I saw a YT video "paracord ar15 trigger" and tried it on a new Ruger AR 556. Results were great and it only took me about 20 minutes. I know that I was lapping the engagement surfaces together - essentially accelerating what would happen after 1000 rounds. I wonder why I don't see this mentioned more often as a cure for creepy gritty stock triggers?

Most I know also want a lighter trigger pull, which this method won't provide. I spent a few years dinking around with stock triggers, polishing engagement points, bending or trimming springs, the 50 cent trigger job with the allen screw in the grip, lighter springs, bobbing hammers, yada yada. Some of these methods are unsafe and none of them get close to a well made aftermarket trigger.
I finally figured out there is no way to make a stock trigger into a Giessele. Now I just buy a Geissele.

What he said...

I’ve seen a lot of “polished” triggers over the years and they never compared to a good trigger and a few wound up doubling.

I was talking about taking a heavy, creepy, gritty trigger and turning it into a heavy crisp trigger. For nothing more than 15-20 minutes work requiring no money and no parts.

It's when you turn it into a crisp trigger that things can go South in a hurry. You'd be better off with lighter springs and shooting it a bunch.

I dont understand - perhaps I should explain this to you. Pressure lapping is simply pulling the trigger with upward pressure on the hammer. All this does is lap the two surfaces together - nothing more. No lapping compounds, stones, grinding or disassembly. Seems like a dirt-simple way to smooth up a stock trigger on a new rifle.

My understanding of the trigger is there is some built in creep for good reason. Pulling the hammer up changes the geometry of the surfaces, removing creep and does pretty much what stoning would do. I might be wrong, I have not tried it.

PSA, ALG Defense and just about everyone else & their cousins make "premium" GI triggers.
If you have to have a tuned GI trigger, buy one of those and call it good. There's no sense in honing a stock trigger.

My PSA enhanced trigger works.

It is not real light, didn't expect it to be, never measured it.
It has some creep
But it is smooth enough to be useable.

It is not a Jewell on a Benchrest gun,
It is a pencil barrel AR.

My two daughters, 10 and 14, can hit chitt when shooting it

Well I was hoping that someone with more experience would weigh in as this trick was new to me. Oh well, I'm happy as my Ruger AR556 trigger is much improved.

The World is full of experience tuning GI AR triggers - it creates a malfunctioning trigger. Nobody does it anymore because it ruins a safe trigger.

YMMV, but a few of the commenters here have a few more rounds with ARs than you do. Especially if you are happy with a stock trigger that you messed with a bit. LOL.

We warned you, but carry on.

Wow! You are a complete *********************************.

You know nothing, absolutely nothing about what I'm talking about, yet you comment anyway. Must be how you got your post count up so high - quantity over quality.

Type "paracord ar 15 trigger" into YouTube. Watch the video by the rational Canadian dude, then comment. If you say something germane - I'll respond.

I agree that grinding without knowledge is a quick way to make an unsafe trigger. What I'd like to know is how lapping the two surfaces together without disassembly would cause problems.

you just took off your rubber boots and jumped into a [bleep] pile!

True to form.......

oh what the heck, if a bit of dry firing doesn't hurt, then yours shouldn't either. almost no one will be happy with what tiny bit you've accomplished and won't stop at that... nuff said.

Carry on.

RRA sells a 2 stage varmint trigger thats cheap enough for all my cheap feeling days... I don't even own a lower with a "GI" trigger anymore. I might have played with 1 or 2 more factory GI triggers than you have too... just saying...

I know one thing, getting to 495 didn't come from being a dumbazz....

Ok, you got me to watch. One of the biggest wastes of my time I"ve seen in a long time. I put more wear on them by dry firing....

Perhaps. But I got mine to the equivalent of 1000 snaps in 15 minutes.

I realize you didn't get the answer you wanted, but you came here for info, and got it.

Unbunch your panties, and man up.

What "info" did I receive? I might have imparted some.

Yes, you did. I had never heard of this technique until your post.

But...your initial post refers to "lapping" which is normally done using an abrasive compound, which DOES cause all the issues the other guys were posting about.
Your initial post also didn't give enough background info, such as a YouTube link to help us ignorant folks figure out what you were talking about. Therefore, "lapping" and "stock trigger", being a bad thing, was what everyone thought you were talking about.

So, the pizzing contest is a mutual communication issue. "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." – George Bernard Shaw

As to the technique, if it works for you, great. I'm with rost495 on the dry-firing. While you may well smooth out some of the grittiness of that stock trigger with that process, you can gain invaluable muscle memory and training breathing, sight alignment, and proper trigger manipulation by dry-firing those 1,000 snaps that your technique will never attain.

Evidently, no one here had heard of the technique before, so, technically, you have received info, and probably more than you wanted.

Ed

The part that concerns me is by pulling up on the hammer, you're allowing the engagement surfaces to "roll" off each other. Even when lapping by conventional methods, it's important to keep the edges flat and to not change the angle. Maybe it feels better and will be fine or maybe it'll be unsafe in 500 rounds, only time will tell.

The part I have been trying to convey is good triggers are readily available and fairly reasonable. ALG makes a better standard trigger for around $40 and are proven but even they suck compared to a decent 2 stage trigger. I do understand trying to use what you've got. I have a new 6720 that I'm keeping irons on and would really like to keep the stock trigger but all my other guns have good triggers in them so I know I'll have to change it eventually.

I'll second the ALG triggers! For those not familiar with the company, it is actually owned and run by Bill Geissele's wife. Here's a video that explains the Geissele & ALG Defense companies;



Ed

That technique is pretty well known in the 1911 community (and others), and is known as boosting the trigger. It's not lapping as the OP said, it's burnishing. The technique varies depending on the firearm but the general idea is to load the hammer & sear surfaces together more than the normal spring tension, to burnish out minor imperfections or burrs. As you've guessed, it is somewhat controversial and often hotly debated.

In my experience, it can be a useful technique if done sparingly and only where needed. The improvement is small, and the effect (if successful) is just to smooth out the trigger pull. I've done it on GI AR15 triggers and it can help a little bit, but IMO it makes less improvement on an AR trigger than anything else I've tried it on. Mostly that's because stock AR triggers have so much more engagement surface than a lot of others.

If you try this, it is important to keep the contact surfaces oiled. Don't do it dry, that can cause galling.

Exactly...............it would likely help the most if the trigger was really rough in the 1st place.

The better the trigger is the less likely it will have any impact.

Probably less likely to damage an AR trigger for exactly the reasons you stated than it would a halfway decent, but not great, 1911 trigger.

MM

Yup. It can definitely damage a 1911 trigger if overdone, but can improve a mediocre trigger if done right. I doubt you could overdo it on an AR by pulling the hammer with a string though; when I've done it on an AR I pry the hammer with a small punch or allen wrench. 3-10 trigger pulls with this method is plenty; more than 10 is usually overdoing it on most guns, although it depends how much pressure you put on the hammer.

Heard of this for sixguns. I pull them apart and smooth everything, change springs.
For AR, I have just bought acceptable triggers, and accepted what they gave.
Great triggers are nice, for most, any halfway decent triggef will suffice.
If I ever decide on a super acvurate AR, then Gieselle would get my money.

The thing is, you don't really know how accurate your AR is until you put a good trigger in it.