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Thread: Gunsmithing the trigger

  1. #11
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    With the AR trigger, the trigger weight is largely governed by the contact angles. If you look closely at the hammer when you pull the trigger the hammer moves back slightly. This is done so that if you let off the trigger without dropping the hammer, the sear goes back into full engagement.

    There are two ways to reduce the trigger weight:

    1. decrease the angle on the nose of the trigger, or
    2. decrease the hammer spring rate.

    Neither are a good option.

    Unless you can control the angle of the nose of the trigger to better than half a degree and keep it flat to a few thousandths, you are probably just going to mess it up. If the nose angle gets closer to vertical by more than a degree, you start to lose the reset capability, more you accomplish nothing, either way you eat through the case hardening.

    And, reducing the hammer spring tension runs the risk of light strikes on the primer.

    The most you can really do at home is polish the surfaces to remove any grittiness.
    Last edited by lysander; 12-29-15 at 12:54.

  2. #12
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    SKD has or at least gas QMS triggers in demo deals for under 40 and there a good sale going on. After that i wpuld be looking long and hard at other triggers long before ****ing with a trigger and modding it. I may be crazy but i aint stupid.
    "I don't collect guns anymore, I stockpile weapons for ****ing war." Chuck P.

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  3. #13
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    Gunsmithing the trigger

    I did mine in a few builds. 10min and JP yellow springs . I was showed by a gun smith how he does a mil spec trigger and the last 4 I've built has them and all 4 run perfect . All the things we mod and the trigger they say don't touch ?? I find they have none of the gritty feel and with the yellow JP springs you'll have 5lb pull .


    The most you can really do at home is polish the surfaces to remove any grittiness.[/QUOTE]

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    Last edited by bigjack7440; 12-29-15 at 14:09.

  4. #14
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    Well, I kind of figure there is little to loose with polishing a few angles on the trigger. We do the same thing when we put a few thousand rounds through the gun. I just don't want to wait that long. If I overdo it, it just buy a better unit. Just don't want to spend the money on one at the moment.
    I like a good trigger on all my guns and have worked on a number of them. None AR's though, this is a whole new world for me. I do understand the case hardening, but polishing has [knock on wood] never taken me through the case hardening.
    Thank you for the search info. I did a search but apparently I was in a brain fog and didn't get much.
    Bigjack; thanks, apparently you and I are the only ones dumb enough to try trigger work. I do like to get into my guns as many of you folks do and you have been very helpful.
    Thanks to all of your replys, I really didn't know you could get a replacement unit so inexpensively although I'm guessing the gun will eventually have a Gisselle in it. I do like my triggers to be crisp and clean.
    Best wishes for the new year.

  5. #15
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    As said, you can polish to smooth, but to reduce weight and travel, buy a new trigger. To change the pull you need to remove an appreciable amount of material that may or may not cause problems.

  6. #16
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    Most issues I've seen or heard of after one modifies an AR trigger have to do with safety. If you know what you are doing, at best yo get rid of a little grit that would be gone after some dry fire anyway. At worst, you may get AD's/ND's, to include doubles all the way up to a full runaway. For ME it's not worth the tinkering. YMMV.


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  7. #17
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    If you polish, go, VERY light. Clean the parts and reassemble with grease on the sears, pins & bottom curve of the hammer. In fact, grease it up whether you polish it up or not.

    Plenty of folks have had experience with smoothing the sears of an AR trigger and much of it has been bad
    Last edited by MistWolf; 12-30-15 at 18:20.
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  8. #18
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    A little update. The trigger assembly really is not that complicated. The biggest problem was a gritty single stage trigger with fairly heavy pull. I was able to remove and separate the assembly. I was very careful to not change any angles, knowing how important that is, but using a surgical stone I polished the primary angles and anything else that appeared to have a semi finished contact part. That's all, just polished and cleaned and lubed.
    Result was a cleaner release. Grittiness is gone and a feeling of a lighter trigger pull. I really do not believe the pull was lightened, only a cleaner break. I might try a lighter spring later but want to shoot some more first.
    If you try this, and I think you should not be afraid to attempt it, be sure to preserve the angles, and, the word is to only polish, not grind or change any angles. I believe you will be rewarded with a much cleaner trigger pull.
    Thanks to all of you who responded and to the cautions as they are important.
    If you want a better trigger, and are willing to fund a replacement trigger if things go awry, give it a try.
    Best wishes and happy new year.

  9. #19
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    I just throw a little white lithium grease on the trigger with a Q tip, as part of my cleaning/inspection. All my rifles are well past 1k trigger pulls (live/dry fire), so if I want "better" it means money needs to be spent.

    Honestly when I am actually out shooting, I am so focused on sight picture that "a little gritt or a pound" of trigger pull goes completely unnoticed. When it comes to sims in the shoot house, I can't even remember how many rounds I let off, much less care if it's a "good" trigger. Now if the gun didn't go off because of some 'mod' I did: I would definitely notice that.


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  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by golfer View Post
    A little update. The trigger assembly really is not that complicated. The biggest problem was a gritty single stage trigger with fairly heavy pull. I was able to remove and separate the assembly. I was very careful to not change any angles, knowing how important that is, but using a surgical stone I polished the primary angles and anything else that appeared to have a semi finished contact part. That's all, just polished and cleaned and lubed.
    Result was a cleaner release. Grittiness is gone and a feeling of a lighter trigger pull. I really do not believe the pull was lightened, only a cleaner break. I might try a lighter spring later but want to shoot some more first.
    If you try this, and I think you should not be afraid to attempt it, be sure to preserve the angles, and, the word is to only polish, not grind or change any angles. I believe you will be rewarded with a much cleaner trigger pull.
    Thanks to all of you who responded and to the cautions as they are important.
    If you want a better trigger, and are willing to fund a replacement trigger if things go awry, give it a try.
    Best wishes and happy new year.
    Well you chose to ignore the VERY GOOD advice of several knowledgeable member here and mess with the engagement surfaces. The problem IS NOT changing any angles. The problem IS that the areas you likely polished are surface hardened. And removing any of the surface can cause the hammer and sear engagement surfaces to gall.... Thus leading to unpredictable behavior of the weapon... including multiple rounds firing with one pull of the trigger.

    If you don't have problems yet, you will eventually.
    "You people have too much time on your hands." - scottryan

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