Hi guys and girls;
I've been trying to get a better trigger on my Double Star, AR-15 rifle. It's a standard M-4 configuration with a light weight barrel. It has been shooting sub minute of angle groups but it's like pulling teeth to get them because of a heavy, gritty trigger pull. So I studied all of the info and pictures I could find on the Mil spec AR-15 trigger assembly including my own parts.
I found it was easy to carefully stone the hammer and sear to get rid of the grittyness without removing hardly any material at all, just the tops of the grinder marks on those surfaces and then polished them with my Dremel tool to a high sheen. Now I had a smooth trigger but it was heavy, 10 + lbs. with a long pull. Still not satisfied, I installed a 1/4" X 1/4" X 20 thread, set screw into the pistol grip retaining hole and positioned it so that it would limit the overtravel of the trigger untill it would just trip, plus 1/4 turn for good measure and this helped a lot but was not perfect, it was still a heavy 10 + lbs. trigger pull so I ordered a JP Enterprises reduced power spring kit and installed it. Now the trigger pull weight was down to 4-1/2 lbs. and was beginning to feel more like what I wanted. Trigger pull is many things to many people, it comes down to your own likes and dislikes. For me, if I don't like a trigger, I fix it to suite myself or I sell it. Anyway, I kept wanting more. Crisper and less creep. I will always have a fondness for a S&W single action trigger on their double action revolvers and I guess that is what I was after, but could it be done safely? Well, in a word, NO! Not by me. so I started looking at aftermarket triggers, there are several and you can find them easily by doing a Google search on the internet so I won't go into them here but needless to say they are pricey, up to around $300 so you have to want one real bad but are they really worth it? Then I came across an ad in a magazine where Jerry Miculek recomended a American Trigger Corp. "Gold Trigger" for the AR-15 and I found a video where he demonstrated it's use and to say the least, he is amazing. Now I realize that it won't make me a world class shooter but would it satisfy my thirst for a better AR-15 trigger? I looked at pictures of the parts in June 2009, GUNS magazine trying to figure out how it worked. I even drew pictures of the parts on paper and then cut them out and fitted them together to see just how they worked.
Well after much internal debate I decided to purchase one, I mean money won't be worth much soon, so I better get it while I can. They had them on sale from Pact Inc. (the timer people) for $279.95. $20.00 off of the regular price of $299.95, then they want $14.95 shipping for a package a little bigger than the size of a cigarette pack. I always said "I'll give you the product at my cost, (just pay shipping and handling)". Well anyway I ordered it and then found out they were backordered by about 3 weeks. OK, I wasn't in any big hurry anyway, you know how that goes. Sure enough in three weeks to the day, here it came, UPS.
Now to install it and see if will fill that need that I am yearning for?
Installation is quick and easy, it is a self contained module, no little parts except the retainer pins. There are videos on the internet showing how to do it so I won't go into it here.
It's a two-stage trigger with a light 1/2 lb. take-up of about 1/16" at the trigger on the first stage and then it breaks cleanly like a glass rod at 2-1/2lbs. as it came from the factory however it is adjustable, but I don't know what those limits are and probably won't change anything since I'm very pleased with the way it is now.
Now. Is it worth it? Only you can decide that. My only intent is to help you decide.
10mm, when you care enough to send the very best.
I've been trying to get a better trigger on my Double Star, AR-15 rifle. It's a standard M-4 configuration with a light weight barrel. It has been shooting sub minute of angle groups but it's like pulling teeth to get them because of a heavy, gritty trigger pull. So I studied all of the info and pictures I could find on the Mil spec AR-15 trigger assembly including my own parts.
I found it was easy to carefully stone the hammer and sear to get rid of the grittyness without removing hardly any material at all, just the tops of the grinder marks on those surfaces and then polished them with my Dremel tool to a high sheen. Now I had a smooth trigger but it was heavy, 10 + lbs. with a long pull. Still not satisfied, I installed a 1/4" X 1/4" X 20 thread, set screw into the pistol grip retaining hole and positioned it so that it would limit the overtravel of the trigger untill it would just trip, plus 1/4 turn for good measure and this helped a lot but was not perfect, it was still a heavy 10 + lbs. trigger pull so I ordered a JP Enterprises reduced power spring kit and installed it. Now the trigger pull weight was down to 4-1/2 lbs. and was beginning to feel more like what I wanted. Trigger pull is many things to many people, it comes down to your own likes and dislikes. For me, if I don't like a trigger, I fix it to suite myself or I sell it. Anyway, I kept wanting more. Crisper and less creep. I will always have a fondness for a S&W single action trigger on their double action revolvers and I guess that is what I was after, but could it be done safely? Well, in a word, NO! Not by me. so I started looking at aftermarket triggers, there are several and you can find them easily by doing a Google search on the internet so I won't go into them here but needless to say they are pricey, up to around $300 so you have to want one real bad but are they really worth it? Then I came across an ad in a magazine where Jerry Miculek recomended a American Trigger Corp. "Gold Trigger" for the AR-15 and I found a video where he demonstrated it's use and to say the least, he is amazing. Now I realize that it won't make me a world class shooter but would it satisfy my thirst for a better AR-15 trigger? I looked at pictures of the parts in June 2009, GUNS magazine trying to figure out how it worked. I even drew pictures of the parts on paper and then cut them out and fitted them together to see just how they worked.
Well after much internal debate I decided to purchase one, I mean money won't be worth much soon, so I better get it while I can. They had them on sale from Pact Inc. (the timer people) for $279.95. $20.00 off of the regular price of $299.95, then they want $14.95 shipping for a package a little bigger than the size of a cigarette pack. I always said "I'll give you the product at my cost, (just pay shipping and handling)". Well anyway I ordered it and then found out they were backordered by about 3 weeks. OK, I wasn't in any big hurry anyway, you know how that goes. Sure enough in three weeks to the day, here it came, UPS.
Now to install it and see if will fill that need that I am yearning for?
Installation is quick and easy, it is a self contained module, no little parts except the retainer pins. There are videos on the internet showing how to do it so I won't go into it here.
It's a two-stage trigger with a light 1/2 lb. take-up of about 1/16" at the trigger on the first stage and then it breaks cleanly like a glass rod at 2-1/2lbs. as it came from the factory however it is adjustable, but I don't know what those limits are and probably won't change anything since I'm very pleased with the way it is now.
Now. Is it worth it? Only you can decide that. My only intent is to help you decide.
10mm, when you care enough to send the very best.
