Doing Things Right Feels Weird

Today I installed LaRue MTB-2S triggers in my AR15 and LR-308.

These guns are based on military rifles, not target guns, so they come with military-style triggers which are probably good for shooting terrorists but not much good for hitting small things at substantial distances. The standard thing, for people who care about accuracy, is to buy aftermarket triggers.

As far as I can tell, the most respected trigger manufacturer is a guy named Geissele, and believe it or not, that name rhymes with “precisely.” It’s not “gazelle.” Geissele triggers cost something like $250. LaRue triggers used to cost that much, but for some inexplicable reason, the company decided to give them a price that more accurately reflected the ease and low expense of making them, so you can buy them now for $80. It looks like LaRue is making genuine high-end triggers for almost-reasonable prices.

Even at $80, they are probably making a ton. Think of all the complicated steel objects, including entire rifles, you can buy for $250. “They have to charge a lot because they don’t sell a lot of triggers.” I can sense commenters typing that. Okay, have you ever heard the phrase “America’s favorite rifle”? It’s not the Ruger 10-22. It’s the AR15. It should be possible to sell a lot of AR triggers. My guess is that if the manufacturers don’t sell many, it’s because they charge too much. If I sold shovels for a living, and I charged $300 each, I would not expect to have high volume, either.

Maybe trigger makers have to charge too much because they charge too much.

This is just me and my guessing, based on what appears to be obvious.

FYI, Cabela’s sells Ruger 10-22 rifles for $230, triggers included.

Let me give a more apposite example. Cabela’s sells Savage’s match-grade, adjustable Accutrigger for $249, and they throw in a very nice A22 semiauto rifle.

Seems to me the AR trigger guys should be able to do very well with lower prices.

I started off with the AR15. Basically, you isolate the lower, pop the trigger pin out, remove the trigger, remove the grip, remove the safety, pop out the hammer pin, remove the rest of the trigger group stuff, install the new stuff, and have a beer.

I was very impressed when I took the CORE15 rifle apart. Here’s something I noticed: the big screw that holds the grip in place is hardened steel or something close to it. It’s a slotted screw (BAD), and slotted screws are easy to strip, but because the steel is so hard, it still works.

Someone at the CORE factory must have been fed up with stripped screws.

It’s extremely obvious it should be a socket head cap screw. Why isn’t it? I’ll go out on a limb and guess. Back when Mr. Stoner made his first AR15 in his dad’s garage in 1852, all he had was a slotted screw, and by God, if it was good enough for him, it’s good enough for every easily triggered Stoner fanboi today!

If that’s not the explanation, then there isn’t one, because slotted screws are simply wrong for this application. Not “less suitable.” Wrong. To install a pistol grip on an AR, you have to feed the screw through the long hollow handle and into a hole at the top of the grip. With a slotted screw, you have to depend on luck to get it through the hole, and the screwdriver WILL slide out of the screw while you’re tightening it. You could put a socket head cap screw on the end of a big Allen wrench, and it would stay on the wrench while you inserted it in the hole. Then the wrench would stay in the screw while you tightened it.

CORE used a very high-quality screw. Which is still the wrong screw. They also put something resembling Loctite on it, which is nice.

The finish on the interior of the gun is beautiful. I have yet to see a rough edge.

LaRue includes two new pins for the trigger, and they thoughtfully put dimples on the ends so punches won’t slide out and scratch the daylights out of guns. Neither of my two guns came with dimpled trigger or hammer pins. The CORE has a dimpled pin for taking the gun apart, though.

I used a Real Avid bench block to hold the gun up while I banged on the pins. I found out Real Avid makes a huge bench block just for AR-type rifles. That would be nice to have in the future. The little block I have now is wonderful, though.

I installed the new parts in the wrong order, so I had to remove the hammer and start over, but things worked out fine. I applied a lot of Mobil 28 grease to everything that rubbed against anything else. I am now firmly in the camp of people who believe guns should be heavily greased.

When I was done, I was an AR trigger installation expert, so installing the second trigger in my LR-308 only took 10 minutes, and I didn’t have any problems.

HA.

Of course I had problems.

The LR-308 has a spring detent for the safety and another one for the takedown pin, and of course, I screwed all that up. It worked out fine in the end, however.

The LR-308 was made by DPMS, which, at the time, was considered one step above cheap AR’s. I would say it’s not as pretty as the CORE15. The finish seems a little coarser and less uniform, although I suppose any finish becomes less uniform after 11 years. The fit on everything was nice and tight, however, so I can’t say it seems like a inferior gun.

One big difference between DPMS and CORE: DPMS used a cheap screw to hold the pistol grip on the gun. I can tell by looking at it that I gouged the screw up the past time I messed with it. DPMS FAIL! It would be very hard to damage the CORE screw.

I already had a new trigger in the DPMS. I think. I must have, because I found an AR trigger in a plastic bag in the case with the gun. A long time ago, someone recommended I order a polished trigger from some guy who rehabilitated mil-spec triggers, and I believe I ordered one. The one in the bag must have been the OEM trigger.

Doesn’t matter. The polished trigger would have been a cheap end-run around the real thing, and now I want the real thing.

After a little research, I believe I paid a guy named Bill Springfield for a polished trigger. I’m sure he does great work, but even when its potential is maximized, a mil-spec trigger is still what it is. Before I installed the new trigger today, I checked the one that was already in the gun, and it felt good. Hard to tell that way, though.

I am allowing myself to indulge in a bold fantasy. I may be able to shoot tomorrow. I could have shot a little today, but the weather kept toying with me. I thought it was going to rain, and then I decided it wasn’t, so I chose to risk putting a charger on the lawnmower to make sure it would start later. The instant I walked outside, raindrops started striking all around me like suppressing fire.

If I can shoot tomorrow, I’ll try to find out what Norma bulk ammo can do in an AR15 with a free-floating non-luxury barrel and a really good trigger. I might conceivably try out the new 1911.