AR Rifle Upgrade— Making Good, GREAT!

I began this review by taking notes on the features of triggers I have written about in the past. I wanted to be certain I had a clear idea of what makes a good trigger and perhaps what makes a trigger good for the money, as well as trigger features that favor tactical or personal defense shooting. Being able to qualify claims for a fast lock time is more difficult than testing the trigger action and pull weight.

The difference between a factory MIL-SPEC two-stage trigger breaking at seven pounds and a custom-grade trigger is immense. The Elftmann, however, is a different beast among many triggers. The trigger uses roller bearings and highly polished hammer pivots. This results in excellent, smooth motion.

As for lock time, this is simply the time between the trigger pull and the hammer falling and cracking the primer. For a good shot, firing at long range, rapid lock time is very important. Lock time is measured in milliseconds. I am not equipped to measure lock time but the Elftmann trigger certainly feels tight and fast.

There are combinations that make for a fast break. These are a lightweight cut out trigger coupled with a full power hammer spring. This is important because a light hammer spring is often used to lower trigger release weight. This isn’t best for reliable ignition.

You want a hard strike to fully-seat slightly off-spec ammunition and to ensure that hard primers are ignited. If the rifle is for pure competition use, well, maybe a lighter spring is OK, but a go anywhere, do anything rifle had better run with anything.

I don’t do full auto but hard primers are necessary to prevent cook off and other problems, and a lot of surplus ammo has hard primers. I sometimes load on the hotter side for the .223 Remington, so I use the slightly harder CCI small rifle primers as they handle high pressure well.

So far, I noted the full power hammer spring and lightweight trigger. The half-cock notch is what helps Elftmann make what they call a drop safe rifle. If the rifle is loaded and ready to fire, and somehow dropped or struck heavily, the hammer may slip but the half-cock notch will catch it. I like this feature.

I also like the easily manageable setscrew that allows adjusting trigger compression from 2.5 to 4.0 pounds. A very clean 4.0-pound pull is good for a personal defense firearm, while 2.5 pounds is excellent for competition or benchrest fire. The trigger also features setscrews to provide adjustment for the fit of the trigger inside the rifle. I like this a lot. This makes for a very stiff unit. You will not need to install anti-walk pins with the Elftmann trigger.

I installed the Elftmann without incident, racked the bolt, and checked both trigger compression and reset. The trigger worked fine. There is no take up to speak of. The trigger finger meets the trigger and you begin the press. The single stage trigger has it all above the two-stage trigger for accuracy and control. There is no creep. None!

I won’t say this is the perfect trigger, but perhaps it is a perfect trigger. Reset is fast, sharp, and distinct. I installed this trigger in an ordinary AR-15 rifle that represents a best buy at present. Most AR-15 rifles are available for less than $600 these days, with my particular rifle coming in at $499.

The rifle was worth the money but the trigger could stand improvement, and perhaps the sights as well. This is true of all MIL-SPEC rifles with a two-stage trigger, and the beauty of the AR-15. It is the Mr. Potato Head of rifles.

I installed the Elftmann trigger in this rifle and the Elftmann lightweight aluminum buttstock. This is a very steady, rigid buttstock. It is easily, if not instantly, adjusted. These upgrades may not affect intrinsic accuracy—the built in accuracy of the rifle—but they helped practical accuracy.

The rifle is now far more useful in off hand fire, firing for fast hits and in precision fire to 50 yards. I expended 10 magazines of the accurate, clean burning, and affordable Federal American Eagle 5.56mm loading in testing the trigger. There were no failures to reset, no doubles, and no problems of any type. This is an excellent trigger with no drawbacks. The stock also provided a degree of rigidity that I like. Overall, this great upgrade will benefit any rifle.

Sights

This rifle was used as a base for a home defense/truck gun. While it would be equally suited as a 100-yard all around rifle, with a quality load such as the Federal 62-grain Bonded Core loading, I wanted to experiment with the XS sights Big Dot front sight. XS also offers different sight blades from standard GI to a bit narrower, which would make for excellent practical accuracy at longer range.

<

I was looking for commonality with the XS sight-fitted shotgun I keep at home ready. Sometimes, specialization is good and sometimes, well, familiar sights are great for personal defense. The XS Big Dot just hangs in the air and offers a great advantage in dim light. When the rifle is at “home ready,” the rear sight is folded down and the tritium front is the only sight that would be used at close range.

The CTAS rear sight solves a lot of problems for home defense shooters. There is a standard aperture. However, flip the aperture and you have a nicely serrated close range battle sight. AR rifles fire low at close range. the second aperture sight below the CTAS notch allows accurate aiming at close range. This is an ingenious solution to a serious problem.

I loaded a magazine with Federal’s 62-grain bonded core and fired enough ammunition at 7 and 10 yards to get a clear view of the capability of this sight. The sight works as designed and demands practice to master. However, in the end, it was an excellent solution to point of aim and point of impact differences in the AR-15 at close range. This isn’t an expensive combination, but the rifle is workmanlike and works well.

Do you have a good AR-15 that you made great? What upgrades did you install? Share your answers in the comment section.

[bob]