Posted: 4/6/2025 11:31:42 PM EDT
|
A few of you are aware that I've been working on a three position FRT for several different platforms. It operates in principle...very...different from any other existing FRTs. Prototyping is coming along nicely, and I am working on getting machinery up to do mass production by mid summer, with everything in full swing by end of the summer. Here is my question- at what price would a reliable, working FRT, with a milspec or better trigger, that uses a standard three position selector lever, go into every AR you own? It seems to me that a lot of the current offerings are pants on head retarded with what they are asking. Or maybe I'm just out of touch and all of you are moneybags? Also curious what the next two most desirable FRTs are after the AR15? |
| Given your reputation on here for being a standup guy, I'd pay $375 for a trigger that does all of that. That price is higher than premium high end triggers but is lower than a lot of the FRT platforms. If they're reliable and work well they should sell like hotcakes at that price. |
|
Cheaper is better, when individual states may (or already have) made them illegal. Hoffman is pretty affordable right now. Yeah a regular throw safety would be nicer, but not hundreds of dollars nicer. Not when the above statement is in play and your ability to use it easily may go away. |
|
Every AR I own, I'm in at $150 per unit. Maybe that's unrealistic, but I have seen other cassette style triggers selling at that price point. At $500 per, there are multiple options out there now. At $250, I might consider more than one, but not every AR I own. You have to figure there is a solid chance they might be banned by congress and the money would be a total loss. |
|
Provided I don't have to do anything at all to my current hodgepodge of receivers and other parts, and the trigger is nearly as good a MBT (for example)? $200 per would have me replacing most of my AR triggers, after a T&E phase of the initial single purchase. It'd also have me investing in drums, and a bipod or two, and looking into water jackets or some sort of Lewis Gun-style cooling fin arrangement. Edit; I bet you'd sell every unit you could make for the FN-249S. |
|
OP, i can acheive all of that with a $100 hoffman. I can also get a really smooth match type trigger from larue for $99 if i dont mind waiting for the sales. but a 3 position that works like a standard milspec would IMO have 2x the value of the hoffman solution thus $200 $400 for the others that were out there for a while was way too much and thus their sales were pretty limited. IMO if you offer something between 100 and 200 it would sell well. closer to $100 you could own the market. $200 and sales would be brisk. $300 and it would be boutique. good to keep it in the "dont need to wait for a special event" spending category if it makes sense to you economically. |
|
I voted $250. I would expect a good quality working trigger that is better than mil-spec and better than the polished ALGs I bought a long time ago. However, I would not put them in every AR, but I would put one in at least two ARs, four ARs over time maybe (4 being one for each family member). |
| There are probably a decent amount of people like me- I want one but have nowhere to shoot it. Outdoor DNR ranges are slow fire only, I have no access to private land to shoot on and the few indoor ranges in my area don't allow centerfire rifle cartridges. If some that I'm not aware of actually do I don't think they'd allow this. |
|
I would never put FRTs in every AR I own. FA rate of fire in an AR while fun is not very practical and the sting of ammo cost will start burning quick as the mag dump novelty wears off. Anyone who thinks a $400 frt is the real cost has never bought ammo to feed one. I might own 1 FRT equipped A2 clone some day and seeing how I have paid well over $200 for regular drop in triggers I'd probably pay more than that for a great quality reliable FRT. Now figure out how to make a 3 shot burst FRT and we'll talk about equipping them all. 
|
|
Quoted: I would never put FRTs in every AR I own. FA rate of fire in an AR while fun is not very practical and the sting of ammo cost will start burning quick as the mag dump novelty wears off. Anyone who thinks a $400 frt is the real cost has never bought ammo to feed one. I might own 1 FRT equipped A2 clone some day and seeing how I have paid well over $200 for regular drop in triggers I'd probably pay more than that for a great quality reliable FRT. Now figure out how to make a 3 shot burst FRT and we'll talk about equipping them all. I think the key here is getting one to run in a .22lr AR so you can actually feed it affordably. That, and or getting it going in a 9mm AR, or having an FRT that runs in other 9mm guns like a Scorpion or SP5K or something without needing expensive modifications. Just drop in and go. An FRT for the 10/22 seems like a super obvious choice given the sheer number of 10/22s and clones out there. I've got 4 10/22 variants myself. I'd definitely put an FRT in at least one of them, but only if it allowed for both regular and forced reset. And I'd even say a higher price around $300 would be worth it because of the cheap .22 ammo offsetting the cost. |
|
I voted $200. Honestly though, price is not my main concern. I own zero FRT's right now, but I would if there was a convenient way to pay cash for one (or some other untraceable method). I don't want the risk of running afoul of this rogue ATF once the current cooler heads are out of office. The juice is not worth the squeeze for me. YMMV. |
|
Quoted: OP, i can acheive all of that with a $100 hoffman. I can also get a really smooth match type trigger from larue for $99 if i dont mind waiting for the sales. but a 3 position that works like a standard milspec would IMO have 2x the value of the hoffman solution thus $200 $400 for the others that were out there for a while was way too much and thus their sales were pretty limited. IMO if you offer something between 100 and 200 it would sell well. closer to $100 you could own the market. $200 and sales would be brisk. $300 and it would be boutique. good to keep it in the "dont need to wait for a special event" spending category if it makes sense to you economically. Good post. Spot on. |
|
I want some FRT's, but not in every firearm I own. I don't like cross bolt type safeties, but considering cost and availability I'm willing to live with the SS for now. I want one for my MP5 that doesn't require an AR15 style trigger. I wouldn't put one in my main AR15, but I'd like to build an "American RPK" in either 5.56 or .308- Basically a very heavy 20" rifle with bipod, ACOG, drum mags, and an FRT. Obviously not interested in an FRT for my precision stuff or handguns. FRT in my USP45 would be kinda cool I guess, but I'd only use that for fun. Belt fed with FRT would be very cool, but outside my budget for now. The 1919 is fairly affordable, and an M2 would be so sick. Maybe the M249s would actually be kinda cool with an FRT? |
|
FRTs are changing the firearm community exponentially. Super safeties for everything from glocks to AKs are all over the web and tens of thousands of people are buying them. Buying a true full auto seems like a waste of money. The genie is out of the bottle and it’s going to be interesting to see how the AFT tries to put it back in. |
|
I am cheap, I would only do one or two range toys at 100 bucks each. The cost of the trigger is the cheap part, as with machine guns feeding them is the expensive part. I don't have 100k rounds stashed away and have no desire to burn up the north of 10k I have like that. I am more interested in doing my ap5 for a range toy, that might actually get used in frt mode every so often. |
|
Quoted: FRTs are changing the firearm community exponentially. Super safeties for everything from glocks to AKs are all over the web and tens of thousands of people are buying them. Buying a true full auto seems like a waste of money. The genie is out of the bottle and it's going to be interesting to see how the AFT tries to put it back in. Let's hope they quickly and overwhelmingly surpass the "common use" threshold. |
|
I can see $300 being reasonable for a reliable three position FRT. I'd rather pay $100 though. While absolutely none of my business, I'm curious about how in-house your prototyping and eventual manufacturing is. I have an idea that might go well with an FRT, but I only have a 3D printer and a Harbor Freight mini mill and lathe, so prototyping it is outside of my capabilities right now. |
|
Quoted: I paid the $70 for a SS but no way an I paying hundreds of dollars for a FRT or a clone. Gotta work hard to convince me it is better than a SS unless the price is close. This. The super safety is one of the best things I ever bought for $100. It’s so much fun. And the push style button is actually pretty easy to use once you get used to it. Just like my rem 870 safety more or less. I would not pay 2 to 3 times more for a frt that has a select switch like a m16. |
| Also, if op wants honest answers from us in the poll then he needs to add an option for “under $100, to compete with the super safety”. Because in the end that is what you are competing against when you are trying to find a way to get us to buy something like that. I have shot a wot equipped rifle, a rare breed equipped rifle, and four different super safety rifles. The super safety is the best pound for pound. The other ones are not worth the triple price. Even if it went to three positions |
|
The big question for me if it was on every rifle isn't the price so much as what is the semi auto like. Semi like an ssa or ssa-e plus the 3rd position and reliable high quality? Do the math. Most people though probably just want to shoot dirt. So honestly I have 1 dirt shooting gun and I can move the lower around to fuck around |
|
Quoted: The big question for me if it was on every rifle isn't the price so much as what is the semi auto like. Semi like an ssa or ssa-e plus the 3rd position and reliable high quality? Do the math. Most people though probably just want to shoot dirt. So honestly I have 1 dirt shooting gun and I can move the lower around to fuck around Exactly. I don't think most people want to put a FRT in every gun. I have one that I've got dialed in, I'm just waiting for Type7SOT's belt-fed to go into production for a permanent host. |
|
I’d be comfortable at $300 each, but less is always appreciated if you can get the cost down. Bonus points if yours works with standard trigger pins and you have the option of a traditional mil spec selector switch. My only ARs that don’t have a DTT FRT are my retro clones like my A1 and A2 rifles; I didn’t really want the anti walk pins and ambi safety to spoil the aesthetics of them. |