From: bartb@hpfcla.fc.hp.com (Bart Bobbitt)
Subject: Re: lock times?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Fort Collins Site

john cummings (cumminj@clemson.clemson.edu) wrote:

: Does anyone have any info on modern rifle trigger lock times?

First, understand that lock time is how long it is between the trigger
sear's  disengagement and when the firing pin strikes the primer's cup.
Custom triggers oft times reduce lock time as they have lighter-weight
sear pieces or other moving parts whose mass can slow down lock times.

Winchester M70s have about .003 second, or 3 millisecond (ms) lock times with
their standard 23-pound firing pin spring.  A 30-pound spring reduces that
to about 2.3 ms.  With a titanium firing pin, lock time goes down to about
1.8 ms.  These numbers are for the long actions; the new short actions have
lock times about 15% less due to their shorter firing pin being lighter.

Remington's M700 rifles have about a 2.5 ms lock time with their 26-lb.
firing pin spring.  A 32-lb. spring takes that down to about 2 ms and the
addition of a titanium firing pin get it to about 1.6 ms.  Again, these
are for the long actions; short ones have about 15% less lock time.

Ruger M77s have about 3.4 ms lock time and I don't know of anybody making
stronger firing pin springs for these long actions.  I would guess short
actions would have slightly shorter lock times.

Paramount actions have about a 1.3 ms lock time with their 55-lb. spring
driving a light-weight firing pin about one-tenth of an inch to the primer.
That's the fastest production lock time for any rifle.

Anschutz 1400 series target rifles used to be about 2.3 ms.  Starting with
their 1800 series, that got reduced to about 1.7 ms.  Their new 2000 series
has about 1.5 ms so I'm told.

Mauser actions based on the original '98 design have rather slow lock times
of about 4 to 5 ms.  Their long firing pin travel and weaker firing pin
spring is the reason why.

Springfield 1903s and Enfield 1917s have about the same lock time as Mausers;
around 4 to 5 ms.

Some benchrest actions (Stolle, Hall, DGA and others) have lock times
about 1.7 to 2.1 ms.  As these rifles are shot from rests, lock times can
be longer and all will be fine.

Regarding your comment:

: My target .22 purports to have a 0.04 sec
: lock time, and the manufacturer claims
: that this has been reduced for their most
: recent release.

That's a 40 ms lock time; rather slow in my opinion.  What make is your
target .22 rifle?  Could your decimal point be off somewhat?

BB