My Parts Bin AR10’s mil spec-ish trigger certainly needed an upgrade, so when Dan said he had a new AR trigger to review, I was first in line.
In went the Bushmaster’s new DM2S Designated Marksman 2 Stage trigger. It turned out to be a solid upgrade.
The two-stage trigger is far and away the most popular version for ARs, and that seems to be for “working guns” as well as more precision rifles. Bushmaster — which is now owned by Franklin Armory after it was purchased in the Remington bankruptcy — bills this as the later, playing off the military parlance of designated marksman (DM).
The Squad Designated Marksman (SDM) Program was one of the best ideas to come (back around) out of the US Army and Marine Corps in a long time.
The general idea was to get at least one shooter in an infantry squad more capable at taking precision shots out to 600 yards with their service carbines or with rifles very similar to their service rifles. These rifles were often outfitted with longer barrels (18-20″ for the 5.56NATO guns), magnified optics, free-floating barrels, a bipod, and sometimes had improved triggers and other precision enhancing modifications.
It was a great idea, and one that stuck with a lot of folks far beyond just standard infantry units. Eventually, most folks dropped the “S” and the shooters became the “DMs” and their rifles the “DMRs”. Bushmaster is playing off this idea with their Dedicated Marksman 2 Stage trigger, or DM2S.
The Bushmaster Dedicated Marksman 2 Stage Trigger certainly lives up to its name.
Installation was just like a MIL-STD trigger, and required no specialized tools. A couple of pins and some wiggling and 5 minutes later the whole thing was done.
After installing the trigger, I tested the pull weight on my Lyman digital trigger scale. The pull measurements were: 4.0lbs, 4.0lbs, 4lbs 1.0oz, 4.0lbs, 4.0lbs. That’s some outstanding consistency.
After spraying a little CLP on the trigger and taking 50 fast shots through the rifle (ammunition is hard to come by), I also just cycled the action a couple hundred times in order to see how that affected trigger feel, weight, and to make sure it was durable.
Finally I opened up the gun, pulled the bolt carrier group (BCG) out, loaded up the hammer, making it ready to fire. I put the gun back together, minus the BCG, put the rifle on SAFE, and bounced the butt stock on the ground a dozen times. The hammer never fell.
At no point did the trigger fail to fire, hand up, or cause the hammer to fall than it was supposed to. In short, it performed perfectly well.
The final feel of the trigger was almost exactly like it started, but with an average of 4oz lighter.
I was genuinely surprised with how this trigger felt. Let’s be honest, most people don’t really associate Bushmaster with the words “smooth”, “crisp” or “precise”. The DM2S is all of those.
The intentional slack of the first stage of the trigger is clean, with no squishiness or grittiness. After the take up, there’s a solid wall and a clean break. The reset is short, tactile, and easy to find over and over again.
This is one of the better new AR triggers I’ve shot in a while. At a penny shy of $130, it’s right up there in expense with a lot of high-end triggers, and a little more than some others. The only thing it doesn’t have on some of those is an even lighter trigger pull user serviceable adjustments.
Specifications: Bushmaster DM2S Designated Marksman 2 Stage Trigger
Made in USA
Curved Trigger Bow
Mil Spec Pin Size
Price: $129.99
Rating (out of five stars):
Overall * * * *
Bushmaster, long known for decent enough mil-spec guns, has produced a great higher-end two-stage trigger aimed at precision ARs. I was genuinely surprised at how well they pulled this off, especially for a trigger that was easy to install and durable. The lack of adjustments and only an option for a curved shoe keeps this trigger from 5 stars.
It is definitely a MG. Put every buyer on a watch list for future confiscation raids, and increase individual taxes for more aft agents to continue to conduct illegal surveillance and Unconstitutional violation of your rights to firearms privacy which is punishable by up to life imprisonment under USCC 18-241-242…
Except that the Justice system is so corrupted that they simply
ignore prosecuting these rights violations because we LET them because most of us don’t give a shit past our supply of ass-wipe!
And so then it gets predictably worse. Federal Marshalls looking like drugged up outlaw biker gangs pounce like wolves on a lamb with infant, force their way into her private home,scaring the shit out of her at gunpoint, ALL WITHOUT A MOTHERFUCKING WARRANT!
But they DID have an imminent threat of a 300 lb door breaker with a battering ram…
I think maybe you meant to post this somewhere else.
Right!? I didn’t see anything that led me to believe this was anything close to an FRT or MG.
It sounds like the writer saw Franklin Armory and thought Binary Trigger and went sailing.
Wow, somebody needs a hug.
wow, thanks for sharing
it’s very good
“The lack of adjustments and only an option for a curved shoe keeps this trigger from 5 stars.”
For an inherent ~4 lb trigger pull with no adjustments, and a curved shoe, you knew the trigger had to begin with and knew there were no options for another trigger or adjustments, you take off one star when, according to your review, it performed as advertised, expected, intended, and over all basically admirably and even say its “one of the better new AR triggers I’ve shot in a while”?
That’s a little like reviewing a Prius then rating it lower because its not a Maserati
And if a Prius and a Maserati were of anything near equal price it would still be an apt comparison.
no matter the cost, if you knew you were reviewing a Prius to begin with why would you rate it lower because it wasn’t a Maserati?
Five stars means it’s as ideal as I can imagine it being, given the technology, materials and market at the time.
Three stars is average. This is a four-star trigger, better than average.
you spend a lot of time worrying about stars.
Thanks for the great review! It’s good to hear that Bushmaster is revamping it’s “Shrub Lord” name it got from Rem. I may pick up one of those triggers, I haven’t ever used a 2-stage trigger before.
Good review! A description or photo of the engagement surfaces would be helpful.
The rest of the FCG shows a crude as-cast, forged, or MIM’d finish (which is typical). The difference is whether the engagement surfaces (the only parts that really matter) are machined even and polished for a quality group, or left as-is on the cheapos.
Any idea what each stages pull weight was?
Thinking close to 0 and 4.0lbs in sequence.
Less than 1, then 4.
JW, between this and the LaRue two stage, which would you go for?
The MBT trigger is the best bang for your buck on the market, hence the often very lengthy wait times.
That said, I feel it’s impossible for me to judge anything LaRue Tactical does through an objective lens. Mark is a personal friend and supplied my team with gear and mounts for absolutely no charge, including night vision mounts for our long guns. He also gave me one of the very first LaRue Optimized Sniper rifles ever made for my first deployment. This is back before they were called the OBR.
Mark is the definition of ornery, and can be difficult to work with. That’s because he doesn’t cut corners, does just about everything himself, and accepts nothing other than excellence.
LaRue has completely turned over the pricey trigger apple cart and has proceeded to crush them as they lay on the ground.
I wish other parts of the AR15 had such easy value decisions.
I imagine a lot of LaRue competitors have a daily “5 minutes of hate to Larue” session after lunchtime.
Thanks!
TriggerTech. 2x the cost, adjustable, flat or curved. A trigger the way it should be – like breaking glass. Never looked back.
From the pics, it looks like this functions the same as the LaRue, and I assume (perhaps wrongly) the MBT has higher build quality.
At a MSRP of $130, it would have to sell at a discount to compete with a $79 MBT (if you buy 5, or $99 each).
https://www.larue.com/products/larue-tactical-mbt-2s-trigger/
I hope Bushmaster will surpass the fame and fortune it enjoyed during its glory days. Nice trigger for a rifle that warrants it.
The stock trigger on both of my Bushmaster XM-15 E2S’s make the gun go Bang every time it’s manipulated. Not much else is required to get the job done. Except Practice, Training, Clean, Practice, Training, Clean, Repeat etc.etc. etc..
then keep using junk.
ive been using the rock river arms national match 2 stage trigger in my builds
for 80 bucks
they cant be beat
90 percent as good as a geissele
for less than half the cost
I have that and a LaRue 2-stage, and I have to say the LaRue feels far better. I was rather disappointed with the RRA, tbh. It feels heavier and grittier. But, just my experience. I’m glad yours works well for you.
the rra grit stems from their lobbyists.
Great review, JWT!
Does anyone have experience with Ruger’s “ELITE 452® AR-TRIGGER”? Seems like it’s very similar to this one.
https://ruger.com/micros/AR-Trigger/index.html
I have one one. It came on my Ruger 556 model new. Very nice trigger. I hope to buy one for my other Ruger 556 that didn’t come with it new. (different versions of 556s Ruger offers)
Thank you!
God Speed Larry Vickers. JMG out
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