Marlin 81 DL Trigger Help

[BigBen1861]

I acquired an old Marlin that had belonged to my grandfather. Seems to still be in good working order, but the trigger is ridiculous. I don't have a trigger scale, but if it's less than 15 pounds I"d be shocked. Zero pre-travel, and breaks like glass...but it's insanely heavy. Any advice for how to lower the pull weight on this rifle?

 

[Gimli2]

I've been meaning to do some research on this myself. I have a Sears branded 80 from the late 40's that has a simillar problem. The bolt on it is very stiff the last half inch or so...I have a feeling that it's going to be related.

 

[Traderjohn]

I think you can order a different sear and it will reduce the pull tremendously.

I have taken a file and done some work on the sears to get the trigger pull down to about a pound.

 

[BigBen1861]

Got a drawing? Looks like replacements parts are available in case I get too aggressive with the file, but I don't know where to start.

 

[Traderjohn]

I don't have a drawing. I just took it out of the stock, and dry fired to seed what was the "hangup", took it apart and did a little filing.
Put it back together and see what I had. I probably went through that process 20 times.
It really is a pain in the butt.
If I had it to do again, I would just order the sear.
I'm not a gunsmith.

 

[Gimli2]

I GOT LUCKY! I pulled the gun apart and it appears that someone went in and tried to do a little smoothing...but maybe they put the trigger assembly back together incorrectly because it seems to be a lot better than when I started. It's still heavy but it's useable without a comealong now...

 

[Traderjohn]

Good deal.
It's a Marlin, so it's not going to have polished parts. It's just a stamp and assemble. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a marlin, I have several.