So I bought my first AR, it was on election day of 2016. Driving in to work I thought, "You'd better buy one, it is your last chance!" So much for my ability to call elections. But I went out a noon and bought an AR. I looked at the cheapest one in the house and then bought the next more expensive model with a famous name. Turned out to be a DPMS.

Put sights on it and shot it today. The first time I pulled the trigger I thought I had left the safety on! Yes, that bad. But it sighted in easily and made tiny groups at 25 yards. Next time I will try 50, then 100. But a new trigger is in the plans.

many stock AR triggers are a bit 'meh". I have a Stag and the trigger is OK. but it's not as good as the US trigger on my AK. Weird, huh?

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Release the Kraken

Yep. The factory "mil spec" trigger on most entry level rifles are nothing to brag about. Some are horrible, some mediocre, and every now and then you'll get one that's acceptable.

There are ways to lighten the trigger without replacing it if you don't want to wait for it to wear in. That said, I believe the Rock River 2 stage Match trigger is a great upgrade to near any AR for short $.

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Dave

Some great sales on AR parts right now,get on the email lists and you will soon find a trigger at a price you will like.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

Your story is parallel to mine, I bought one about the same time for the same reasons. Bought the same gun, flat top put a 2-7 Vortex on it and it will shoot into about 1" at 100 yards. Other than being gritty feeling, the trigger in my DPMS isn't too bad, about 6-7 lbs. Once zeroed in I put it in the rack and have only shot it once since. I laid in my obligatory 1000 rounds of ammo and a stack of mags and it just waits for if needed.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Yep, I believe "mil-spec" is the problem, so the sear doesn't trip when you drop it out of a helicopter.

It might be a case of snake-oil & placebo effect, but many years ago I bought a tiny jar of Chip McCormick's "trigger slick". You only use a teeny bit per trigger, so it lasts forever. I'll put some of that on the engagement surfaces and dry-fire a few hundred times. Every trigger I've tried it on has cleaned up, to some degree.

Dry-firing an AR is easy if you just use the lower. Keep your thumb in front of the hammer to keep it from hitting the receiver and to push it back to reset, and you can easily trip the trigger a thousand times while watching an ep of your favorite show.

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TEAM DNF

Most stock triggers are meh and DPMS is down there below meh as well

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

If you are looking to replace your trigger, may I suggest a modular trigger? Back when I was shooting Service Rifle competitions, I replaced the stock Colt trigger with a JP Enterprises trigger. When I started building my spacegun, I put a JP in that, also. The JP Enterprises triggers are nice, but you are juggling springs and component parts. When I built my long range AR for F class matches out to 1000 yards, I installed a CMC modular trigger. Installation of the modular trigger was beyond simple, drop in, mount 2 pins, and you are done!

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Judge control not gun control!

I had a post ban DPMS LR in .308 Winchester. The trigger from the factory was downright crunchy. It also lacked a shell deflector and as a left hand shooter it hit my face with hit bras more often than not. I had a gunsmith install a JP trigger. Sold that rifle with a case for $1750 during the panic after the 2008 election.

A year ago I bought the latest iteration of the post ban DPMS 243 for about $1100, factory new. Excellent trigger and accuracy right out of the box. It also has a shell defector.

YMMV

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Buy American
Vote Responsibly

With the prices of ARs now, you can spend 40% of the cost of the gun upgrading the trigger. Is the average AR worth it?

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Release the Kraken

ALG trigger for general purpose use.
Rock River 2-stage for LR.
YMMV

Stock Mil-Spec AR triggers will improve somewhat after shooting 200-300 rounds. There are inexpensive spring kits that might help to some degree. You might try that before laying out $150-$200 for a new trigger.

The typical AR is a combat weapon, not meant to be a precision target rifle, without shelling out more money, and work.

A lot can be done to a stock trigger for a small outlay in new springs and some polishing. However, I think the RRA match trigger can be had for $80 on sale regularly. That's probably the best bang for the buck trigger change. My first AR was a dpms too, and I found a timiny (sp?) trigger used for under $100 shortly afterwards.

I bought a new old stock DPMS carbine a couple years ago. This one was made the year following the 'Newtown' massacre. My favorite FFL had ordered a bunch of budget AR carbines at customer request(like eleven guns all spoken for)....it took several months to actually get the guns as AR rifles/carbines were a hot commodity then(panic buy in full swing!). One of the DPMS carbines that came into the FFL was a more expensive camo version...and several customers had backed out on the guns because of the long wait to receive them. Left the FFL stuck with three or four carbines including the more expensive camo DPMS.

My FFL had managed to sell all the DPMS carbines except the $150 more expensive camo gun. The FFL just kept it in stock and after awhile AR prices plummeted somewhat from the inflated panic buy post Newtown prices. He offered it to me at cost..which was still sort-of high compared to the current prices...however I bought it as I liked the camo/black trim look of the DPMS camo guns.

The only thing I could complain about was that my nos DPMS had a smoothie bolt carrier with a forward assist equipped receiver! I didn't even notice that right away...only when I cleaned after the first range session did I notice the non forward assist bolt carrier. It has a DPMS provided replacement carrier now so no big deal.

The trigger pull on the panic built DPMS is fine/normal. The thing that most impressed me with the DPMS carbine is that I simply bolted a cheap red dot sight on top of the new carbine and it bore-sighted perfect...no adjustment needed. Took it shooting the first time and it was dead on target! Later I put a better sight system on the DPMS a Leupold scope and that came up very close too...requiring but little adjustment.

Whatever the reputation DPMS has at least mine is a nice and straight shooting little carbine.

Timney drop in trigger and don't look back....

A little stoning and polishing will slick up an AR trigger without spending half the price of the rifle for a replacement.

Stock Milspec trigger are gritty and heavy. If you feel that you have the skills they can be honed and JP springs added which helps considerably. Drop in triggers run the gambit of prices the best values I've used are the Rise Armament RA-140 at about 122 bucks and the JMT Saber at just under 100 bucks.