Response trigger

[rm23]

A friend of mine has a paintball gun with a response trigger. For anyone that doesn't know what this is, it's a trigger that when pulled, resets back to the to the normal position after firing, so you can pretty much just hold the trigger down for full auto.

This got me to thinking whether or not this would be legal for a firearm. Since the trigger resets, it only fires one projectile per trigger pull. Would this make it a machine gun?

 

[smogmage]

Based on what the ATF always says about these types of things, I would say yes they would call it a machine gun. Their rationale behind it would be something along the lines of " you only pulled the trigger once and got multiple rounds off." I believe they even ruled the 10/22 stock that rocked the entire gun to achieve near full auto was illegal. So add on devices that achieve this goal are always ruled illegal, but in contrast bump-firing is not illegal, because its more a "style" of firing.

 

[Gungnir]

Yeah wording is clear.

Anything that fires more than one round with a single trigger pull is classified as a fully auto and subject to NFA regulation. People have been prosecuted when their firearms (although designed otherwise) have wear or are faulty so that it enables 2 or more shots fired with a single trigger pull.

This also includes 11" shoestrings attached to triggers on certain rifles believe it or not. It used to just be 11" shoestrings until someone realized that having 11" shoestrings subject to NFA regulation was a little ridiculous. TexasRifleman mentions this occasionally for venues like this.

 

[Sam1911]

Hmmm... I'm not sure how these work.

Are you saying it physically pushes back to the reset position, overcoming the pressure of your finger?

So that if you hold consistent pressure the trigger will pull, then jack itself back up, fall again under your finger pressure, jack itself back up, fall...and so on?

Sounds a little like an enhanced version of "bump firing" or those "Hellfire" kits.

Not 100% certain, but I'd guess that it still crosses the line. Have to ask the ATF to be sure.


And you want to be sure...

-Sam

 

[rm23]

Yes, it works just like that Sam.

I found something on those Hellfire kits. www.rapidfiretriggers.com

That says that when you buy a hellfire trigger system, they send you a copy of the letter from the ATF that says it is legal to use. So I guess I found my answer. Thanks.