Forced reset trigger

A forced reset trigger (or "hard reset" trigger) is a device that allows a person to fire a semi-automatic firearm at an increased rate. The forced reset trigger works by mechanically resetting the trigger's position after a shot is fired. This allows for an increased rate of fire. However, the shooter must still manually pull the trigger each time it resets for any subsequent shot to be fired.

An image of a forced reset trigger from ATF’s Ammunition Technology Division: Technical Bulletin 22-01.

Forced reset triggers are installed through replacement of the trigger control group. The preinstalled trigger of a particular firearm is replaced by the forced reset trigger's assembly. Typically, only one shot is fired per single function of the trigger. The devices have been the subject of a legal dispute in the United States as to whether they should be treated as part of an automatic weapon.

History

A patent for a forced reset trigger titled "Flex Fire Technology" was filed by Thomas Allen Graves in 2015. ^[1]

Graves states that he initially began developing forced reset trigger technology in the 1970s, focusing on modifications to Colt Navy action revolvers. Over the following decades, Graves continued refining this technology, applying it to platforms such as the Ruger 10/22 carbine and the Bersa Thunder handgun. In 2014, he claims to have invented a forced reset trigger specifically for the AR-15 platform, subsequently acquiring a patent for it in 2015. According to Graves, he later licensed his patented technology to two manufacturers of forced reset triggers.^[2]

Legality in the United States

In the United States, under the Biden Administration the ATF released an open letter in March 2022 that some forced reset triggers should be regulated as machine guns under the National Firearms Act.^[3] This was a followup to a July 2021 cease-and-desist letter sent to manufacturer Rare Breed Triggers, which sued but had its case dismissed without prejudice.^[4]

On July 24th, 2024, district judge Reed O'Connor, from the Wichita Falls division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued a vacatur, under the Administrative Procedure Act, for the ATF's determination that some forced reset triggers are machineguns, finding that the determination was "arbitrary and capricious".^[5] ATF began returning seized devices while appealing the case to the 5th Circuit, which cited Cargill v. Garland.^[6]

In May 2025, the Trump Administration settled the lawsuit, allowing Rare Breed Trigger to continue selling the devices as long as it agreed not to develop one for pistols and to use its patents to prevent other companies from selling them.^[7][8]

See also

• Bump stock
• Hell-fire trigger
• Trigger crank
• Binary trigger