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Plastic Trigger Guards Stink

RickN

RickN

Copper BB
How many of us have long guns with plastic trigger guards? How many of us LIKE plastic trigger guards? I don't understand why manufacturers decided plastic was a good idea for anything besides lowering their costs.

I have a Savage Model 24V that came with a plastic trigger guard. This is an old gun, circa 1973, with nice wood and color case hardened receiver; and Savage scrimped on the trigger guard. It broke on me shortly after I got the gun and gluing it didn't solve anything. It needed a permanent solution. Nobody else had a fix, so i decided to do my own.

I knew a guy who ran a machine shop and asked him about buying a piece of brass stock. He did me one better and used the shop tools to do the rough cut for me. Then I got out the files and emery cloth and finally the Brasso. The hardest part was screwing up the courage to actually start; that, and drilling the holes.

Here's what I came up with.



Just thought I'd show how it turned out and encourage others to jump in when the easy solution isn't there.
 

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I have a stevens model 97 singleshot 16 gauge that looks just like your plastic trigger guard, only mine is broken at the rear screw.

I have it in place with an oversized washer.

If you think you may want to sell your plastic one, if you can measure roughly the center of the holes and if it will line up with my holes, I may would be interested in buying your old plastic guard off of you if that's an option.
 
John A. said:
I have a stevens model 97 singleshot 16 gauge that looks just like your plastic trigger guard, only mine is broken at the rear screw.

I have it in place with an oversized washer.

If you think you may want to sell your plastic one, if you can measure roughly the center of the holes and if it will line up with my holes, I may would be interested in buying your old plastic guard off of you if that's an option.
Click to expand...

Sorry, mine's broken, too. That's what got me motivated to make a replacement. I tried Numrich and another outfit. Bought one and returned it because it didn't fit the Model 24V.

Good luck.
 
No problem and thanks anyway.

I saw the picture of it and wanted to ask.

Your brass trigger guard turned out great. I doubt you'll have to ever worry about it breaking again :mrgreen:
 
I actually CHOSE to have the lighter weight plastic trigger guard of a 500 instead of a 590.
If it weren't just a 'house gun' I would go for rugged instead of lightweight.
I don't see how it could get broken unless it gets dropped or bumped against the ground when quickly going prone
 
Your gun is more handsome now! I bet you wish you had done it much earlier. Good work.
 
First off maaaaaannnnnn that is a asoume triger gaurd . Also I have a plastic tg on my 500 and I really dident pay any attention untill I went to walmart and looked at all the guns for sale PLASTIC TG on most of them . To bad the plastic short cuts don't reflect on the price .
 
Kungfunerd said:
I actually CHOSE to have the lighter weight plastic trigger guard of a 500 instead of a 590.
If it weren't just a 'house gun' I would go for rugged instead of lightweight.
I don't see how it could get broken unless it gets dropped or bumped against the ground when quickly going prone
Click to expand...

I didn't buy this gun new; it was made around 1973. The trouble with the plastic is that it doesn't hold up well over that span of more than 35 years. Plastic can dry out and become brittle, breaking with just normal handling. That's what happened to this one. It broke right at the mounting hole. This doesn't leave much bonding area when trying to glue the broken pieces together.

I'm happy with the replacement. Together with the color case hardened receiver I think it gives the gun an even nicer look.
 
ernestrincon said:
First off maaaaaannnnnn that is a asoume triger gaurd . Also I have a plastic tg on my 500 and I really dident pay any attention untill I went to walmart and looked at all the guns for sale PLASTIC TG on most of them . To bad the plastic short cuts don't reflect on the price .
Click to expand...

Thanks all for the comments. I seem to keep finding older guns that lure me in. The Savage O/U is from about '73, the Remington 1100 is from July '67, the New Haven is '68 or earlier if the data I found on-line is correct, similar for the Mossberg 640 KS. Only the Magtech was bought new, and that wasn't my best decision.

I sold a perfectly good Marlin Model 60 and bought the Magtech for the simple reason that the Marlin was too slow for me to load. I originally bought it just to have a .22LR for the odd fox getting after chickens. But by the time I could get it loaded the intended target was long gone. The Magtech, being a clone of the 702 Plinkster, uses a 10 round magazine. Much faster. But, being a clone, it isn't as well made as the Plinkster and had I known it was a clone at the time, I'd have shopped longer. I read a good review, it wasn't too expensive, so I got one. Water under the bridge.
 
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