montea6b Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 I should have posed this question before I ordered, but I recently acquired a commercial hinged triggerguard from Sporter Express and I have to say I'm pretty dissapointed. My specific complaints are that is cast, (with mold marks) it is military contour, (not tapered or slimmed like I'd expect a "commercial" triggerguard to be, and the fit and finish overall is poor. I could slim, recontour, polish and reblue easily enough, but the slop in the hinge pin area is unsatisfactory. Way too much side to side play which adversely affects smooth closure. I'd return it but I took too much time mulling over whether or not it was worth trying to salvage and missed their return policy timeline. Here are the other options I see for a hinged triggerguard: 1. Pete Grisel model. Top notch I'm sure, but $400 + is way out of my league. 2. PAWS aluminum unit from Brownells. Probably a nice unit, reasonable price, but not too keen on the fancy floorplate. If it were an elk or muley I might change my mind, but I live in Washington state where we have no pronghorn antelope and I'm building a .35 Whelen so it just doesn't seem right. 3. Zastava model. These seem like a reasonable, low workload option, but I don't know much about the quality. I don't want to get stuck with another turkey. Also not sure about the side release, (I've never actually used either kind...) but I could deal with it. 4. Argentine 1909. Probably the best option, but they're not always easy to find and are getting pricey. Floorplateless models can be had on occasion, which could be fitted with a straddle floorplate, (I like the custom look of this option...) but still need some work to recontour and could be a hassle finding the little release lever. 5. Make my own per instructions in "Do it yourself gunsmithing" by Jim Carmichael. Quality depends on my effort, which could be significant if done all with hand tools. And I'd like a different release than the lever type. But it would be fun to try and I'd certainly have some pride in showing it off to anybody who could appreciate the effort. Now for a few questions: - Am I missing anything? Any other good sources for a commercial unit or adapting something else? - What are the opinions of the Zastava units? - Any additional thoughts or suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donmarkey Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Other than a sunny hill or blackburn custom guards, both well worth the price if the rest of your rifle is the same quality, you can't beat a argentine guard. You'll have to do the recontouring and fitting of the floorplate yourself, but to me that's part of the hobbie I enjoy(anyone can buy a rifle). The first few I did with a hacksaw and file. Parts aren't hard to come buy if you look enough. Latches are easily made or cheap to buy (under $10). The only big expense other than the guard itself, is the floorplate ($75-100) depending who made them and the finish. See my post in "For Sale" -Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorgansBoss Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 If you're serious about rolling your own hinged floorplate, PM me your email addy. Maybe I can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoedoh Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Monte, Here's a Zastava triggerguard. I put this on my 30-06 and can't find anything to complain about. Especially for the $80 or so dollars I paid for it. I too have the Carmichael book and I can tell you that if you have the time to fiddle with it, it is possible to recontour a military triggerguard using nothing but files and a dremel tool. In my mind though, the jury is still out on whether or not its worth the time to do it. Here's the pictures of a Turkish triggerguard I got most of the work done on and never finished: Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montea6b Posted December 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Thanks for the photos Jason. How much does the wood protrude past the bottom edge of the magazine on that stock? It looks like you still have some wood to remove to make it flush, but it's hard to tell in that shot. What I don't want to do is to have to notch the stock for the side release button like you did. Maybe just a little, but it would have to be almost imperceptible before I'd consider it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailormilan2 Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Well, I managed to get 3 of those crappy triggerguards, from Sarco. I have used one, and am working on the second one. I have filed the front of the triggerguard bow down. Including filing the latch, to make it half way presentable. I need to taper the rear of the triggerguard next. Latch spring seems very weak also. I though about replacing the hinge pins to take the slop out, but it looks as if the hinge pins are peened over so removal is difficult. If I had to do it again, I think would get some of the Charles Daly/Mk 10 style. I've seen them listed on eBay for $64. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoedoh Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 Monte, Excusing my photographic skills and the roughness of the unfinished stock, does this help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorgansBoss Posted December 18, 2005 Report Share Posted December 18, 2005 You whittle that stock yourself? Are those fallen leaves or wood chips on the ground behind you? BTW - anyone wishing to try making a hinged floorplate from a mil-surp. one as Jim Carmichael described, it isn't all that difficult. The old-style lever catch is a royal pain in the arse though! I used to have one and the lever seemed to be right where I wanted to put my hand when carrying the rifle. Too many times I accidentally "bumped" the latch open and dumped the magazine - once while in the field is "too many" times! It does look neat and lends that classic old look, but its just not practical. I much prefer the plunger-type catch found on Mod.70 Winchesters. Its secure, out of the way and best of all an easy modification to a Mauser guard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoedoh Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 MB, I ended up going with a synthetic stock on the 30-06. The laminate in the picture was too big a piece of crap to bother with right now. And yes, I did whittle/chisel/shape/plain/ect a lot on this stock. I haven't gotten around to sanding on it yet. Don't all wood stocks look rough before a final finishing? Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weagle Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Here a Military guard that I had that had been modified with the lever release. I was well pleased with it. Weagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorgansBoss Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Weagle and others, Hope I didn't give the wrong impression although re reading my post it sure sounds that way. My intent was to offer my personal opinion on lever releases. For me - and maybe its just my personal traits in holding the rifle - it was simply in the way. I don't like protruding magazines for the same reason. Most of my rifles end up with wear and rust on the floor plate - again - for the same reason. The rifle in question was a .243Win w/ Rem. barreled Turk action. Danged accurate rifle but the guard I used had the lever release, dumped the mag at least twice I can remember while groundhogging. Quite the annoyance! Can't hardly imagine it but I've heard of people accidentally punching "through the guard" type releases during recoil (must a been a big boomer!) as well. I've never accidentally opened a Winchester-style plunger release. In fact you gotta WANT to open one of these things to do so. I'd suppose the Zastavia "side button" would be pretty sure as well but I've never used one. Like cock-on-close bolts and right/left safeties I'm sure its a matter of what you're used to or can GET used to, but for me lever releases are off my list of accessories! Jason - likewise, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings with the stock comments. My humor is frequently misread. I've had a bunch of lumber look much worse at that stage of the process! Keep chipping away (no pun intended), you'll have a stock to be proud of one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montea6b Posted December 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Looks like you have to modify the stock for the Charles Daly/Zastava side release. I don't think I want to go there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weagle Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 Morgansboss, I certainly saw nothing offensive about your post. I posted the pic of the lever release guard just to show an example of what it would look like on a military guard. The one I had was on a Westernfield sporter, and the lever movement was stiff enough that an accidental opening would have been nearly impossible. I used an argentine 1909 hinged unit on my last project mainly because I like the way they look. Weagle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoedoh Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 MB, The only thing hurtin' about that stock is my left hand where a slipped chisel caught it and bit me. No offense taken. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odies dad Posted December 19, 2005 Report Share Posted December 19, 2005 I made a hinged floorplate from a Turk guard. It was a lot of work but it didn't turn out too bad. I welded a piece of square rod to the front of the floor plate and filed out a cooresponding slot at the front of the trigger guard. I slotted a hinge pin hole so the floor plate could latch normally and I used a button extension for the release. Push the button and pull the floorplate back toward the trigger guard and hinge it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montea6b Posted December 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 I slotted a hinge pin hole so the floor plate could latch normally and I used a button extension for the release. Push the button and pull the floorplate back toward the trigger guard and hinge it down. I had considered trying the same thing actually, thanks for validating this option OD! How did you cut the slot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoedoh Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 OD, Thank you for validating my thoughts. Yours is the idea I was working toward with the Turkish triggerguard pictured above. How did you cut your slot? I kinda did it by drilling two holes closely together, hogging out the middle, and cleaning it up with a rat tail file. I am glad to know that it can work! Thanks, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odies dad Posted December 21, 2005 Report Share Posted December 21, 2005 That's pretty much what I did.. I have made several buttons for floor plate releases but for this one I used one of the "store bought" ones because they have concentric rings on the face and it helps for traction to push the floorplate closed or open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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