AR15, -, Trigger Improvement? Is There A Low Cost Solution?

[SweetMK]

I bought a "beater" AR 15 at a gunshow a couple years ago,,
well I thought it was a beater, the real issue was that the FDE Magpul furniture was mostly just dirty,,

I took all the plastic off, and washed it with Dawn diswashing liquid, and water,
A toothbrush was deployed vigerously,,
It turns out the AR ain't so bad!!

The only issue with the gun is the trigger, it is like most OEM triggers,
1/8 inch or so of gritty drag,, then finally, at too high of a weight, the gun finally goes off.
I checked it the trigger, it is set at about 6 pounds.

This is a "tinker" gun, I would like to improve the trigger myself, if possible,,
or,
buy low cost parts to improve the trigger.

I have done two Smith 629 triggers under the watchful eye of a local gunsmith, that ran a class,, so, I have a little gun knowledge,,

Does anyone have any recommendations as to where I should start towards improving the Zombie Specials trigger?

OH, one other question,
has anyone ever tossed the AR furniture in the dishwasher?
The dishwasher would get everything nice and clean, if it did not heat distort the plastic,,,

 

[Scharfschuetzer]

Go to Midwayusa.com or a comparable site and search for drop in triggers and you should be able to find what you need in a drop in single or double stage unit.

I might also add that trigger jobs on standard AR triggers have to be done very carefully as it is easy to stone though what is a very thin hardened area on the sear. Carburizing the surface after stoning is a good way to prevent a stoned trigger from going soft on you.

Oh, and no, I've never used a dishwasher to clean a weapon. If it's really dirty, use "Simple Green" on it and let it sit for a few minutes and then scrub and rinse with hot water. Oil right away as Simple Green will completely degrease the metal surfaces.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

Several years ago I decided to try and build a 6.8 SPC rifle for hunting. My goal was to make the build economical - not cheap. I ended up with a PSA (Palmetto State Armory) upper, and eventually, a PSA assembled lower. I tried the stock trigger and it was terrible. I tried to use some spring kits and was very disappointed in that I could never get them to consistently hit the primer hard enough to discharge the round. PSA frequently runs sales on their products, and I was lucky enough to buy this trigger on sale for $99.00:

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

The trigger is outstanding - in fact, I think it's better than the Gieselle trigger on my Colt CRE-18 match rifle.

PSA currently has another drop-in trigger on sale, but I have no knowledge or experience with it.

BTW, I put the rifle together - including scope, rings and mounts at just under $700.00.

Good luck,

Dave

 

[andy52]

The JMT Saber drop in trigger is probably the best priced option I know of. If you shop around it can be had for a little as $85 and is a crisp 3.5 lb.

 

[Grayfox]

I put a LaRue Tactical MBT 2S in my Sport II. About $80 and better than triggers costing twice as much.

 

[AlHillahoif3]

ok how to improve the trigger without replacing it. There's 2 basic ways I've found, the first is to put about 3000 rounds through it. This will smooth it out and crisp it up. The next best thing is to duplicate that. Take a tongue depressor and some valve lapping compound and polish the ends of the trigger where it rubs against the lower receiver. A noticeable amount of this grit is the parkerised trigger grating against the anodized receiver. As for the dishwasher, yes all the time, its soap and water spraying on plastic, just make sure you use bad soap, you don't want anything that will etch the aluminium. If its lousy for cleaning greasy dishes its good for cleaning your AR. The Eco friendly phosphate free stuff seems to raise the least hell.

 

[tnmandpshooter]

Larue mbt2s



Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[HardToHandle]

Good comments above. My assessment is the AR triggers are often improved by shooting “wearing in” but, as noted, the design makes a trigger job mostly dependent on parts replacement.

Depending on your cost floor, the lowest price thing I have done is a little moly grease on trigger faces. The next step up was purchasing several different of the lower cost slick coated triggers - ALG QMS and Palmetto State. Those triggers have a smoother engagement face than the standard parkerized (I think) trigger, but are still mechanically working the same with the two stage-ish style. Those ran $30-50 each and May be considered as unmodified guns by some departments. They’re worth it to me.

The next step up is LaRue’s MBT and other more refined triggers - they get up to $500. That might be more than you want to spend, but my one RRA match trigger is awfully nice.

Never done the dishwasher. Might try calling Magpul and asking - they are Wyoming/Texas based and real decent folks. I had a customer service issue earlier this year on a t- shirt order... Basically the best customer service I can remember- a human answered, they were knowledgeable, pleasant to talk to and more than resolved my Issue. No drama. Great way to retain a customer.

 

[03hemi]

Go with a Binary, you won't regret it.

 

[gnystrom]

I love the wearing in theory by firing 3000 rds but in todays world with ammo at 50¢/rd. would it not be more prudent to just pick up one of the above suggestions at less than $100?
Years ago I had a PSA enhanced trigger and swapped that out for a Geissele G2S and have been very happy with that purchase. Since then there have been a slew of other options at lower cost that are just as good.
In no way would I ever alter the sear myself.

 

[SweetMK]

ok how to improve the trigger without replacing it. There's 2 basic ways I've found, the first is to put about 3000 rounds through it. This will smooth it out and crisp it up.

I love the wearing in theory by firing 3000 rds but in todays world with ammo at 50¢/rd. would it not be more prudent to just pick up one of the above suggestions at less than $100?.

Yesterday, the ONLY LGS locally that had ammo in stock,
had it priced at (after local tax was added ) $1.84 per round.

That is for the cheapo FMJ 20 round boxes of 223 that are gold and black.

After posting this question, I did go and watch a bunch of YouTube videos on the trigger subject,,
A couple of the videos discussed the 3,000 round wear-in method, and a possible way to duplicate the results in a few minutes, for free,,

Free is good, so I watched those videos more carefully,,
Basically, they duplicated the method that hundreds of Ruger Single Six owners use to lighten the trigger pull. That is putting a LOT of force on the hammer, then pulling the trigger,

A piece of paracord, or a shoelace is used, wrap it around the hammer, pull in the direction that is perpendicular to the bullet direction of travel, then pull the trigger.

Those guys say, as little as 6 actuations with the paracord will noticeably improve the feel of the trigger.
Of course, 300 will be better!!

how to improve AR15 trigger pull for free without taking it a part - YouTube

In this video, the improvement starts at around the 3 minute mark.

Since the parts of the trigger will end up on the workbench anyways if the trigger is replaced, this might be worth a try,,

The two videos both said, "Pull as hard as you can!"
I wish someone would invert the gun, and hang a known weight during the trigger improvement process,,

Hard as you can pull could be 25 pounds, 50 pounds, I doubt it would be as high as 100 pounds,,,

Another video showed stoning the trigger parts, followed up by jewelers rouge buffing,,,

Hmmmmm,,,,,,, yea, the $100 drop-in might be faster,, but, enjoying DIY results sure feels good,,

 

[BSA1]

I have a PSA trigger and hammer that was included in their rifle build kit. Trigger pull is heavy and fairly crisp. I put a J P Spring Kit on it and while it made the trigger pull lighter I don’t like the feel of it now. It is in a parts box waiting to be used in another build.

I have a ACT Defense QMS trigger and hammer. I did not like the trigger pull at all. A friend cleaned it up and it now has a nice trigger pull. However I will never buy one again.

Spend the extra $20.00 and buy ALG Defense ACT trigger and hammer set. It is a big step up from their QMS trigger and hammer. I buy them from a LGS for $70.00. I have four of them at the moment. I love them.

My next step up is Hiperfire Sharp Shooter trigger and hammer set. I recently brought one because my LGS was out of ACT ALG trigger sets. I paid $99.00 for it. I have not used it yet so can not comment about how well it fits and trigger pull. Still it has good reviews and is recommended by several people. I plan on installing it on a hunting rifle build this coming winter.

 

[oink]

Bubba here,
My PSA trigger was horrible. I took it out and smoothed it on 600#, 1000# and 1500# wet paper on a flat surface and finished with polishing compound on old cotton tidy whities. It's still long but now it doesn't feel like a dry washboard maral road. Did I remove a hardening treatment? Maybe, but it sure feels better.

Edit to add: I guess I should have also mentioned that I did smooth inside the lower where the trigger parts can rub. That removed some annoying feel that was on top of the washboard feel trigger.

 

[SweetMK]

Bubba here,
My PSA trigger was horrible.

Did I remove a hardening treatment?

Maybe, but it sure feels better.

Most people have no idea how long it would take to remove the thickness of steel that equals the depth of hardening,,

with the grit papers you mentioned, hand sanding away the hardness layer would take from two days, to a year,,.

I doubt that you are near the soft steel,,,

 

[bulletslap]

I have been down the road of polishing fire control groups, swapping springs, using special owl grease lubes etc.

I settled on LaRue MBTs and CMC Cassette type triggers, they work well and are not all that exspensive.

 

[bushmaster1313]

No AR's here in New Jersey. But we are allowed XM15's. About 15 years ago I traded a Rubger No. 1 for a used New Jersey Legal Bushmaster XM15. Only problem was that it had a trigger that could only be described as "crunchy."

I paid a gunsmith to install a JP trigger. The trigger is now smooth and a joy to operate. Not cheap but worth every penny. It has, however, made me very picky to not purchase a gun with a bad trigger.

 

[serger]

LaRue MBT 2S, I have Several. You will
like it a lot.

 

[Abflyboy]

Rock River Arms 2-stage varmint trigger is my go to. Simple, reliable, cheap, easy, SAFE, stays consistent over thousands and thousands of rounds. All of my AR's have this trigger kit installed.

Magpul furniture in your dishwasher will be fine. I have done it several times. I don't use the heat boost dry so I can't speak for that. A little bit of LemiShine tossed in with your detergent will work wonders.

 

[Ματθιας]

Simple Green and Aluminum.
Check as that combination requires several cautions, rinsing well and quickly is the normal for bike wheels.

Regular Simple Green is a great cleaner/degreaser, just DON"T use it on aluminum. It is highly corrosive and will, eventually, lead to hydrogen embrittlement. It's not approved for aircraft use. I will not use it on ANYTHING aluminum.

There's another formula called Extreme Simple Green that's safe and aircraft approved.

 

[Bozz10mm]

The best bang for the buck that I have found is a PSA EPT trigger combined with JP Enterprise enhanced reliability spring kit. This combo has smoothed out and lowered the trigger pull on all my ARs to the 4½ to 5 lb. range. Unfortunately, the PSA EPT triggers are OOS right now. They were only about $30 and $12 respectively, before Covid 19.



[url=https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1003366096]JP Enterprises Enhanced Reliability Trigger Spring Kit AR-15 3-1/2 lb