.50 cent ar15 trigger job diy

[nouseforaname1246]

I ran across this a few days ago and decided to try it. Took me 20 min and the only tools I used were: a screwdriver with some hex bits, a punch/hammer, a dremmel with a sanding drum and some locktite.

Doing this took ALL of the creep out of a stock dpms trigger and reduced the trigger pull by about 2 lbs. (Started at 8 and was just a hair under 6 when I was done) I was so amazed at how well it worked I had to share it with you guys.

Heres the link for the how to:
http://www.junkyardgenius.com/firearms/ar-15/ar08.html

[leftiye]

Thanks for this! I have a stripped lower and a parts kit that I acquired during the recent unpleasantness. Should come in handy, especially as I don't exactly believe in them $3000 cool pjool guns with the hardware store attached. Thinking of maybe 7mm TCU.

[Mooseman]

I like the BIG RED WARNING....

THIS UPGRADE SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED BY ANYONE THAT DOESN'T HAVE A CLEAR AND COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF SAFETY, CYCLING & FUNCTION OF THE AR SERIES RIFLES.

This Page IS NOT Intended For Amateurs!
Failure To Properly Execute This Upgrade Can (And Probably Will...) Result In Serious Injury Or Death.
This Upgrade Is Best Done By A Qualified Gunsmith!! Print This Article And Take It To The Gunsmith.

Proper Safety Precautions & Function Testing Are An Absolute Must For This Project.
If You Do Not Possess A Through Knowledge Of The Trigger Group Design, Function & Cycling Proceeders, And Safety Cycle Proceeders,
DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS PROJECT!

Defer This Upgrade To A Properly Qualified Gunsmith!

YOU MUST TEST ALL SAFETIES, INCLUDING TRIGGER SEAR ENGAGEMENT, DISCONNECT ENGAGEMENT, TRIGGER BLOCK SAFETY AND IMPACT TESTING.

I guess Nobody reads those these days...

[Baron von Trollwhack]

That guy is a jerk. His comments about Servicemen drafted for Vietnam service was a turn off. I met not a one who met his description in nearly four years.

Actually precision made parts for that particular method were once common. Why are they rare today?

Because a safe, quality trigger from first class manufacturers is a small cost of today's AR.

BvT

[The Kid]

Don't forget that this joker can't even spell "PROCEDURE", you'd think he would have spell check. The Vietnam draftee comment was not warranted.

[Gliden07]

This works GREAT!! I did it!! It didn't even cost me fifty cents I think it was 28 cents!! Brownells sells a screw that sells for almost 45 dollars!! The worse thing is you can't adjust it like the set screw set up you have to install it with the handle installed, take it out file it, reinstall it take it out over and over until you get it to the right length. And if you file to much you have a 45 dollar piece of junk!! Check out the link!

http://www.brownells.com/rifle-parts...r-prod307.aspx

I also polished the sear and hammer surfaces with the above modification and added a JP Enterprises trigger spring kit it gave me a fantastic trigger for about $11.00 dollars. I will say one thing I thought the screw for the handle and the Set Screw was a 1/4-28?? I'm not sure so anyone that does this should verify that.

[xacex]

I have done something very similar to this on many of the AR's I have owned, and have got great results. DO NOT do anything other than a surface polish on these parts. There are some spring kits I have used that also drop down the trigger pull. With my work, and the springs I have had no problem getting a RELIABLE 3 pound short pull. No problems with light primer strikes, or run-a-ways, and the job lasts a good while. I cant say how long because the one that has the most time on it only has about 3500 rounds down the pipe.

[km101]

This was the BIG SECRET trigger fix for the AR back in the '70s. It then became common and was written up in several shooting mags. It fell out of favor when manufacturers came out with drop-in trigger assemblies that allowed adjustment for pull weight and length of pull. As noted above there are now many replacement triggers on the market that do a great job, so this technique fell out of favor. I used this on my older AR's with great success and one trigger mod. has somewhere around 30K rounds with no problems.

As noted in the link, be very careful about polishing trigger/hammer surfaces as the case hardening on them is sometimes Very thin. It does not take much polishing to wear through the hardened surface, much less any grinding.

Read the instructions carefully. Make sure that you understand what you are doing before you start. Go slow.
Remember, replacement parts are hard to find right now. But if you are careful, you should have good results.

[David2011]

I've done it a few times. In each case I contacted the manufacturer to verify that it was acceptable to stone their trigger and sear. Colt parts are case hardened and any true mil-spec parts should be case hardened. Case hardened parts are not candidates for stoning. The gunsmiths at Olympic Arms told me their parts are through hardened and they stone them every day. Be prepared to have to cut (file) notches in the trigger to make the safety function correctly. The trigger must not be able to move at all with the safety engaged. Don't skip the safety checks. Commercially, it would cost almost as much to do a good job doing a trigger job on an AR as to replace the trigger with a drop-in like a Timney as the safety fitting can be very time consuming. I'll stick with commercial triggers in my shop.

David

[JeepHammer]

What I find amusing is people think you grind on the case hardened contact surfaces...
The disconnect is hardened all the way through, you don't grind on the faces of hammer/trigger.

As for the Viet Nam draftee comment, I agree with it.
The trigger was redesigned by Stoner 11 times, each time adding more spring and more creep, AT REQUEST OF THE MILITARY, to keep the average draftee forced to be a grunt from shooting themselves, or others (or walls, vehicles, drill instructors, etc.).

I've never met a scared 18 year old that was proficient with firearms, particularly when the bullets are flying at them instead of away.
While veterans profess themselves experts all things firearms related, they filter out how young, green and stupid they were when someone safe in the Pentagon or White House dropped them in the meat grinder.
And I say that as a 16 year veteran of the Marines, so call me a jerk...

[Larry Gibson]

A properly trained and disciplined 18 year old draftee or enlistee of the Viet Nam War, whether scared or not at the time, could be very proficient with their military firearms when the bullets are flying whether Marine or Soldier. Neither the Marine Corp nor the Army gave them proper training before they "dropped them in the meat grinder" as the war progressed. [Please don't tell me the Marines are all trained riflemen......I've had to retrain too many of them......their training is no better or worse than the Army's is in basic training/boot camp]

[JeepHammer]

At least you didn't call me a jerk...

As a DI/range master, I saw 5 or 6 unintentional discharges that resulted in SERIOUS INJURIES,
I saw several dozen discharges that didn't result in injury.
These were just the ones on the range, all instructors & safety protocols in place.

What people consider unimaginable today was common practice back then. If you remember crawling through the mud on a live fire range with your finger on the trigger, then you know what I'm talking about...

[TCLouis]

leftiye
6.5 or 7mm TCU always seemed like a perfect rifle/cartridge combination for an AR if the OAL did not cause bullet/boolit seating issues with their longer bullets/boolits.
The magazine will certainly be the determining factor on this.

Back to AR trigger jobs.

I know someone that has an AR and the improper alignment of the trigger and sear causes the trigger to raise the hammer about 1/8-3/16' before releasing.
Everything I have read say that the hard surface of these two surfaces is very . . . VERY shallow and so I hesitate to tell them to stone that much off of each to correct the issue. Exact total amount can actually be calculated (SWAG) if need be.

Can this be done or will they penetrate the hardened surface?

[3AXBAT]

"That guy is a jerk. His comments about Servicemen drafted for Vietnam service was a turn off. I met not a one who met his description in nearly four years."

About his jerkness, I dunno. But this was the era of Macnamara's Project 100,000. The DoD recruited and drafted over 300,000 men with substandard mental and medical qualities from 1966 - 71.

[gnostic]

I could be wrong, but, AR parts are surface hardened and grinding on them causes machine gun like results...

[JeepHammer]

And this is why a drill, file & hammer doesn't make you a 'Gunsmith'...

Said again, if you have a look at the .50¢ trigger job, you grind on NOTHING CASE HARDENED.
The hammer/trigger sear pressure faces aren't touched.

The disconnect is stamped flat steel, if you look at the edges, you can see where it was punched out like a washer. This means batch baked, not case hardened.

The investment casted MILITARY hammer/trigger ARE case hardened (don't know about clone knock-offs).
You sould NOT grind on the engagement surfaces, but the OVER TRAVEL surfaces are fair game.
Not that you should have to grind on the trigger/hammer sear surfaces since the set screw takes the long/gritty 'Take Up' out of the trigger...

So I have no idea why you would have to grind on a case hardened sear surface part...

If you don't understand how the parts interface, it's probably a bad idea to go grinding around on anything!

[winchester 71]

I was one of those "chosen" to die for my country....I spent 13 months in 67-68 running a amtrack all over the place in Nam moving ammo,mortars,people,rations, light wounded and parts for vehicles,artillery,helicopter parts as most anything that could fly was involved in direct combat or flying out wounded and dead..........I can't say about the Marines as the Army got me but we didnt have a clue as to what has going to happen to us other then UGLY!!!!!!! no one knew about Tet and before Tet things were
out of control but by late January there was NO place safe..........you would think that being behind wire would be safe but god made mortars, sand bags and ammo box forts worked a little, sleeping under the amtack worked a little but the giant bugs and snakes liked my hiding place and I was a big target for a couple mortar guys..............We were worth a few min. in a fire fight is what we were told if you were a ground pounder......basic trainning was shortened midstream in the war making you feel stupid as it was yes sir or no sir and you didn't have a clue as to what was going to happen to you while Wesmorlin was safe somewhere sending people to die retaking a fire base for the third time or giving the enemy back territory
we already took only to carpet bomb the **** place and move back in after a couple months...from Saigon to Da Nang up to the mountains to the ocean was all a 360 degree War zone.........no where was our side or
even remotely safe....we were not trainned for this kind of stuff and after a year you really want to kill anything that poses a threat.....yes WANT to and no one wears a red star signifying I'm a bad guy they all want to kill you and you foolishly thought you were going over there to rescue them from the red menace while the real red menace is in the shadows of Washington D.C........Marines joined and drill Sargents were mean as hell and they did everything in their power to make you as good a warrior as they could and the army for draftees was not what the Marines got for trainning.............

And this is why a drill, file & hammer doesn't make you a 'Gunsmith'...

Said again, if you have a look at the .50¢ trigger job, you grind on NOTHING CASE HARDENED.
The hammer/trigger sear pressure faces aren't touched.

The disconnect is stamped flat steel, if you look at the edges, you can see where it was punched out like a washer. This means batch baked, not case hardened.

The investment casted MILITARY hammer/trigger ARE case hardened (don't know about clone knock-offs).
You sould NOT grind on the engagement surfaces, but the OVER TRAVEL surfaces are fair game.
Not that you should have to grind on the trigger/hammer sear surfaces since the set screw takes the long/gritty 'Take Up' out of the trigger...

So I have no idea why you would have to grind on a case hardened sear surface part...

If you don't understand how the parts interface, it's probably a bad idea to go grinding around on anything!

[S.B.]

Thank you, I saved the file for future reference but. why not just buy a shorter grip screw?
Steve