My Ruger 10/22 is my most used, most cherished, and most loved gun in my collection. It was my first gun; she joined the family for my twelfth birthday. While I would never disparage such a “mature” lady, she’s begun to feel her age. After fifteen or twenty thousand rounds, she’s a bit gritty, stiff, and hard to get moving. So I’ve decided the old girl needs a bit of work. As the Ruger I won’t be going crazy. No fancy stocks, bull barrels or high end optics for me. I’ll be starting with the small items and going from there. Starting with a Timney trigger . . .

Timney sells a drop in trigger group assembly that replaces all the guts except the receiver and bolt. It comes with six different trigger shoe colors and claims to be set at 2 and ¾ lbs from the factory. All yours for $179.95. TTAG’s Answer Man Nick Leghorn put me in touch with the proper people. The company shipped my new test assembly out within the week.


It arrived in bubble wrap with detailed instructions, a sticker and a very nice bit of scripture. Sadly, I did not get a sucker. If you’re a sucker for mechanical object d’arts, the Timney Trigger deserves pride of place on your coffee table. It’s clearly a ground up design, fine in both overall form and intimate details. Timney didn’t just remake a trigger housing and clean up some surfaces. Oh no. Not at all.

The Ruger stock 10/22 trigger assembly is on the left, the Timney on the right. The Timney trigger uses a different hammer spring and sear. Look closely on the stock trigger group and you’ll see a wear mark from the hammer slamming back after each shot is fired. Over time this has worn down the aluminum. No structural issues, but it still looks terrible and probably isn’t so great for the hammer. The Timney has a little nylon bumper bumper to keep that from happening. The rest of the trigger is built hell bent for stout, so I have no doubt that it will hold up under repeated firing.

As you can also see here, this group includes a much sleeker magazine release. If you’ve ever used the stock mag release on the 10/22, you know what an awkward, clunky, stupid mechanism it is. The Timney one looks to be much cleaner. Additionally, they have cleaned up the bolt catch mechanism. The number one thing that always trips new shooters up on the Ruger is this mechanism. You have to do an odd little dance with your hands to make it work. This really simplifies the process. You pull the bolt back, depress the lever and let the bolt go. When you want to chamber a round, pull the bolt back and let it go forward.


Installation took all of five minutes. If you’re comfortable removing the trigger group for cleaning, you are qualified to install the new group. One of the pins was very tight, but some gentle persuasion with the handle of a screwdriver fixed things. I think there may have been a bit of debris or powder coat around the hole that needed to come free.

At this point, I’ve tested that the trigger would actually drop in, dry fired for function, and then removed it. My plan is to take the gun to the range, shoot it to establish a baseline for performance, and then install the Timney. We’ll see if it makes an improvement. My initial dry firing makes me think that I’m going to be sending Timney some more of my hard earned money.

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16 COMMENTS

  1. Please let us know how it works. I have long thought about buying this exact trigger group. It is a lot of money for me right now, so I am interested in how it performs. Good luck

  2. Tyler,

    Be sure to include some offhand shooting in your before and after accuracy testing. Bench rests tend to minimize the evil effects of all but the worst triggers, but unsupported offhand shooting will emphasize the advatages of a good one.

  3. Tyler, I completely enjoy my Ruger 10/22 (although it wasn’t my first rifle. My first was a Remington Nylon 66, bought new in 1960 or ’61. I think it cost my dad about $60, which was a king’s random at the time). I’m a huge fan of Timney triggers, too, and I never met one I didn’t like. And the release on the 10/22 is everything you said and less. But spending $179 or thereabouts for a new trigger on a $200 rifle? It’s kinda hard for me to justify.

    • While I get that, I’m in the camp of, “If it makes things better, and you have the money, buy it.” Firearms are one of the last things still made that you’ll hand down to your children or grandchildren. As such, the amortization period for firearms related purchases is extremely long. What is $200 over the course of 40 years of enjoyment?

      Can you tell my SO isn’t home while I’m writing?

      • Plus its not like a $2000 dollar scope on a big bore rifle that only gets shot a 100 times a year, if that .22 is anything like mine it probably sees 5,000 rounds through it a year.

  4. Hey, it’s not that difficult to spend a grand customizing a 10/22. It’s about personalization, like a car or a guitar — spend a little money to get exactly what you want. I look forward to reading your review.

  5. “…its not that difficult to spend a grand customizing a 10/.22”

    Maybe Joe Grine would care to weigh in on that idea with his customized multicolored Volquartzen-barreled offhand-stocked 10/.22? It might be a bit, er, ‘metro’ for some, but it shoots amazingly well.

  6. Assembly/dis-assembly note: Most drift pins on firearms are tapered slightly, and made to be taken out (using a drift pin) from the left to the right (when looking forward from the buttstock to the muzzle). When you replace them, drift them in from the right to the left. This may not apply to the 10/22, but if you are experiencing difficulty in drifting the pins out from right to left, try it the other direction before you get out the 10-lb sledge. My personal recommendation is a brass drift pin and a plastic or brass-faced hammer.

    This also applies to most drift-adjustable iron sights that are in a dovetail – drift out from left to right.

    Any gunsmiths out there who can comment or correct this for specific firearm makes? Are the Euro-designs (H&K, Sig, etc) different?

    • It doesn’t apply to the pins on a 10/22

      They are line bored and same on both ends. They are not an interference fit ans would fall out if not held captive by the receiver.

      You are right about pretty much everything else though.

  8. I have two Volquartsen trigger assemblies on a pair of 10/22s and love them both. Very smooth and light pull, no creep and have been using them for almost 10 years without a single problem. But…I have Timney triggers on four of my AR-15s and have had the same luck with them, so I decided to try a Timney trigger on a 10/22 I’m building. It worked…and worked and worked. My previously semi-automatic 10/22 suddenly became a machine gun. It might have been fun if that pesky 10 year prison sentence wasn’t hanging over my head. Anyway, Timney has it back for adjustment. We’ll see how it turns out.

  9. I just ordered my Timney trigger for my 1022, also decided to get a new stock, Hogue Rubber Over Molded AND new barrel, Tactical Solutions 10/22 Rifle Barrels MATTE BLACK. Might as well go all in.

    I haven’t shot my .22 rifle in a year or more but took that and the MkII to range and realized how much I like shooting those, much cheaper then my Sig 556 and Kimber .45

    So I have a week to wait for Cabela’s to get me my new gear. Can’t wait!!

  10. Where can I buy the Timney trigger for $179.-?? How much is the two stage trigger and how does that work??

    • I saw the same $179 value for the Timney trigger. I just bought this same trigger in July ’14 from a major parts supplier for $229. I shopped around and saw that was a standard going price. Got to figue that $50 increase is pretty hefty price hike for the same trugger in a fairly short period of time. Then again, they are keeping up with the prices of their major competitors.

  11. I bought the Timney Trigger Group for my new 10/22 last night, installed it in 5 minutes and then out to the range. I have competed in many Rifle and Pistol Matches over the years and have many Match Grade trigger setups, Walther GSP & OSP, 1911 Customized and Accurized triggers and I love them all. But this trigger out of the box shoots smooth, easy break, nice feel to the finger pad and is very consistent in trigger pull I didn’t measure the pull on this one but I know trigger pull feel and this trigger is awesome. The only catch in Canada I paid $300 for the 10/22 upgrade but this was for my 10/22 Target which I intend to use in competition.

    The Timney Trigger combined with the 10/22 Target Rifle is a great training tool, high quality, enjoyable Rifle to Shoot and effective to use as a Competition Rifle all for a combined cost with optics Nikon M223 for a cost of $1200 to $1300.

    So if you have the Bucks to spend do it and you won’t be able to wipe the smile off of your face.

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