doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Winchester 21 Single Trigger

I'm totally frustrated by this trigger mechanism. It fires the first barrel OK (whichever one is selected) but will not switch to the second barrel. All is clean. The right sear seems to be a little rougher than the left one. I have tried to polish the sear pin and the sides of the action where the sears slide but I don't think that would have anything to do with the malfunction of the trigger mechanism. Any ideas? Many thanks!

Conversion to double triggers? Seriously, show me a guy who proclaims his single trigger troublefree, and I'll show you a pristeen, beautiful, little used example firearm-that his single trigger is attached to.
If indeed it is true that God shoots a hammer Purdey (according to Adams, anyway) rest assured, said Purdey has double triggers. So should yours.
Best,
Ted

Ted: that would be the berries. A perfect setup. This is the only single trigger gun I own (actually I own two 21s; the other one happens to be working this week).

I've seen some excellent gunsmiths defeated by the Model 21 SST. If I were you, I'd be in contact with Connecticut Shotgun Mfg. Co. http://www.connecticutshotgun.com/guns.htm, They make 'em, they can repair 'em.

Gil, from my own experience the tails of the sears have to be absolutely level with each other, and the trigger mechanism must be in exactly the right position in the up/down plane..

This can be very frustrating with a M21 because the trigger mechanism is so precisely made. I fixed one of mine through careful study with a magnifier. I made up a dummy bushing of the exact length to simulate the stock bearing, and studied the trigger action while the trigger plate was installed but the stock was off the gun. All it needed was a stoning of one of the sear tails to get it to align exactly with the other one. I doubt that I took off more than a thou or two. Possibly that sear had worn very slightly through use causing the misalignment. CAVEAT: if you stone too much off either sear you're going to have more problems.

You might try tightening or loosening the top tang screw to see if that helps. Same with the screw that's in the rear of the tang under the trigger guard.

Possibly the best advice I can give you is to send the gun to Galazan/Connecticut for adjustment. Silvers

I was going to suggest the tang screws also, but Silvers beat me to it. They are sensitive about tang-to-tang distance, and many folks have trouble if they tighten too much, as one might if the wood has shrunk.

The trigger lifter has a front nose and two side noses. If the front nose will engage, the first barrel will fire. However, the next side nose must then engage.Often, on a well used M 21,it will not slide into place.One may buy a new lifter (Galazan) ,or carefully, file the side noses so that they will slide under proper sear.There should be a small amount of of take-up on the trigger on the first and the second take-up.

I recall my father ordering a custom model 21 back in the late '50's or early '60's. The single trigger did not work properly from day one. The first two years he owned it, Winchester had it 90% of the time and I think he spent more $ with UPS than he paid for the gun. Winchester couldn't fix it. He finally took it to Pachmayr, who did fix it. Shortly after that, the 21 disappeared, and I never saw it again.

Mr Apperson wrote an excellent description of the trigger reset action. His use of the terms front (top) nose and side noses is very descriptive and accurate. Unfortunately the average home 'smith isn't likely to take apart the trigger mechanism to get at the trigger lifter. Take a look at the springs and parts inside and that will dissuade most everyone but the real experts. If the sear tail inspection shows they are exactly in line with each other when the hammers are cocked, and the screw loosening and tightening doesn't help, I personally would send the gun away for repairs. Incidentally the M21 single trigger design is excellent. I hope this thread isn't casting any negative impressions on the M21. I've used all but one of my "original" guns extensively with nary a problem. Yep, you might find a problem child now and then, but you will also with most any gun. Silvers

My only Model 21 trigger problem was unsuccessfully worked on by Paul Jaeger's old shop in Jenkintown and by Lefever in Lee Center, New York. It was finally fixed correctly by Alfred Gallifant in Warrington, PA. Those close to Alfred's shop would probably find his work acceptable. Alfred agrees that there must normally be some takeup in a 21 trigger, although I find it distracting. Most factory 21 triggers do not have a noticable takeup, but my little 16 Skeet did after Alfred worked on it. I was just glad it worked.