This question is directed to HIPERFIRE® in many different variations through your CONTACT page submittals and phone calls. In the vast majority of cases the answer is YES, the user has done something wrong and it takes some well placed questions on our part and your considered answers for us to figure out what’s wrong. Normally, if we had the lower in front of us, we could see immediately what the issue is and fix it. But, we don’t.

So, we’ve put together this PDF Trouble Shooting Guide (click the highlighted words to read it online or download it to your computer or mobile device). It’s based on actual case histories brought to us for successful remediation. We are happy to inform you, that we have found no situation where the fire control has not been made to function as advertised by making a few simple observations and apply some common sense.

.

The HIPERTOUCH® family of triggers were designed to function with a consistent feel whether lubricated or not, i.e. for the worst case, when proper maintenance and lubrication are impossible: the battlefield environment. HIPERFIRE® has live-fired triggers in excess of 100k rounds without lubrication, without hiccup, or change in trigger feel. This is because the sear contact surfaces are large and robust in the first place, limiting excessive wear, and in the second place carry lighter contact impingement loads than competing products due to the addition of the toggle springs. Since the sear load is reduced, the wear is reduced.

Theoretically, using lubrication will increase product longevity versus running the triggers without lubrication. Good lubricants will make clean up and maintenance easier as well, but will not significantly improve feel. Why? Lubricating films generally improve lubricity when the contact surfaces are mutually large and in close intimate conformal contact. The film between these surfaces is pressurized to some slight degree (a function of the lubricant’s viscosity among other factors) and prevents or inhibits metal-to-metal direct sliding, thereby reducing the friction coefficient and reducing wear. However, in every fire-control design including HIPERTOUCH®, the trigger sear edge and not a broad conformal surface interacts with the hammer sear surface so that film pressure, for practical purposes, is nonexistent, i.e. the difference in pull weight between lubricated and non-lubricated HIPERTOUCH® FCGs is insignificant.

Having said all that, any lubricant will extend wear life.

So far, only two lowers we know of may not receive our FCGs, but with some qualifications. Both lowers are .308 lowers, which follow no commonly practiced MIL-spec standard like AR15 type lowers. We know of one that definitely will not, dare I say, should not, receive a HIPERTOUCH® FCG.

Polymer Lowers of Various Manufacture: Caveat emptor (buyer beware): some polymer lowers have been found to not meet the MIL-spec pin size and layout making proper function of the HIPERTOUCH® triggers problematic: hammer won’t fall (no trigger break), hammer falls on reset (hammer not captured by primary trigger sear), etc. Measure your lower per the spec found here.

Smith & Wesson M&P-10: The first lower that may not permit our HIPERTOUCH® FCGs to operate as-is are lowers from Smith&Wesson that have ambidextrous controls. Users have reported to us that the ambi-controls invade the fire-control cavity and interfere with free rotation of the 24 series hammers where the toggle springs connect at the toggle spindle. The EDT series triggers install and function without issues. These users have removed the offending ambi-control and then the hammer is free to swing without interference.

DPMS 308-LR: Some 308-LR lower from DPMS will not work with our FCGs, or not work without modification to the lower. First, examine this document. It shows the FCG cavity that the HIPERTOUCH® FCGs are designed to work in. We have learned of three different problems that can be fixed by a slight mod to the lower and or the FCG, and one that can’t be fixed.

1. In some of the 308-LR lowers, the distance between the forward wall of the cavity and the trigger pivot pin is too short preventing hammer swing upon cocking. What happens is that the hammer will not fully lie down when cocked during manual charging or by live-fire. The bottom of the hammer strikes and then binds on the forward wall preventing the BCG from moving fully to the rear. So, users have removed material from the forward wall to produce the clearance the hammer needs to fully cock and the binding issue goes away. This problem has exhibited on some lowers, but not on others.
2. In some cases the cavity depth with respect to the trigger pivot is too shallow. When the trigger is let-off, the rear portion strikes the cavity floor, preventing the disconnector from releasing the hammer (reset). Fix it by removing some material from the trigger; just enough to permit reset.
3. In other lowers, the spacing between the bottom of the upper and the trigger pivot pin is too close, or the trigger pivot pin hole is too high. What happens is the toggle shafts hit the underside of the upper when the hammer cycles so that they can not freely poke out all the way. When these toggle pivot shafts hit the upper, the shafts stop and the hammer doesn’t fall. Fix it by removing a little material from the ends of the toggle shafts exhibiting wear upon hitting the upper just enough so the hammer won’t bind up, or remove a little material from the upper at the location showing wearing to prevent binding.
4. In rare instances, the lower’s pin hole spacing is not within spec, leading to hammers that don’t release (holes too close), or hammers that skip off the sears leading to occasional doubling (holes too far apart). This problem can’t be fixed by repair of the lower. Stock FCGs will work in these lowers because they do not rely on the tight tolerancing that the HIPERTOUCH® triggers demand.

Colt Large Pin AR-15®: A customer installed a HIPERTOUCH® FCG in a rifle and complained about it bursting every time he pulled the trigger. After repeated tries to identify and fix the burst problem, HIPERFIRE® asked for a pic. Immediately the problem was identified. In the pic was an old Colt lower and yes it did have over-sized pivot holes. The customer wondered why it was so easy to install (the pins went into the lower with no resistance and now he knew why). The added pivot hole slop increased the functional pivot centers beyond MIL-spec and prevented the semi auto disconnector from ever capturing the hammer. The hammer would fall with every BCG cycle until the ammunition magazine was emptied or the shooter let off the trigger. HIPERFIRE® identifies its pivot pins as small and of 0.154-inch diameter. HIPERFIRE® does not make FCGs for the large-pin Colts.

Bushmaster Carbon-15 Composite Lower Receiver: The polymer lower’s trigger guard is not MIL-spec. It rides higher than the MIL-spec removable trigger guard. The HIPERTOUCH® 24C trigger must be shortened a little by grinding to remove the interference with the guard or the polymer guard must be trimmed slightly with a Dremel tool for example to allow free rotation of the trigger bow.

Seekins Precision SP Safety Selector Kit: This safety selector is not MIL-spec. It’s designed to operate at 90 and 60 degree throws by reversing the side on which is was installed. The cut outs in the cylindrical barrel of the safely for the trigger are therefore at vaious angles and interfere with operation of the Frame part on HIPERFIRE®’s HIPERTOUCH® 24 series triggers. Seekins Precision does not recommend HIPERTOUCH® 24 triggers for this reason and neither can HIPERFIRE.

Armalite 308 Bolt Carrier: A customer installed a HIPERTOUCH® 24C in a custom built AR featuring parts from different manufacturers. The customer chose a BC from Armalite. The bolt carrier would hang up on the cocked FCG hammer preventing it from going fully forward into battery and letting the hammer fall. It’s not clear to HIPERFIRE whether this was a fluke or a common problem to be encountered with Armalite BCs. The customer remedied the situation by selectively machining the hammer slot to make it longer so that it would leave plenty of clearance with the 24C hammer. See the pics below.

Hiperfire’s FCGs will work with any lower receiver that has a Mil-Spec cavity. View the “MIL-spec” cavity drawing, AR10 & AR15 Fire-Control Cavities, that shows the spec that the HIPERTOUCH® FCGs were designed to. Lower receivers that have that cavity, open and unobstructed, will receive the FCG’s without any problems.

See What lowers will the HIPERTOUCH® FCGs not work in?

After-market anti-walk and anti-rotation pins can produce variations in pull weight from what HIPERFIRE® specifies, a grittier feel, and/or alter the FCG’s overall performance, like reducing hammer fall energy, providing an inferior user experience.

HIPERFIRE® recommends that users first install the MIL-spec pins that come with the packaged HIPERTOUCH® product to baseline their experience for comparison’s sake and then make the decision as to whether other pins might be preferred for reasons like aesthetics, etc.

We recommend the MIL_spec pins included with the product. Users have contacted HIPERFIRE® regarding hammer fall and pull weight issues with the use of various anti-rotation pin products. In some cases:

1. These pins are larger that the MIL-spec .154-inch pins causing a slight binding of the hammer on the pin;
2. The pins are worn out of shape or damaged;
3. The pins have no hammer J-spring groove so that the hammer fall is slowed due to pinching friction; and or
4. The anti-rotation pins clamping action on the lower can actually squeeze the lower receiver’s walls together clamping in turn the hammer and/or trigger.

In these cases, HIPERFIRE® recommends taking out the anti-rotation (anti-walk) pins and install the pins supplied with the HIPERTOUCH® trigger to baseline optimal performance. After knowing how the FCG should work as designed and most importantly how it should feel, the user can then try other pins for comparison. If the others work out okay, go ahead and use them. If not, abandon them and go back to the pins supplied in the HIPERTOUCH® package.

No, the FCG’s (Fire Control Group) trigger weights cannot be adjusted to 4½ pounds and greater on these models. FCG trigger weights are more or less the same between all three models and range as follows based on toggle spring pair used:

• Plain or Gray: 2 ½ – 2 ¾ pounds
• Yellow: 3 ½ – 3 ¾ pounds
• Blue: 4 – 4 ¼ pounds