Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles need a little trigger help

ColdCase.

I played with an early McCormick that was a good trigger. However the early ones had some issue,but it was a while ago and I truthfully do not recall what it was. In the last few years I have not heard of any complaints, but very few people I know use them. I did a Timney drop in for a coyote hunting friend. It was not quite a drop in unit, but we got it done. His runs without issue.

I really could not honestly say anything negative or positive about either due to my limited experience with them.

Sorry, just the facts!

I have a timney and love it. I like feel of it better than any other AR trigger I've ever used. I've ran it for about 3 years now and haven't had the 1st problem with it. I've run lots of surplus ammo through it and some of the Russian steel cased stuff and have yet to have a misfire. I did have to bevel the sides a little to install it. None of my rifles are for fighting so if it goes bad the worst I'll suffer is a bad shooting day.

Terry

The Rock River 2-stage trigger is, IMO, the most trigger for the least money.

I have thousands upon thousands of rounds through a few of them with no problems at all.

So done and done. Installed a RRA NM 2 stage tonight - no problems putting it in. My previous trigger was a single stage that measured 8lbs with my RCBS trigger gage. The new trigger goes right at 5.75lbs but feels lighter. Is this a result of the two stage trigger?

WIll try to shoot it this weekend and see how it goes...

Save your money and give Bill Springfield a call or www.TriggerWork.net. He's does an awesome trigger job. I have 3 and am happy with the results. I have spent the money on after market triggers and for what Bill does you cannot beat his price. A crisp 3lb break.

Bill Springfield is the best for the moneys...

It looks like the OP has a solution, but I'll share my thoughts anyway for posterity since I'm sorta of an AR trigger freak.
First off, I'm a Service Rifle competitor, so my viewpoints are skewed toward that game. They may or may not match up for other applications, so take it for what it's worth...

I like crispy, and I like consistent. I also like more weight on the first stage than the second. In our game 4 1/2 lbs in the minimum weight. I run 5 lbs give or take (I don't want to fuss with a failed weigh-in), and four of those lbs will be on the first stage, and one on the second. I don't like single stage triggers on an AR because I like crispy. To get that on a single stage, you're playing with engagement. Go too far, and you've got an unsafe trigger. Too much engagement, and you've got creep.

Anyways here my pecking order;
Here's my pecking order of 2 stage triggers for the original poster;
1) Geissele High Speed (not the SSA)
2) Stoner (Knight)
3) Milazzo (unavailable)
4) Holliger tuned RRA (John doesn't do them anymore, but they were the all time best value)
I'd feel comfortable stepping to the line with any of the above four triggers.

5) Armalite (gen 1 and gen 2)
6) RRA (every so often they put out some stinker triggers. I got one with an RRA lower set that was about 7 lbs and gritty. I think that's partly why so many folk were willing to have Holliger work them over.)
7) Jewell (novel design, not the best execution. Springs go bad over time. QC issues.
8) CLE (Frank White makes great stuff...just not great triggers.)
9) Bushmaster (Bad copy of CLE design)

There's a couple I haven't played with enough to have an opinion but might be worth looking at.
A) Tom Meyer's X-treme
B) Armalite Gen 3
C) GOLD - I actually played a bit with this one, and it was okay, not great give the above criteria (to be fair, they did not design it with Highpower Competition in mind). Appears to be a refinement of the McCormick Trigger. Same Cassette design. Most of the weight was on the first stage. The unit I played with had a bit of creep, contrary to their ad copy. It didn't appear to be user adjustable.

Nice writeup!

If you send your RR trigger back to RR and tell them you are competing with it, they will give it a Holliger-like tune.
Very good.

I'd find it hard to believe they'd tune it like John used to.. BUT anything is possible.

I could easily find they'd tweak a bad one a bit though.

They really are not hard to tweak if you know what to do though. And replace the damn rivet....
Armalite had one once... and their solution to weak rivets was to send our team armorer a big bag of like 100 extra rivets..

Thats a good one. Crisp 3 pound break from a simple tune up that could actually turn dangerous later on if he polishes too much off. Much better than factory, oh heck yeah...crisp... ain't seen that on a single stage AR that was safe YET.

There has been several reports of Bill's triggers doubling and such. Some with just a few rounds.

I know exactly what they do, I've done it myself. A number of times. Its somewhat labor intensive and regardless if you are searching for crisp, you'll be on that dangerous edge and doubling is just gonna happen. Of course if you back off just a hair, it won't, until the trigger wears... but crisp just went out the window.

I've also paid from little to mucho trying folks versions.... when you spend 150 bucks once.. and it doubles the first time you shoot it and you are told its perfectly fine, must be you.... well lets say you eventually give up....

This is all great information. I shot the rifle this weekend with the RRA trigger in it. Just off the bench sighting in, etc. So far, better then the stocker by a good bit. Not as good as a nicely tuned trigger on a bolt gun, but I don't expect it to be. Needs more trigger time to get a feel for what's happening. I shoot garands a lot and like a nice two stage, as it's easy to know where you are in the pull, and if they are smooth they don't feel as heavy as they might be. i should also add that I'm not a competitive shooter, just a hopeless rifle loon and gun nut...

Tom

hey, us competitors(former in my case at this point) are loons too.... grins....