Savage, and soon Marlin, will offer hunting rifle triggers for their lightweight field 30-06’s that can significantly reduce trigger pull, down to the 2.5 pound range.
A.) Why is this?
B) Why are rifle pulls so much lighter in general than pistol pulls?
A rifle is easier to shoot accurately with a light trigger pull. It is nice to see companies finally putting decent triggers on the new guns. We've suffered with lawyer proof triggers for too long. Which brings us to handguns. The heavier trigger pulls are put there as a safety device. In a high stress, or self defense situation, many people have inadvertently pulled the trigger. They didn't mean to, they just didn't realize they were putting that much pressure on the trigger. Also many handguns use a double action type trigger, where pulling the trigger cocks the pistol before it fires it. With a rifle, you cock the action when you lift the bolt, work the lever or pump, or the slide works it on an automatic. But for most guns meant for self defense, you will see heavier triggers, simply for safety's sake. Where more precision is required, hunting with a handgun for example, the handgun has a way to cock it, resulting in a very light trigger pull. On a double action revolver, or tc encore or contender you simply pull the hammer back till it locks. It seems like there was a hunting handgun that had a plunger that you pulled back at one time as well. These handguns have trigger pulls that often shame the best rifle triggers. A lot of competition rifle shooters have triggers set well under one pound. It is just necessary to squeeze that last bit of accuracy out of their rifle.