In a world with a positively teeming aftermarket for AR-15s, there is no longer just the question, “Should I upgrade my AR-15 trigger?” This is inevitably followed up by the question: Which brand? What AR-15 trigger is right for your rifle? The trigger is an essential component to a firearm’s accuracy, neck-and-neck with the barrel in terms of importance. So, let’s look at the Pros and Cons of your AR-15 trigger upgrade.
AR-15 Trigger Upgrades | Should I?
Live Inventory Price Checker
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Geissele Automatics SSA Large Pin Curved AR-15 Trigger, Black - 05-123 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 305.00 |
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Geissele AR-15 SSA Trigger Two Stage | GrabAGun | $ 300.00 |
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Geissele Automatics SSA Large Pin Curved AR-15 Trigger, Black - 05-123 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 305.00 |
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Geissele Automatics Super Tricon Two Stage AR-15 Trigger | BattleHawk Armory | $ 245.00 $ 240.00 |
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This is a pretty easy question. If you have a stock mil-spec trigger in your rifle and want to do more with your AR-15 than blast garbage at the local rock pit, then yes, it’s to your advantage to upgrade your trigger. (Special exceptions apply to clone rifle builders who demand correct part numbers to replicate specific builds.) For anyone else, yes, you should want to improve an AR-15’s trigger pull if possible.
The Pros of Upgrading
Simply put, a trigger is the primary interface between the shooter and the rifle. A good trigger will give you more precise control over when and how the rifle fires, leading to more consistently repeatable (accurate) results.
An upgraded trigger pull can give you these potential accuracy improvements in a few ways.
- You can get less “creep,” which is movement during the trigger pull before the sear lets loose and the hammer drops. The more creep a trigger has, the more variable your pull can be.
- You can get variety. Benchrest shooters love adjustable triggers with pull weights that are so light, faint pressure will kick off the firing cycle. Such a trigger would be a poor fit on a competition AR-15, where a 2-stage match trigger would shine.
- You can get a crisp “break”. A cheap trigger can have an inconsistent release, whereas a nice trigger will be really consistent and predictable in how and when it releases the hammer.
The Cons of Upgrading
There are really only two issues I see with upgrading to a better trigger on your AR-15.
First, cost. It isn’t in everyone’s budget, or use profile to upgrade the trigger. As I mentioned in the “Should I?”, some people just don’t want or need precision to any degree. So, let’s forget about them and move on.
Not everyone is going to go trigger shopping and think that $250 is worth it. I’d contend that there’s plenty of options even around the $75 mark that are a considerable upgrade to the standard mil-spec bang switch. This is a reasonable price for one of the most critical components of your AR-15. Remember, mil-spec designs are meant to be reliable, and cheap, they’re not meant to be the best AR-15 triggers.
The second possible drawback is buying the wrong one!
I gave examples of the extremely light, single-stage trigger for benchrest shooting and the two-stage match trigger for competition shooting. If you swapped the triggers between these two guns, the benchrest shooter would see his accuracy degrade a bit, and the results for the competition shooter could be disastrous.
Triggers with extremely light pull weights can be phenomenally precise, but simply aren’t meant for the rigorous use that some competitions (or hunting, or combat) can put them through. Too many people have accidentally fired their rifles with 2lb triggers, overestimating (or being too stressed to notice) how little pressure 2lbs really is.
If you want to improve AR-15 trigger pull, you need to choose the right trigger for your intended use. So, get it right!
AR-15 Trigger Upgrades | How-To
The actual mechanics of swapping out AR-15 triggers are pretty simple. Knock out the hammer and trigger pins, and the whole fire control group is loose.
While most people also remove the safety selector (and out of necessity, the grip which houses the detent and detent spring), you can often just push in on the right side of the safety selector and then rotate it past the usual 90 degrees, allowing the fire controls to be removed from the receiver without taking the grip/detent/detent spring/safety out. This is true with mil-spec safeties and not ambi-safeties.
Slide your new trigger in, line up the holes in the trigger and disconnect, and slide the trigger pin in. As you slide the hammer into the receiver, make sure the hammer spring legs are on the trigger pin, line up the hammer hole with the receiver hole, and knock that pin into place as well.
If you removed the grip-safety-detent parts, replace them and you’re all set.
AR-15 Trigger Upgrades | Which Trigger?
Favorite All-around Trigger: Geissele SD-C Super Dynamic Combat Trigger
The Geissele SD-C, or Super Dynamic Combat trigger. This is easily one of the best AR-15 triggers on the market. This is a flat bow, two-stage trigger. The first stage is around 2.75lbs, and the second stage is an additional 1.5 lbs. When I’m shooting fast, there’s no concern about the trigger pull being too light, or too heavy. When I’m taking more carefully aimed shots, the two-stage design is excellent and makes me feel like I’m using a trigger designed for target shooting. At $245 it is one of the more expensive options, but for a guy like me who makes his living shooting guns, it’s worth it.
I use the SD-C in my Noveske Ghetto Blaster, which is my go-to for home defense, competition shooting, homestead nocturnal predator control, and deer hunting. It’s also one of my most commonly used rifles for testing ancillary review items, like various brands of ammo, optics, and more. Clearly, this gun is among my favorites, and this trigger is a big part of that.
Other great options: CMC Triggers Single-Stage Flat Trigger & ALG Defense Advanced Combat Trigger
CMC Triggers has an amazing one-stage match trigger. With options for 2.5lbs, 3.5lbs, and higher. I absolutely loved the 2.5lb trigger I had in a target rifle, and it gave fantastic groups from the bench. At $189.99, it doesn’t break the bank.
ALG Defense has one of the cheapest upgrades around. The ALG Defense Advanced Combat Trigger (ACT) only runs around $80-ish and represents a modest yet noticeable improvement over standard mil-spec triggers. Although you’re still looking at a 6-8 lbs trigger pull weight, this is a smoother pull with a crisper break than what GI Joe’s armorer pulled out of a pile.
Bottom Line:
If you’re running a stock mil-spec trigger and want to upgrade your AR-15 trigger pull, you have plenty of choices. Decide what you want out of your gun, and go for one of the many excellent options on the market. You won’t regret it!
About Jens Hammer
Rex Nanorum is an Alaskan Expatriate living in Oregon with his wife and kids. Growing up on commercial fishing vessels, he found his next adventure with the 2nd Bn, 75th Ranger Regt. After five tours to Afghanistan and Iraq, he adventured about the west coast, becoming a commercial fisheries and salvage SCUBA diver, rated helicopter pilot instructor (CFII), and personal trainer before becoming a gear reviewer and writer.” –Rex Nanorum @Rexnanorum.
For me, the best bang for my buck is the $35 PSA EPT trigger and a $10 set of JP Enterprise springs.
Many brick and mortar stores will have a counter display where you can check out the feel of one brand’s triggers. Do that before you buy based on someone else’s preference. Without digressing into the good and bad of the NRA, there are usually several manufacturers who have displays set out at the annual meeting (https://www.nraam.org/) where you can go from booth to booth and decide what you like best. That’s where I decided to put Geissele in all my ARs. If LaRue was there I might have made the same choice as @Acera and @Bigfootbob. I don’t know what… Read more »
I recently got a newsletter from GOA, it said they’d have there… GOALS?, annual meeting again in ’25.
What do you like about Geissele? Are they lighter trigger pulls?
Yep, GOALS. The MA State gun organization is Gun Owners Action League – GOAL. I like the way the curve of Geissele triggers fit my finger and their width (they have flat faced too.), a smooth take up on two stage models and a pretty clean break. Some come with two different springs and choose your pull weight. You have to spend big bucks on a National Match model to get an adjustable pull weight. By comparison to a mil-spec trigger, they have a lighter pull, do not have a gritty take up, and very little creep. I don’t think… Read more »
I’d like to go to GOALS, but, doubt I’d be able to make it with all the crap going on here at home. I’ve never had an aftermarket trigger. By far the best trigger on any of my guns is on my Weatherby Vanguard Sporter, 30-06. And I definitely get your point on how debating triggers is like debating calibers. But do you think it would matter on a defensive or SHTF AR15? Do you think a “nice” trigger can be too nice and light? Like for instance the mil spec triggers are heavy and lousy to prevent accidents- at… Read more »
You don’t use an 18mm box wrench on a 1/2″ nut. Every modern bolt action I’ve held has great to fantastic trigger, light and crisp. Not for a SHTF gun. There are plenty of excellent aftermarket AR triggers that are not too light. If SHTF and you need to make an accurate shot, a better trigger may help. Some folks can’t hit anything with any trigger and some can hit everything with any trigger. Some, like me, can at least hit a little closer to the mark with a good trigger. If you get light primer strikes on your new… Read more »
Thanks. In about two weeks I should be able to find out.
My choice for the finest trigger I’ve ever pulled is the American Trigger Corporation (ATC) AR Gold Trigger. Absolutely incredible. Feels like a finely toned 1911.
IMO the best trigger is the one that has the rock and roll position with no special permit and fees required.
While I agree that full auto should be readily available over the counter, I have long thought a giggle switch is mostly an ammunition elimination system. It’s most useful or needed for those folk who require ten shots to hit one bullseye. Even with my old eyes I can generally do better than that–and with a mil-spec trigger.
When I was in the Marine Corp we learned about suppressive fire and I remember the instructor chuckling when he said that they don’t pop their head up when they hear that going off unless they want their head blown off. It’s really used to change position without fire coming back. Never experienced what I am talking about, thank God but i know there are others here that have.
Still, it’s a blast.
There is a very legitimate reason that full auto should be available to ranchers. It costs too much money to hire full time people to watch a herd full time. So one rancher all by himself could conceivably face a whole bunch of rustlers and their semitractor trailer. Oh yes, rustling still goes on.
WB, I am unable to offer any counter argument to your point. In fact, I don’t believe there is one. That, coupled with my deeply felt and long held appreciation for a good steak, puts me firmly in your camp. Also, I’ve never been a fan of thieves–cow, horse or just general crooks.
WB, another option for rapid fire without the cost of the full auto gun is a Fostech Echo or Franklin Armory Binary trigger. You get a quick double tap without the additional rounds going somewhere downrange. If you need more rounds on target you can cycle the trigger as many times as you want so that you have a rate of fire like full auto.
use to shoot competition and my triggers were set at about 2 pounds, it was great for comp but to light for tactical or defense, an ad waiting to happen and found this out while on maneuvers
the original trigger that came with my rifle was about 4.5 to 5 lbs so i messed around with it and all i got was double and triple taps, you need powers jigs to do it right which i did not have, got a better one for around 80 bucks, it was better and used it for 3 gun comp for years until they started coming out with this stuff, finally i got a real good deal on a Geissele BG-C competition, it came with 2 springs for trigger weight, chose the lighter spring, it was not a drop in,… Read more »
Want to start an argument, bring up the AR rifle platform and its history..Everyone thinks they are an expert and knows everything about the Stoner invention. The problem is, most people know very little and repeat fudd lore they have heard repeated dozens of times by other clueless people..The AR platform is a very reliable, accurate rifle that has more options than any other firearm including the Glock pistol..The other truth is, the AR platform (is not) a lego set that can be snapped together from a multitude of different manufacturers parts that will result in reliable, functioning rifle..With out… Read more »
Great article. I have so many aftermarket triggers, some in use and many more not. I try to keep them stored separately in bags so not to interchange parts. One of the best I have had is a two-stage sold by Primary Arms about 5 years ago. I cannot remember the name and all the bags are not marked, so it has been an endeavor of futility.
Well, what’s wrong? Something inadequate about the factory triggers? This rifle has no excuse for not being perfect anymore. Too many people have too much money in it! The AR is the 3rd generation spin off rifle of the defective M-16’s that first bedeviled US military advisors 70 years ago. They were issued as “all weather maintenance free” combat rifles. And the problems began at once. Since that, no other system has been worked and reworked as many times as a production line AR. It should be absolutely perfect. The rifles attractive allure is what saved it from history’s scrapheap.
I have ARs with Jard, CMC, Geissele, hand fitted/honed stock, etc. But the best for the money I’ve found is the LaRue MBT for (on sale) about $100.
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Thanks, I think the same. I have 2 Geissele aftermarket triggers and 2 with the LaRue MBT, if I had to do it all over again, it would be LaRue all the way. And I would have $500 more in my wallet to buy a better optic or something.
Wait for them to go on sale..This last black Friday sale I got a Geissele SSA E for $126 at Sportsman warehouse.. LaRue are good but not quite the same as a Geissele..