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Gunsmithing Who is GOOD working with/on Jewell Triggers?

turbo54

Mr. 7mm
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 10, 2010
4,995
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Michigan
So, I bought a rifle with a Jewell trigger. It was set very, very light (6-8oz). Before taking the rifle out, I feel I thoroughly function tested it, and it passed. Action, FWIW, is a Badger M2008.

Aside from it binding up and not releasing while I was out shooting in the rain at the Grind (which thankfully, happened before I took my first shot at the shoothouse mover stage, and the RO allowed me to fix my rifle and try again. Thank you, very understanding), it has always functioned properly.

So anyway, I sent my bolt out for melonite (action but not bolt had already been nitrided), and have been cycling it a LOT since getting the bolt back, to smooth it all out.

Guess I pulled a dumbass maneuver... I've ever done this before (not often), but it's never f*cked anything up before: With the bolt all the way forward, I *just* barely rotated it down into battery, but left the bolt lever *almost* all the way up. Then I pulled the trigger, resulting in the bolt lever slamming down.

After doing this, the trigger would not cock the striker anymore. Maybe once in every 10-15 tries.

I thought maybe the trigger just needed some cleaning. I squirted a bunch of Ronsonol lighter fluid through it. No improvement.

I took the trigger apart and thoroughly cleaned it. No improvement.

I inspected all of the engagement surfaces for chips, burs or any other noticeable anomaly. None found.

I began to familiarize myself with exactly how the Jewell trigger works. What's happening is "upper lever sear" (part #8) that articulates about the bottom "bulb" (part #13) of the "Upper Lever" (part #6) is not always catching on the "Trigger Sear" (part #5).

jewl03op.jpg

At first I figured I just needed to adjust (increase) the sear engagement setscrew, so the Upper Lever Sear would be more likely to catch on it. This indeed helped, but it is not functioning 100%. Maybe 90%. This is with maximum achievable sear engagement, without grinding material off the tip of the trigger shoe.

So I started playing with the upper lever sear and the upper lever. I notice that it is crucial the sear *freely* rotates clockwise as far as possible, to get its engagement surface hanging as low as possible, or else it won't catch on the trigger sear... It seems only gravity will cause this to happen. Anyway, I've noted some slight binding between upper lever and upper lever sear, which results in a "no cock". When I say "slight" binding, I mean SLIGHT. I'd bet it takes well less than a grain of force to "break it free".

I've considered polishing the articulation points. Seems likely it'll help. But could this really be the answer?

Any help?
 
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Check the pie shaped piece thingy. (El Numero Siete' (#7 for those that don't habla) ) I had one split in half on me once and it behaved wierd.

Understand that the back side is supposed to be split. It's machined via wire EDM and its where the wire enters/exits the bore for the pin.

Good luck.

C.
 
Appreciate the idea, unfortunately I don't think there's anything wrong with that part; I inspected it closely.

Any other ideas out there?
 
Maybe a silly question, but have you called Jewell? I've had them on the phone a couple of times and they were quick to fix my problem.
 
Maybe a silly question, but have you called Jewell? I've had them on the phone a couple of times and they were quick to fix my problem.


I called them today, they had no advice for me other than to send it in.

I'll follow up when it's fixed, if they tell me what the problem is.