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How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? (Read 456 times)

hopkinskid Full Member Offline ASSRA Board Member Posts: 103 Location: Hopkins, MI Joined: May 12^th, 2020	How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Mar 12^th, 2026 at 11:05am	Print Post
	Is it a simple DIY project?


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 17810 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #1 - Mar 12^th, 2026 at 12:17pm	Print Post
	hopkinskid wrote on Mar 12^th, 2026 at 11:05am: Is it a simple DIY project? Never had one that was heavy in all the dozens of Ballard rifles I've owned. But it wouldn't be a simple task since the Ballard single trigger actions use a C shaped flat spring for trigger return spring. I know some have made new springs from lightweight material like the return springs in tape measures by annealing them to allow the sharp bend, then quenching them again. The vast majority of issues come up when the internals of the breech blocks are extremely grungy and dirty, and a good cleaning, and oiling of pivot points will normally make the triggers much nicer. If a mainspring is replaced they are often too heavy which will also increase trigger pull, and lightening the mainspring a little helps. But need to be careful and only sand or polish it lengthwise or chance it breaking if ground crossways. Or being too weak if ground too far. Toughest part is reassembling the block halves the first couple times. Once you've done it a few times it becomes an easy task. Then get a set trigger block and it's a whole different animal to learn to assemble!

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westerner Frequent Elocutionist Offline deleted posts and threads record holder. Posts: 12221 Location: Why, out West of course Joined: May 29^th, 2006	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #2 - Mar 12^th, 2026 at 7:28pm	Print Post
	Been down this path twice. The only way to get a very light trigger pull on a single trigger Ballard rifle is to remove the half cock notch off the hammer. Can lighten the trigger spring and polish the sears to get a lighter pull but then you will catch in the half cock notch. Can a fly be installed on a Ballard hammer with a single trigger? No. If anyone has figured out the fly problem I'd like to know about it. If you are a hard trigger yanker you can get away with leaving the half cock notch intact but your accuracy will be diminished due to the trigger yanking. Better to find a double set trigger Ballard.

	A blind squirrel runs into a tree every once in a while.
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hopkinskid Full Member Offline ASSRA Board Member Posts: 103 Location: Hopkins, MI Joined: May 12^th, 2020	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #3 - yesterday at 6:59am	Print Post
	Thanks, guys!


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cellargun Full Member Offline Posts: 159 Joined: Feb 28^th, 2022	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #4 - yesterday at 9:29am	Print Post
	The Lee Shaver website has a link to the Single Shot Exchange where you can view past articles. One article is titled, "In response...Trigger Jobs". In that article you will find an explanation of the method Lee developed that simply works. I know it will work on a Ballard, as well as a Hepburn, Winchester Single Shot(s), the list goes on, as I have used it successfully on all the above keeping the mainspring(s)unmodified and full power. Many times it's poor geometry of engagement surfaces rather than spring strength that makes for a poor trigger pull.


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westerner Frequent Elocutionist Offline deleted posts and threads record holder. Posts: 12221 Location: Why, out West of course Joined: May 29^th, 2006	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #5 - yesterday at 10:50am	Print Post
	cellargun wrote yesterday at 9:29am: The Lee Shaver website has a link to the Single Shot Exchange where you can view past articles. One article is titled, "In response...Trigger Jobs". In that article you will find an explanation of the method Lee developed that simply works. I know it will work on a Ballard, as well as a Hepburn, Winchester Single Shot(s), the list goes on, as I have used it successfully on all the above keeping the mainspring(s)unmodified and full power. Many times it's poor geometry of engagement surfaces rather than spring strength that makes for a poor trigger pull. Speaking of geometry, I have a Danish rolling block that you can see the hammer move back as you slowly pull the trigger. So far as the Lee Shaver article, trigger jobs and geometry are covered in most gunsmithing books better than what you see in online articles.
	« Last Edit: yesterday* at 10:56am by westerner* »
	A blind squirrel runs into a tree every once in a while.
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Deadeye Bly Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1126 Location: Stephens City Joined: Feb 25^th, 2011	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #6 - yesterday at 3:55pm	Print Post
	This how I do mine. You can change the spring for different tension. The spring pull weight must be less than the friction pull between the hammer and trigger. That way when the trigger releases it pulls away from the hammer and won't drop into the half cock notch. The biggest aggravation is how many times it must be assembled and disassembled to get it right. I've come up with an aide for that. I need to take a photo of to show that.


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Deadeye Bly Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1126 Location: Stephens City Joined: Feb 25^th, 2011	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #7 - yesterday at 3:56pm	Print Post
	Spring assembled in the block


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cellargun Full Member Offline Posts: 159 Joined: Feb 28^th, 2022	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #8 - yesterday at 10:00pm	Print Post
	westerner wrote yesterday at 10:50am: cellargun wrote yesterday at 9:29am: The Lee Shaver website has a link to the Single Shot Exchange where you can view past articles. One article is titled, "In response...Trigger Jobs". In that article you will find an explanation of the method Lee developed that simply works. I know it will work on a Ballard, as well as a Hepburn, Winchester Single Shot(s), the list goes on, as I have used it successfully on all the above keeping the mainspring(s)unmodified and full power. Many times it's poor geometry of engagement surfaces rather than spring strength that makes for a poor trigger pull. Speaking of geometry, I have a Danish rolling block that you can see the hammer move back as you slowly pull the trigger. So far as the Lee Shaver article, trigger jobs and geometry are covered in most gunsmithing books better than what you see in online articles. But have you read the article? He address the reason why the hammer moves back before releasing. In such cases you have to pull against the mainspring which adds tremendously to the trigger pull. Most of the single shots we all enjoy have a serious leaf spring to power the hammer. Correcting the sear and sear notch geometry allow those parts to slide past each other. Read the article. I have no doubt Lee knows as much or more than the experts who wrote books. He has specialized in single shots for several decades and you won’t stay in business that long turning out poor work.


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RDBallard Full Member Offline Posts: 114 Location: Kansas Joined: Apr 22^nd, 2020	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #9 - Today at 1:26am	Print Post
	Deadeye Bly wrote yesterday at 3:55pm: This how I do mine. You can change the spring for different tension. The spring pull weight must be less than the friction pull between the hammer and trigger. That way when the trigger releases it pulls away from the hammer and won't drop into the half cock notch. The biggest aggravation is how many times it must be assembled and disassembled to get it right. I've come up with an aide for that. I need to take a photo of to show that. That's really slick


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rkaires Frequent Elocutionist Offline No Stronger Bond Posts: 1670 Location: Dingmans Ferry, PA Joined: Oct 26^th, 2012	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #10 - Today at 6:11am	Print Post
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	ASSRA #11031 NRA Life Proud Noodlehead "Peace is that brief, glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading."~ ~ Thomas Jefferson
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GT Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 2336 Location: Northeast Wyoming Joined: Jun 28^th, 2015	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #11 - Today at 11:08am	Print Post
	Mr. Bly, I rarely mess with the original single trigger on a Ballard, I think in the 4-5 dozen or so Ballards, I think there's three in my mess. I've saved these pics and I'll make a couple of these arrangements for future use, thanks very much for sharing. GT

	"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" T. A. Edison "The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right" M.T.
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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 17810 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: How easy to lighten a single Ballard trigger? Reply #12 - Today at 1:14pm	Print Post
	Deadeye Bly wrote yesterday at 3:55pm: This how I do mine. You can change the spring for different tension. The spring pull weight must be less than the friction pull between the hammer and trigger. That way when the trigger releases it pulls away from the hammer and won't drop into the half cock notch. The biggest aggravation is how many times it must be assembled and disassembled to get it right. I've come up with an aide for that. I need to take a photo of to show that. I think you could make some of those up, even without a spring, and sell them pretty quickly here! I know I'd buy some just to play with different spring rates to see how it affected trigger pull.

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