I've been thinking about doing one of these on my AR.  I use if for hunting and would like a smoother, but still single stage, trigger.  The instructions talk about using a polishing compound to polish the two surfaces.  Could I use a very fine sharpening stone for this?  If not, could someone give me a name for the compound used?  Could I use my Dremel with a buffing wheel and jewelers rouge?
Any help is appreciated,
J

I just used some FLITZ to polish mine. Flitz can be found at most good sporting goods/gunshops.

While I'm certain careful folks COULD use their Dremel tool for the polishing, I'd advise against it and suggest ya follow instructions verbatim.

My old Bushmaster trigger turned out great, much better.

FWIW, after a one-time overzealous polishing of an old 1911 trigger sear and trigger parts resulted in a FA incident, I guess I learned not to get too Tim Allen, (uh, uh, arrg, arrg) when working w/ triggers, just use finger power is my advice.....

And I'd avoid the stoning too...

Mike

Cool, a FA 1911.

No, decidedly [b]not cool[/b], I was extremely lucky that there was large batter/sound board at the range, as the last 4 rounds ended traversing up it. A FA 1911 is rather difficult to hang onto, especially when your not expecting it and shooting full-powered 230 grn. FMJs.

Had a Glock 21, which at some point began doubling. Friend thought that was cool too, but there was absolutely no way ya could be certain it wouldn't at some point go FA and a 7 round 1911 mag is bad enough. Should this happen w/ a 21, loaded w/ a 13+2 mag, folks behind ya are gonna be duckin for cover, for trust me the pistol will continue climb and arc till your blasting rounds to your rear. (maybe takin things to the extreme here, w/ above comment, but depending on the size of the person holding the pistol, this could happen)

I sent it back to Glock for repair, and tossed the original 1911 trigger parts, learning a very valuable lesson at the time. Leave trigger work to the experts.

FWIW, while filing on your sear and trigger parts, may sound cool, there is a real danger that your handgun could fire outta battery and KA-BOOMS, are decidedly not cool......

Be safe, the 15-minute trigger job, works very well, or did for me, but please follow the instructions.

Mike

(1) Tell me, what could be simpler than applying the compound and polishing as described in the article? With that method you would be lightly lapping the two parts to each other, just the lightest way, removing any residual grittiness from high spots.  You want to preserve the sharp edge of the sear surfaces, not round them off.  

The name for the compounds used was given in the article, at the top.  One is ordinary Dupont #7 (go to an auto shop, they know what it is), the other is Kit Scratch-out.  Flitz would also be OK.  These are very fine compounds.

Follow the instructions, which are very KISS, and you will have no problems.

(2) What I don't want you to do is deviate from the instructions, then complain about whatever, and I have to come back and say, OK, toss out $40 worth of parts and buy new ones.  I want you to be successful the first time.  I want you to go to the range and say to yourself, "Hey, cool!  And I did it myself."  I want you to have a safe, smoothly functioning firearm.  And enjoy using it.

(3) And before getting out the stones and Dremel (which should never be within 10' of an AR trigger sear surface!) if you want a better trigger job than this one, buy an aftermarket trigger assembly from JARD, JP, RRA, etc.

The stock AR15 trigger setup has some inherent limitations.  It used to be the "common wisdom" that a good trigger job could not be done on an AR15.  The geometry of the parts is, in full M16 version, to allow functioning in both semi and full auto modes. The sear surfaces are very close to the pivot point of the hammer, and due to leverage, the forces on the hammer and trigger sear surfaces are very high.  Not only that, those areas are surface hardened only.  It is easy to polish or stone right through the surface hardening.  And some guys want to change the basic angles there, and run into some safety issues.  So, this is why I say, if you want a better trigger job than what is described in the article, buy an aftermarket setup.

Would any well experienced AR mechanics please correct me if you think I am wrong here?  Your comments are welcome.