By Wes Littlefield
Recently, a buddy purchased a binary trigger and needed it installed on his gun. He knew I had built a few ARs, so he asked if I could install it on his rifle.
I had zero experience with a binary trigger, but I figured it wouldn’t be much more complicated than installing any other AR trigger, so I said I’d give it a go.
He dropped off the binary trigger and gun and said he wasn’t in a hurry to get them back and to install it whenever I found the time, which happened later in the week. Thankfully, the installation was pretty simple. However, as a concerned friend, I had to ensure the trigger worked properly.
So I grabbed a box of 223 Rem ammunition and headed to the range that I built on the backside of my property.
I loaded the full magazine into the gun, chambered one, aimed at the target, and flipped the safety off shortly before making a terrible mistake.
The first trigger pull was exhilarating, as two rounds fired downrange almost instantaneously as I pulled and released the trigger.
Just in case you don’t understand how a binary trigger works (as I didn’t fully know until that fateful day), when you pull the trigger, it fires a single round, and when you release the trigger, it fires a single round.
It does not turn your gun into a machine gun or automatic firearm because you must manipulate the trigger to fire a round.
However, as I found out, you can quickly send a box of rounds downrange because you are essentially doubling your firing rate, but you don’t have to always use it in binary mode.
All binary triggers for AR-style rifles (that I know of) have a selector switch, which allows you to choose between safety, single-fire mode, and binary mode. I wasn’t there to shoot in single-fire mode since I could do that with my rifles.
It wasn’t until after I had sent those initial two rounds downrange, followed by many more with a giant smile across my face, that I realized shooting a binary trigger was a mistake… Here’s why.
5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy A Binary Trigger
- You’ll make all your buddies jealous
- If you’re not already, you will become addicted to shooting
- You’re ammo budget will need to increase
- You’ll never feel the same way about single-stage triggers
- You’ll need to buy multiple binary triggers
Unannounced to my buddy, I was now incredibly jealous of his new tool. This was the coolest gun I had shot up to that point in life, and I didn’t want to tell him it was ready to go back home. So be warned, if you buy a binary trigger, all your buddies will envy you and your gun.
I’ve been addicted to guns and shooting for some time, but after my initial experience with a binary trigger, the addiction skyrocketed to another level. Do not, and I repeat, do not get a binary trigger unless you’re fully prepared to become a shooting addict.
When you become a shooting addict, you’ll be forced to spend more money on ammo. With a binary trigger, your ammo needs will double at a minimum because you’re having so much fun you won’t realize just how many rounds you’ve fired until you pick up the box, only to find it’s empty and you haven’t been shooting for 5 minutes.
As I reluctantly went back to my now boring single-stage triggers, I just didn’t experience the same excitement as I did with my buddy’s binary trigger. So here’s your warning: once you go binary trigger, you can never go back.
And since you can never return to the old ways, you’ll need to buy multiple binary triggers for the rest of your guns, and then you’ll have to spend the time installing them instead of doing honey-dos around the house.
Parting Shots
As you can see, installing a binary trigger is a mistake. They are simply too addicting and too much fun to shoot for the average shooter to handle.
If you choose to venture down this daring road, I wish you the best of luck. Just remember not to tell your buddies how amazing your binary trigger is too often; they’re already jealous enough!
Author Bio
Wes Littlefield was exposed to shooting and the outdoors at a young age by his parents. There are countless pictures of him hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting as a kid with his family. Today, he continues that tradition with his wife and daughter. When he’s not outdoors, he writes about disc golf, kayaking, and other outdoor activities as a full-time freelance writer and content creator at Ammo.com, YourBassGuy.com, and dozens of other outdoor publications.
