Real Power; It’s About Time

Hammer Strike Power, Who Gets It, Who Doesn’t

We began a series of white papers on HIPERFIRE’s trigger technology (see the earlier blog posts and read the white papers under HIPERTECH at the top of every hiperfire.com web page).  We stated that HIPERFIRE intended to design triggers with low pull weights.  Because that’s what we and the AR customer base wanted.  And we, and presumably, you didn’t want light strikes.

Light strikes are a fact of life with many trigger upgrades.  A light-strike is also known as a failure-to-fire or FTF.  You pull the trigger, the hammer drops, but the gun doesn’t go bang.  Why?  Well, to get that trigger pull weight pleasingly low, the hammer spring power or stiffness was reduced too much.  The trade-off: lower the trigger pull weight by lowering the hammer sear friction, and thereby lowering and sacrificing hammer strike power.  So, HIPERFIRE looked for a way to reduce the pull weight without sacrificing the hammer’s strike power.

SAAMI has put out a specification that describes the minimum firing pin indent depth to ensure reliable primer ignition, so the cartridge always goes bang.  Primer manufacturers use the spec to design primers.  Firearm manufacturers use the spec to design the fire-controls.

HIPERFIRE tested its own triggers against that spec and many others.  The data collected for one category of triggers is shown below.  You can see that some trigger manufacturers fail to meet the SAAMI spec.  What we found interesting is that even those triggers that marginally met the spec also failed to go bang.  We know this from the feedback we get from our customer base that has switched from others’ triggers to ours.  We could conclude that the SAAMI spec minimum firing pin indent depth is too low.  In any case, you can see that HIPERFIRE’s triggers exceed the spec by a healthy, 100% ignition reliability margin!  We did it.  Low pull weight, MIL-grade hammer fall.

The HIPERFIRE Bottom Line

  • Low to medium pull weight obtained.
  • MIL-grade hammer fall maintained.
  • Match quality pull; accuracy enhanced bullet delivery.
  • 100% ignition reliability.

What’s important?

HIPERFIRE has a bias for excellency.  We want our firearm equipment to be safe, reliable, fast, and accurate.  What else is there?  Oh, we forgot.  FUN!  Give us a try.  Remember, the trigger finger can tell no lie.

Read all about it in HIPERTECH #5 posting soon.

 

Terry Bender

Creep is/does more than you think

Creep is Good. Blasphemy, you say!

Recently, we posted HIPERTECH #3, where we provided a lot of pull weight data scans for over 35 AR15/10 triggers that also highlighted the trigger creep.  We defined creep in that article but withheld our judgment as to whether creep is good or bad.

“Creep,” any creep is a dirty word among shooters.  No one wants to talk about it.  But, it’s essential to have creep, any creep, for the safe function of a semiautomatic firearm.  No creep (less than a hair-trigger) is very dangerous at any weight.  The question should not be how much creep, but what should it feel like.  No one has tackled answering that question.

So, manufacturers focus on weight alone, giving a single number.  We show in HIPERTECH Bulletin #3 that every trigger manufacturer’s trigger weight is different.  The maximum is different.  High at first, high in the middle of the pull, or high at the very end.  Clean break, rolling break, and so on.  The average is also different among them.  So how is trigger pull weight an adequate descriptor of what the shooter feels when he pulls the trigger?

HIPERFIRE, the manufacturer has come up with a metric that combines both pull weight and creep into a single parameter.  In engineering terms, it’s called work or energy.  For shooters, let’s call it effort, the effort the shooter must exert to drop the hammer.  This metric is a number calculated from the same pull weight data scans shown in HIPERTECH #3.  The calculation takes into account the entire weight, no matter how it changes during the pull, but also includes the whole creep, no matter its character.  See the figure below taken from the Bulletin.  This shows how the work, energy, effort number is calculated.  The units of measure are inch-pounds (in/lb).  We know numbers like that from engine torque, fastener lockdown torque, etc.  Well, now we can relate those units to AR triggers.

Figure showing the “area under the curve” or trigger pull energy/work.

You’ll have to read #4 is get all the details.  This new trigger parameter is very good at describing trigger control feel.   We can use it to rank how a trigger feels on the trigger finger as the shot is taken.

What Work, Energy, Effort Tells Us

  • A trigger with high weight and low creep will feel the same as a trigger with low weight and more creep.
  • Energy or work is the effort we exert when pulling a trigger. We don’t really feel the weight or creep independently.
  • Creep can be good or bad; it depends, so to speak.

So, how is creep good?

Ok, now you’re asking the right question.  We know lousy creep when we feel it, but who comments on “good” creep, except the case where the creep is “zero.”  We know zero creep is an impossibility.  Well, creep is good when it provides feedback telling us what’s happening when we pull the trigger.  This feedback tells us whether we like the trigger or not.

This has been HIPERFIRE’s take all along when designing good triggers, which is what our fans tell us, those fans who have tried a lot of different triggers and settled with us.  We created them based on their benefits to our shooting experience.

HIPERTECH #4 has a lot more info, and we rank over 35 triggers  based on pull energy and work.  It confirms what our fingers tells us in a parameter, more that weight or creep alone.  We’re getting closer to making a more complete assessment of what makes triggers good or not so good.  Stay tuned, we’re getting warmed up.

 

Terry Bender

Everything About Trigger Weight

How Much Does Your Trigger Weigh?

Or, what’s the weight of your trigger?  Is it the actual weight, or are we really talking about the force we must exert on the trigger to get it to release the hammer?  If so, that would be its pull weight or pull force, just to add some clarity to what we really mean by trigger weight.

The “trigger weight” terminology derives from hanging dead weights from the trigger’s bow with the firearm’s muzzle pointing up, to measure the amount of weight that must be added to get the trigger to break.  For example, that’s how an NRA deadweight tester works.

Most shooters focus on the pull weight of a trigger, thinking that is the most important metric when evaluating how good a trigger might be.  The idea is that the lower the weight, to some limit, the better the trigger.  A practical trigger safety limit for a bench-rest shooter might be 2 ounces.  But that trigger weight in a semi-auto rifle like an AR15 would be scarily unsafe not only during normal handling but most certainly rough handling like dropping it on the ground when pulling it out of your pickup’s cab.  So, when we say “good weight,” that will depend on what you’re going to do with the firearm.

Well, shooters have many opinions on what weight makes a good trigger or even an excellent trigger.  Manufacturers are also very opinionated on the topic, especially here at HIPERFIRE.

You see, different types of triggers will have different weights depending on what other factors mighty be emphasized.  Some triggers are MIL-spec safe, or operator safe, during stressful engagements.  A 3-Gun competitor might consider the “stress factor” differently and usually opts for pull weights and are at least half the MIL-spec standard.  These triggers are generally of single-stage design.

Long-range precision hunters or competitors may opt for a 2-stage design.  A first stage take-up of low pull weight, then the second stage of slightly higher weight called “the wall.”  Dividing the trigger’s travel into these two distinct segments helps the shooter to manage the semi-auto’s requisite creep.   When the wall is breached, the shot is made.

A third category would be the so-called “drop-in” trigger that could be of either single or 2-stage design.  This is the point: we have many different trigger types from many different manufacturers for many different kinds of shooters with many different opinions as to what is a perfect trigger weight.

How can we decipher this to make decisions about triggers that are so very different?

HIPERFIRE has scrutinized this issue because we are both shooters and a manufacturer.  We agree with the general consensus that lower trigger weight is better.  Take a look at the chart below that compares the pull weights of some HIPERFIRE triggers against some very popular after-market drop-ins.  The data looks very different among them, doesn’t it?  It’s also overwhelming and somewhat confusing, isn’t it?

Chart showing pull weight scans of HIPERFIRE and other’s triggers.

This Is What It Means

  • Go to HIPERTECH Bulletin #3 at hiperfire.com explaining how the data was collected.
  • The Bulletin has many more charts that begins our conversation on what makes a good trigger with the weight metric. Ultimately, we want to show you that the conversation doesn’t end with weight.
  • The charts compare the most popular and arguably the most excellent after-market AR triggers the shooter can buy.

Why Is This Beginning Important?

HIPERTECH Bulletins #1 and #2 began by introducing you to the exclusive Cam-Over Toggle Engine™ and Radical Sear Mechanics™ features in our triggers.  Now, we show you what that did to lowering trigger weight.

Bulletin #3 gets into the details, but it can be challenging for some to understand.  So, let’s boil it down.  Your trigger finger can tell no lie.  It knows what it likes without all the charts.  That’s why trigger manufacturers resort to the feel-good taglines.  They know that data doesn’t sell triggers, or that if purchasers relied on the data to make decisions, they would receive the short straw.  HIPERFIRE knows the data in and out, we designed our products with the data-driven insight into what our trigger finger knows to be the truth.  Now that we could quantify the pull weight and other vital metrics, we could reproduce an ideal feel across many different trigger products to give many different shooters what they only could have dreamed of before.

HIPERTECH is written for you.  Use it to expand your consciousness, then expand your shooting experience.  Message me here if you have any questions about HIPERTECH Bulletin #3.  Remember, this HIPERTECH series is long, we’re just getting started.

Terry Bender

What’s In A Trigger?

Everyone Wants a Good Aftermarket Trigger

If you believe the advertising, everyone sells the best aftermarket trigger.  Most of these ARE good, compared to the AR15 shooters’ bane, that MIL-spec one.  But what’s good or not so good, breaks down when making comparisons within the aftermarket group.  Well, here’s an introduction to some info that begins to clarify what makes a good AR trigger.

Seventeen years ago, I wanted to buy a 50 BMG semi-auto rifle because it was cool and ammo was cheap.  But what I saw available in the market place didn’t satisfy my desire for the ultimate in long-range accuracy.  The only rifle option open to me was the one being procured by US MIL units and used in the sandbox after 911.  It was sold and purchased as an anti-material weapon, not anti-personal, because of its accuracy limitations.  Since I have an engineering background, I decided to design my own, more accurate 50.

My first challenge was the trigger.  I knew I had to touch off a large caliber primer.  And I needed very deft control of the trigger to send that round out to distances of 1,000 yards or more and hit my aim. The maximum effective range of the 12.7×99 NATO cartridge is 1,800 yards or one mile.

Well, four patents later I had my 50, I was broke, and I needed startup money.  So, I presented what I had to some equity investors.  They were not interested in the 50 (bummer!), only the trigger in the 50.  They asked whether it could be adapted to work in the AR15.  Fortunately, I said yes, and HIPERFIRE, the company, was born making triggers.  It started with one, and now it’s 10. (Ahem! More are on the way.)

Figure of the 50 BMG trigger from one patent application.

That 50 trigger solved every shortcoming of any trigger I could get my finger on.  When installed in the AR, it was no less surprising.  Control, finesse, pleasure, speed, precision, are just a few of the adjectives that could describe the experience of shooting again.  Remember that first date with that special someone.  Shooting was that first date experienced over and over again.

OK, enough of the back story!  Why am I writing this?  My company, HIPERFIRE, has solved some problems, probably all of the issues with triggers in general, and some other particular ones.  Because of this, if you use our triggers, it will transform your experience, make you a better, faster, more accurate shooter (everything else being equal).  How can I say that?  For one, I’m a better shooter.  The 3-gunners who have adopted our triggers swear by them.  Before the trigger, ½ MOA. After the trigger, ¼ MOA, for example.

OK, great.  But here’s the problem.  Everyone’s different.  Everyone has an opinion.  Everyone has a preference.  How do you know, what applies when and where to you?

Third OK!  If you’re counting.  That’s a good question.  What we need are meaningful metrics, ways to measure and compare one trigger to another, and what those metrics mean when it comes to shot control, finesse, pleasure, speed, and precision.

HIPERTECH

To that end, HIPERFIRE will begin introducing its HIPERTECH articles on October 1, 2019.

  • HIPERTECH is a HIGH PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY series of white papers describing HIPERFIRE’s trigger technology compared to other state of the art offerings.
  • Later, HIPERTECH will include other products.
  • I’m the author for now.
  • I have the technical background (graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and 35+ years of experience in R&D).
  • I apply that know-how in novel ways to make HIPERFIRE’s triggers better.
  • A new tech bulletin will be issued every three weeks that goes down the rabbit hole a little deeper each time.

Why is this important?

HIPERFIRE has the knowledge and wants to share it.  This county has been good to me, to us.  American innovation is still possible, HIPERFIRE has proven that.  By raising the bar, we want to encourage others to do the same.  If there are better triggers or better anything, lets’ find it.

After you’ve dived into HIPERTECH, what questions burn within you?  Let me know in the comments section.  For me, there’s no beginning but with an excellent question or observation.

Terry Bender