OK, I am going to give this a try on Friday.

I do have a question though.

My lower (PSA) has the whole all the way through, but the threading does not go all the way.  So, when I am using the Tap Drill, do I use a drill, or some kind of hand turning?  I am concerned about damaging the existing threads.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I am ready to go besides the threading process.

Run the tap by hand slowly and don't forget to lube it.  I just tapped a PSA lower last week and it was the most difficult one I've done so far.

Just take your time and don't get in a rush.

I

    There is no need for a drill bit as the hole is already drilled out. All that is required is tapping it. I did mine last week and it was my first thread tapping experience. Before I did anything I took my grip screw to the local hardware store (ACE) and ensured the threading was 1/4-28 NF. After that I found the tap I needed and the screws as well. (1/4-28 x 1/4", and 3/4"). I got a couple of each just in case.

    I didn't have one of those t-handles designed for the taps, so I used a wrench which actually worked, but I'd recommend the properly designed handle if you can spare like $10 extra. I started by dowsing the threading and tap with motor oil (same oil I use for lubing my gun). I took the greatest care with getting the thread tap to align properly with the preexisting threading. Once that was done I kept screwing it in, adding oil every 3-4 turns. The resistance will increase as you go, but you'll hit a point where the resistance increases substantially. This is where the untapped part begins. When it that point I ran oil down the grooving of the tap on all sides and did a single turn in, followed by a single turn out. Then I did 2 turns in and one turn out. I kept flushing the tap with oil to ensure shards wouldn't get in the way or mess anything up. I continued the process until the tap reached the end where it didnt want to go anymore. Then remove the tap slowly. Clean the lower from all. debris and oil and install the screws. I didn't want to use loc tite on the screws I used so I used a 1/4" long screw to set the trigger length then another screw pushed against it to keep it from moving.

    Also too, once the tap is a decent ways into the thread it just needs to be rotated to continue. There isn't a need to put a lot of force on the tap at any time. Just make sure you get the tap started right and the rest is easy (albeit a bit messy with all the oil and metal shards)

I did it today, lubed it up with Mobil 1 and had no problem.  I do not have anything to compare it to, but it was not a hard process as far as turing the tap drill.  I did buy a nice large chuck and handle, so the extra torque was a bonus.  The most difficult part of the process was the clean up and removal of the lubricating oil prior to installing the set-screw with the Loctite.

All I can say is, using the yellow JP springs it feels amazing, similar to my $209 Jard drop in trigger.

It is drying now and I will file down the rear of the trigger for clearance of the safety tomorrow.

Can't wait to test it at the range

So, I want to say thanks for the info!!!

Guys using motor oil as a thread cutting fluid in aluminum: don't do that. Use WD-40, kerosene, or similar, and you don't need to flood the thing. It's also best if you stop just short of complete threads. The set screw will stay tight that way. The best thing to use is a set screw with a locking element, but good luck finding those at a local hardware store. They don't even have them in stock at Fastenal in the less common sizes (1/4-28 counts as less common, don't even ask for 1/2-28, they look at you like you're crazy).

Fellas, please do a function check after you mess with the trigger pull.

Hold the trigger back after the hammer drops.

Re cock the hammer.

*****    S L O W L Y     no        V  E  R  Y       S  L  O  W  L  Y     release the trigger    *****

If your hammer drops you are into the window of the disconnector timing.

Fix it by stoning the disconector tail. You want more purchase on the hammers disconnector hook.



Please check your carbines to make sure they are indeed safe.

Thanks for your safety concerns

I did the checks you advised, and had no issues.

I also always load one round in the mag after any changes to my rifle.  Then I load only 2 rounds for the next mag.  I am very careful.

Back on the trigger job topic, all I can say is...

WOW

Do that with every gun, built or bought. I bought an assembled CMMG dedicated 9mm earlier this year. Did the one round mag, two round mag, full mag bit, like always, and it emptied the two round mag. I wasn't sure if I was just a fluke, so I tried again, same results. Out of spec disconnector. 5 minutes with a file and it's been perfect since. And I did replace the disconnector when I got back to civilization just in case the ATF inspected the lower. Didn't want anyone accusing me of trying to make it automatic.

I prefer to back off the setscrew until the disconnector catches, rather than mess with the trigger components themselves.

I backed my set screw out just enough to be totally comfortable, I did and would not work on the disconnector

Oh yeah, my trigger feels A-W-E-S-O-M-E

+2....done this mod a dozen times.
Polish Sear face, don't file it.  It really doesn't take much to improve it and it really doesn't have to be a bright mirror finish.
Buy the JP springs, don't bend or cut the ones you got.  JP will usually exchange a yellow for a red if you have light strikes, if you talk nicely to them.  Personally never had a light strike.
Gently work tap in and out a turn or two at a time with plenty of lube, don't rush it.
Do use a drop of loc-tite on the set screw when all said is done.
Be prepared to cut or change out your existing pistol grip screw if it is too long and makes contact with the set screw.
The end result is usually surprisingly good when compared to what you started with.

You need some Flitz & a Dremel - with polishing pads.

Bingo Bango!!!  Cheap & Easy, just like...

Take you time, don't get to crazy (as others have said you don't want any angles changing) and do the ENTIRE Fire Control Group; you'll be amazed.

 Hope you all have a good veterans day.

I just did the set screw mod, on my Noveske lower with the Geissele SSA-E, and the Mega lower with the Spikes standard FCG.
I only raised the trigger bars until they interfered with the safety, then backed them off 1/4 turn.
Great results, takes near all the take up out, didn't effect the feel or function of the Geissele at all, the Spikes was good (for a standard FCG) right from the package.

I just finished the set screw mod on my Spikes lower with the Stag trigger, and removed the take up in that lower, you are "on the sear" now, it works great.
I was going to do my other lower with the Stag trigger, but I didn't see where I could improve it over present operation.

Has anybody gone from a Standard safety, to a Noveske 60 degree, with the set screw mod?
I am putting the 60 on my Noveske Lower with the SSA-E trigger this weekend.

Yup, works great.

Did you have to reset the set screw?

Yes, if only because the safety won't come out with the screw in. I've slept a few minutes since putting mine in, but if I remember right the trigger interferes with the safety coming out when the set screw is adjusted right, so I had to back off the screw a bit before popping out the safety. Hmm, I have an AR right here, I'll give it a shot...

Nope, won't come out, at least with milspec parts in a CMMG MK-9.

I installed the Noveske STS 60 degree safety in my Noveske lower with the Geissele SSA-E, again I did NOT relieve the trigger bar just ran the set screw where it caused the trigger bar to lightly touch the safety.
with the STS 60 it removes much more take up than with the Spikes safety it replaced, great improvement.
The Spikes standard trigger in my Mega lower, is a very good feeling trigger, and superb with the set screw mod.

I have done this trigger job on my latest build save for the set screw. I can't find them local and don't want to spend $7 for shipping for $2 bag of screws. So I was wondering if someone with a bag of them would do me a favor and mail me 2 or 3? I would be willing to pp yea a couple bucks. If anyone is willing please Im me.

Thanks Bill

you checked ace hardware? the ACE's here has a plethora of hardware parts. even hard to fin automotive stuff. I think they run about 30cents a piece out here in southern california

I gunsmith in California - land of the tree-hugging liberal...

Anyways, I have been doing this "magical" trigger job on plain old mil-spec triggers for years... something my dad taught me (USMC Platoon Sgt, 1st MarDiv, Decorated Sharpshooter, and my personal idol). He learned from USMC armorers.

I can tell you it's not 100% polishing... there is some super-secret things that you have to do to the hammer and trigger and springs too, which are actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

I can set reliable 3# target triggers all day long... super clean "glass rod" break, no creep, no grinding, drop-on-the-ground reliable too.

All with standard mil-spec, cheapy $49 LPKs like CMMG or DPMS.

It bewilders me to see people paying $200+ for a "match trigger" or a Jewell or Geisele or whatever. I agree, they do feel great, but I learned from "the best"... Thanks pops.

My DPMS lower was tapped all the way through. I have every thing done except the JP springs and i cant wait to get them in and go to the range. Thanks

JP 3 1/2 pound trigger springs in stock right  here. These have been hard to come by sense the shtf .

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/579878/jp-enterprises-trigger-spring-kit-ar-15-3-1-2-lb-reduced-power

So you don't want to share any of your super secret tips, and you post this in the build forum, I mean really, wtf.

I would like to have a couple 2  if someone would be nice enough to send me a couple i could pp them the funds . Thanks

Do either of you guys have a Lowes nearby?  That's where I got mine from.  I originally got what I thought were the right ones from Home Depot, but they were coarse thread and not the fine thread that were needed.  I figured Lowes had the same thing, but checked anyway, and they had the right ones.  They were on the fastener isle in the specialty fasteners drawers.  Hope this helps.

Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware....They're all over guys.  Any hardware store should have them.

At lowes you can order online and pick up in store, saves you from having to hunt and peck around the store for the small set screws!

Yes!

I have about 50 left right now...

I just ordered a shit ton...like 250 on line of some nice ss ones and they work perfect and no issue with corrosion...not a big deal anyhow...but some people are a bit over zealous about incompatible metals...

So, every rifle that comes through my place gets this done...I use a diamond coated flat steel for polishing...works great...

The super secret stuff isn't super secret, but it's hard to tell people over email how to feel something...

Any gunsmith that was any ex mil or any decent gunsmith can show you about tweaking springs and fine running the break angles and such...

I have two gunsmiths that I trust to work on my stuff if I'm too busy or too much to do...they know what's up too...

No one is trying to keep it secret, but, if you mess up it goes wrong fast...

If anyone is in the Minneapolis area let me know, I live about an hour north of town...

Everyone usually leaves with a few set screws and extra little knowledge after stopping by...

Also, if you don't know anyone that has the set screws try fastenal, they are in most major cities...

Bret

So, I have the JP yellow springs coming from Brownells. Also picked up the WMD NiB coated trigger and disconnector for a smooth pull without the filing and polishing. I already have a NiB hammer from the Failzero BCG I picked up a few weeks ago. My question is this.

Can I cut the NiB hammer with a dremel? I know that NiB is tough, and I'm not sure about it's durability after being cut. I tried searching for other people who have attempted this, but I can't find anything. I know the hammer needs to be cut when used with the JP yellow springs to avoid any FTF's. If I can't cut the Failzero hammer, I'll just cut my Spike's hammer that came with the lower.

What do you think? Try cutting the NiB hammer or just cut the Spike's?

Ok so I have installed springs and cut my hammer on three of my ARs.  On one of them works like a charm on one of the others the hammer gets caught on the disconnector and I have to "jiggle" the trigger to get it to reset sometimes on the third it fails to reset and catches on the disconnector almost every time.  What is the deal?  I did not have these problems with the standard springs on any of the rifles previous to the trigger mods.  Any ideas on why they are doing it and how to fix it?

PLEASE RE-TACK!!

Spend the $200-$250 for a good trigger that works, will last the test of time, and inspires confidence in igniting even the toughest military primers.

A trigger is the LAST thing I would skimp on, as the safety and reliability of the weapon depends on it.

Get out of the thread. That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it, but it doesn't belong here. There are plenty of other threads discussing the merits of aftermarket triggers, and the differences between them. This thread is for those who want the most out of their stock triggers, without buying anything more than a spring kit, polishing compound, and set-screw. Nobody (very few) are taking a Dremel to their sear surfaces or anything, and as long as they function-test their weapons before use, these mods are not dangerous.

Quick question, BTW. In your opinion, is it "skimping" to use a stock trigger? Because these mods (if done properly) are all improvements.

/rant

The geometry is all wrong on a std/mil spec trigger. Anything done to improve upon it is a bandaid not a fix. That's not an opinion. That's a fact.

Carry on.

Today i did this trigger job on all 3 of my ars and let me tell you it is the best thing you can do to a rifle. I am not about to go spend 150 bucks on a trigger thats going to do the same as my 15 dollar job per rifle. I was kind of hesitant when i was putting in the tap since i didnt know how exacly it would feel. but it went great i would recomend this trigger work to everyone! I dont know why i waited so long to do this.

Has anybody ever clipped the  hammer spring on one side and bent the trigger springs a bit ? I seen a video on youtube of a guy doing a trigger job and thats what he done . Thought i would ask.

Do you anybody have this trigger : Uhl trigger ?

What is better - UHL trigger or Timney trigger - just for IPSC and tactical shooting ?

For those of you that dont want to buy the tap and set screw here is another option:

http://www.joeboboutfitters.com/JoeBob_s_Trigger_Adjuster_p/jb-triggeradjuster.htm

I would just like to share my experience so far of doing this trigger job.  I have 2 lowers, one (allstar tactical) needed to be tapped and one (Mega) was already tapped.  Tapping was a piece of cake once I found the correct tap (grainger had it).  Set screws were found at Lowe's and I also got 1/4" white nylon spacers for the grip screws to keep them from hitting the set screws.  I like this better than getting a shorter grip screw or shortening it because it is less work but it also elevates the screw in the grip making it easier to reach with the tad-too-short allen key I have.  

I did not remove any material from the safety side of the trigger.  I just did a real quick and easy adjustment: Put the safety on safe, run the set screw till it hits, and back it off a hair.  This really took out most of the slack on my triggers.  There is still a little bit but it is much better than before and is in a very acceptable range for me.  If I was doing a dedicated target rifle maybe I would think about trying to get a little more out of it, but then again I would probably do a "real" match trigger on a gun like that anyway.  One of my AR's is set up to be a varminter/coyote gun and the other is more of a tactical/plinker kind of gun.  I polished the sear surface only on the varmint gun with a fine knife sharpening stone from my Gatco kit.  Used some honing oil and didn't go real crazy with it, just took out the worst of the macining marks.  I am dead sure I did not go through the heat treating, erring on the side of caution.  I could probably get it smoother if I did a little more, but I don't think I need to.  This trigger is quite smooth now with next to no takeup.  I like it a lot.  It is still heavy because I didn't do anything to the springs yet.  I am considering trying the lightweight springs and cutting the hammer but I haven't done that yet and I am not sure how much benefit it will be to me.  I would call the trigger as it is now acceptable for long range and varminting... before the mod it was NOT ACCEPTABLE in my opinion.

Now the other trigger I didn't have time to do the stoning of the sear because we were trying to get out to shoot before the rain.  So this trigger basically only has the set screw to take out the slack.  Even this on mod makes a huge difference.  I am going to go back and stone the sear on this one too though because there is a tiny bit of creep still in the trigger as compared to the other one that was stoned, and it is basically free and easy for me to do at this point.

If anyone is on the fence about this, I will just say that these triggers went from being totally unacceptable (for me) to being what I would consider quite decent triggers just from the set screw and stoning alone.  New springs/cut hammer may help even further, I'm sure I will at least try this in the future.  But for me it was a considerable upgrade even without.

If anyone cares one of the LPK's was a CMMG and I don't know what the other one was but before the mod both of the triggers were comparable and horrible.  I am new to AR15's but I have lots of other firearms and I would have rated these triggers as the worst of any gun I owned.  Now I think the only better trigger I have is on a 10/22 that is set up for target and that trigger had considerable work done on it.

I'm curious about alternatives to the ceramic sharpening stone...does anyone have any suggestions?  I want to say that I saw a video a while back of someone using a really fine sanding block (I forget what grain it was), but they used it to achieve the same effect of removing the machining marks.  What about a wet stone used for knife sharpening?  Thanks for any input!

That is what I used.  Not a ceramic stone.  Worked fine.  Really anything fine and flat should work, you could probably do real fine sandpaper on a block or something as long as it is nice and flat.  I would recommend wet sanding in that case.

Start measuring your results, before and after. Other than that its just subjective.

I'm sure it feels great, just like a match trigger feels great, put some science to your results.

Bump to make sure this does not get archived.

I bought the tap today.  Depot did not have anything in 1/4-28, so ended up going to Fastenal.  I had to buy a pack of 100ct 1/4-28 1/4" set screws, so if anyone needs any let me know since I only need a few of these set screws.

I have done this mod to 2 of my guns. I used 2000 grit sandpaper. Just went nice and slow to be on the safe side but probably could have used somthing coarser.
The results are amazing and I will do this to any future guns I build.

edit: just noticed this thread is still stickied just in a consolidated location
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_4/605350_Important_Threads__Check_Here_First.html

Nice trigger mod!  I was able to get my stock PSA trigger down to 5lbs by modding the springs, smoothing the contacting surfaces and putting some lube in those areas. Here are the instructions I followed.  The whole project cost $2.50 (cost of springs from local gun shop) and I was able to keep my original springs as back ups.

http://www.sargenthome.com/15_Minute_AR_Trigger_Job.htm

I have a Core15 LPK in my rifle, the surfaces are VERY smooth out of the box, no perceivable grit at all. I did the set screw mod and the 3.5lb JP springs, trigger feels great for basically no extra money in it. I did have some light strikes with the JP hammer spring, I'd average about once a mag. I bobbed the hammer and ran about 7 mags of the same ammo through it today without a hiccup.

This was me.  I did the trigger job to 2 of my rifles and was very happy.  Then I got an SSA.  Huge difference.  Huge.