Trigger Work on the X

[jrc111]

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I was very happy with the fit and finish on my new 45 Colt Henry X, although the 9.5# trigger pull was awful. No creep, though. After dealing with another issue, I decided to see if I could sort it out. There’s not any video I could find on H012CX breakdown, but after looking at Henry’s offerings, the H010 Disassembly/Reassembly videos are pretty close. The H012CX trigger group’s a little dissimilar, with a different trigger lock spring arrangement, but getting the trigger guard group out is the same. The first thing I tried was Wolff’s 33101 Straight Profile hammer spring for Marlin 336, 1894, etc. 9.5# down to 6# after putting the buttstock back on (turns out to be important later). Yay! Ran primer only cases from the breech; no problem with Federal’s soft primers, but 1 out of 10 of the harder Winchester primers was a soft strike. I added an AN960C-4 stainless #4 washer, now we’re at 6.5#, but no soft strikes.

Next observation of the hammer and sear reveals the surfaces are coated, probably Cerakote, and a very small engagement area. Coating is great for corrosion protection, but makes sear-hammer disengagement a moving target as the layer wears with use and isn’t as friction-free as metal-metal contact. I lightly removed coating down to the hint of metal on the sear using ceramic stones taking care to retain angles but the hammer engagement area recess was too narrow of a fit for my stones. So, I folded a some of 1500 grit sandpaper, trimmed it to a 1/8” strip and lightly sanded the hammer notch. Now we’re down to 6# again (stock on).

The Marlin 33105 spring was too narrow to replace the existing trigger lock spring, so I measured that and trimmed a light 7/32” OD compression spring from a Harbor Freight spring assortment kit to length. It’s a little too wide, and a little bit of creep crept in, but down to 5# (stock on).

At this point it became clear I could get 2.5# with the stock off, but 5# with the stock on. Hmmm...
So, I inched the stock forward, and when the lugs on the front of the buttstock engaged the receiver, up went the trigger pull effort. The mainspring yoke assembly appeared to be engaging the inner front surface of the buttstock. A dremel die grinder recessed that contact area, and now I’m at 4.25# (stock on).

Next, it appeared that I would get 2.5 - 3# if I didn’t final tighten the buttstock screw. Ah-ha! Squeeze the buttstock support “fork”, and trigger pull went up. I had some 5/16” OD steel tube, reamed it out and tried a length to match the resting fork screw distance, added a washer, and came up with 2.40” length, with no increase in trigger pull after tightening the buttstock screw. I then drilled out the corresponding buttstock hole to 19/64” followed by 5/16” reaming, and tapped the newly created bushing into place on the buttstock (nice tight fit), and measured 2.5# with the stock on and tightened. The creep seemed to diminish, and is barely noticeable now. The buttstock is stable, and I’m happy. I had gotten some .188” OD compression spring stock to get a better trigger lock spring fit, but the trigger’s good enough now, so I’ll try it for a while and see how it goes.

[jrc111]

Also, I firmly buttstroked the concrete with hammer cocked, and no accidental discharge.

[fortyshooter]

Wonder what pull reduction you can get using stock springs but with your blueprinting the fit of the stock?
Excellent work jrc !

[John E Davies]

Thanks so much, I have been waiting for a thread like this. My .44Mag X has a nasty 8 pound pull with two distinct gritchy pre-stages, then a clean release. Do you think those are caused by the coating on the sear?

John Davies
Spokane WA

[jrc111]

“Wonder what pull reduction you can get using stock springs but with your blueprinting the fit of the stock?“

Based from the pull # increments, the Marlin hammer spring took away 3.5# and the washer shim added 0.5#, so in the absence of putting the stock spring back in and doing pull tests, I’d guess 2.5# + 3.5# - 0.5# = 5.5#. Under the 9# upper MilSpec and over the allowable 4.5# National Match servicible rifle minimum. Acceptable, but I personally still like 2.5# - 3# best, though.


“My .44Mag X has a nasty 8 pound pull with two distinct gritchy pre-stages, then a clean release. Do you think those are caused by the coating on the sear?”

Don’t know! In my limited experience grittiness can be caused by burrs, unclean surfaces, too much play allowing sear to rock on the hammer, or spring binding and probably a few more hundred things. I’d suggest disassembly and eyeballing the whole setup. I don’t know if Henry even routinely coats their sear or hammer, and your mechanism may be different than my model. One nice thing is the Henry trigger carrier lets you see how the mechanism functions without having to creat a jig or put pins on the receiver so you can externalize the trigger, sear and hammer. Theoretically, I’d think a few hundred rounds should tend loosen up the coating if that were the problem.

Thanks, guys. I put this out there ‘cause there is really not alot of info on improving the Henry trigger.

[leverjc]

Good work. Achieving a good trigger pull on a Henry is a lot more work than on a Marlin. Nice to see some trigger improvement work on this forum.