too far in or does it stop rotating in at some point?
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The appearance of a trigger group is often not useful-the eye may not see such functional tolerances. Creep is usually directly related to sear engagement. More sear engagement=safer=more creep. Trigger adjustment is a balancing act of several factors. You must have a safe trigger but many people want that as light and smooth as possible. I mentioned pull weight first because it is often the easiest to adjust and if too light it might not move sear into full engagement when cocked. I would increase the weight slightly and check function first, keeping track of how much each adjustment is turned. If that doesn't fix the problem then return weight adjustment to original point and adjust sear depth for more engagement. Adjust only one at a time-either weight or engagement but it might require both to be adjusted in the end to have reliable function. As to the springs, there must be enough spring tension for the sear to be pushed into place regardless of how much sear depth is adjusted in and that might also depend on any trigger blade return spring present.
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I just took a look at pictures of the Marauder trigger group-not something I'm specifically familiar with. You might want to read this-
https://avveduti.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/marauder-project-lightening-the-trigger/
Question-if you press the trigger forward while cocking does it then cock reliably and remain bump safe? If so, then the pull weight appears to be adjusted too light. Unless I'm mistaken, if the "lawyer spring" is removed (bent or disengaged from function) from that trigger group then only two things can lead to resetting of the sear-1)the weight of the sear arm itself which might not be enough and would be related to position of the rifle and 2)the pressure of the "weight" spring in front of the safety which is adjusted by the large screw in that position. It appears to be a well designed trigger group but something has to reset the sear reliably. It appears that the only thing that can do that is sufficient pressure from the "pull weight" adjustment in front of the safety.
https://avveduti.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/marauder-project-lightening-the-trigger/
Question-if you press the trigger forward while cocking does it then cock reliably and remain bump safe? If so, then the pull weight appears to be adjusted too light. Unless I'm mistaken, if the "lawyer spring" is removed (bent or disengaged from function) from that trigger group then only two things can lead to resetting of the sear-1)the weight of the sear arm itself which might not be enough and would be related to position of the rifle and 2)the pressure of the "weight" spring in front of the safety which is adjusted by the large screw in that position. It appears to be a well designed trigger group but something has to reset the sear reliably. It appears that the only thing that can do that is sufficient pressure from the "pull weight" adjustment in front of the safety.
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I have tightened and loosened the trigger pull weight screw and the sear engages either way (now) but I can't determine what is causing the sear to not engage because the problem doesn't happen all the time. It happened a couple of times yesterday and eventually the sear would engage, but I can't reproduce the problem by adjusting the pull weight or the first and second stage adjustment screws. I'll probably have to wait for it to occur again and then try to adjust things.
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"the sear engages either way (now)"
It could be a piece of debris in the sear area. It could be positional, especially if the pull weight is very light. I'd make sure that your change to the "lawyer spring" isn't moving and sometimes dragging on the sear.
It could be a piece of debris in the sear area. It could be positional, especially if the pull weight is very light. I'd make sure that your change to the "lawyer spring" isn't moving and sometimes dragging on the sear.
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Guys,
Sometimes when the hammer stroke is towards its longest, and the hammer spring is cranked towards the limit as well, the sear will not engage because the spring is totally compressed, not allowing the bolt to go back far enough to engage with the sear. This happens when the gun is pushed to its higher levels of power. If it is a sporadic problem, the adjustments are probably on the edge.
Tom Holland
Field Target Tech
Sometimes when the hammer stroke is towards its longest, and the hammer spring is cranked towards the limit as well, the sear will not engage because the spring is totally compressed, not allowing the bolt to go back far enough to engage with the sear. This happens when the gun is pushed to its higher levels of power. If it is a sporadic problem, the adjustments are probably on the edge.
Tom Holland
Field Target Tech
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It appears to have been the hammer spring adjustment; I shot it over the chronograph and velocity was 30 fps higher than usual. I had increased the hammer spring tension a couple of weeks earlier after I had removed the breech to retrieve a pellet which got stuck. The velocity was lower after I replaced the breech, so I adjusted the hammer spring tighter. I guess everything settled after that adjustment and the velocity rose. Thanks for all of the advice.
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