Vern Evans
Last year I put together a clone of the 9mm Colt Model 635 SMG. I used an H&R lower half, Mayhem Machine Nuke Upper, Rock River barrel and some other odds and ends, including B5 Systems stocks. I SBR’d it and it’s become one of my favorite shooters. It has a cool 80’s retro vibe, and is just fun to shoot. What could possibly make it cooler? Well, full auto would be nice, but that isn’t in the cards thanks to the Hughes Amendment of the so-called Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986. But there is a way to up the rate of fire without venturing into NFA territory: enter the Franklin Armory Binary AR-ELITE kit.
The Binary AR-ELITE
Franklin Armory has been in the binary trigger business for a while now, and they gave their base AR BFS III trigger a facelift in the fall. What they now call the AR-ELITE kit consists of a fire control group, selector switch, and pair of buffer springs, as well as a spare set of hammer and trigger springs. It used to be that you had to choose from a flat or curved trigger when you bought a BFS III kit. With the updated ELITE kits you get a modular trigger that lets you swap out between curved or flat whenever you want. The best part is that while you gained flexibility with the new kits, the price remained the same as the previous single trigger kits. Price for the AR-ELITE trigger kit is $429.99. Not inexpensive I’ll admit, but way cheaper than trying to get into an actual NFA subgun plus tax stamp.
While the AR-ELITE is probably most often sold for folks dropping them in rifle caliber AR’s, they do also list 9mm and rimfire calibers as well. I reached out to Franklin Armory to see what they thought about me dropping one in my 635 clone. They were on board. They said that it sounds like fun, go for it and let us know if you have any issues. So I ordered up a kit and bought some more 9mm in anticipation of my soon to be increased ammo expenditure.
What is a Binary Trigger?
Just on the off chance you aren’t familiar with how a binary trigger works, let’s go over it briefly. Basically, a binary trigger fires one round when you pull the trigger, and one round when you release the trigger. These are two distinct actions and do not change the classification of the firearm from a semi-automatic. If you held the trigger back and the gun double tapped that would be considered a burst, or automatic fire, and that’s not what a binary trigger does. It only fires a single round per action.
With the AR-ELITE fire control group and selector installed you have a 3 position selector. Position one is safe, and two is semi automatic. The same as any other AR out there. When you rotate your selector switch to the third position you get binary fire. You might ask what happens if you fire the first round, but then for some reason don’t want to fire the second round upon trigger release? Franklin Armory thought about that and has you covered. While holding the trigger to the rear simply rotate the selector switch to either the semi auto or safe position. When you release the trigger, the gun will not fire.
AR-ELITE Installation
If you can install a regular AR fire control group you can install the AR-ELITE. Franklin Armory a good instruction manual to walk you through it, but it isn’t much different than installing any other trigger, hammer and selector. I pulled my stock H&R parts and swapped out for the AR -Elite parts in no time.
I went with the curved trigger since it matched the profile of my clone build more so than the straight trigger. The AR-ELITE kit came with the flat trigger already in place so I had to swap out for the curved trigger, but that was quick and easy to do.
The safety is an ambidextrous model, with a shot throw lever on one side. It can be swapped around for left handed shooters. There’s a slight gap on either side of the receiver between the selector paddles and the receiver. I’m not sure if there’s a functional reason for this, or just how it fits on my H&R lower. Before you drop your selector in, you’re advised to install the red sticker that Franklin provides, indicating that your firearm has a binary mode. Honestly, I wasn’t a fan of the big red sticker on my clone build, but I understand the reasoning. If someone other than you is shooting the gun, and doesn’t realize that it’s going to fire on both pull and release in binary mode, it can create a safety hazard for the shooter or others. I’m guessing there were lawyers involved in the sticker solution. I get it.
From an aesthetic standpoint, I wish I could use a conventional looking non-ambi M16 style safety for my clone build. It bothers my OCD a little, but I can deal with it for the binary firing option. Maybe I can convince Franklin Armory into doing an optional standard style safety for guys who want to put binary triggers on their clone builds?
Range Time and Function
With the kit installed, I was ready to hit the range. On my first trip out I had a selection of Colt pattern 20 and 32rd H&R and Duramags, a good supply of 115gr Winchester FMJ loads, and some Wilson 135gr HBFN loads. I was running the stock buffer spring and heavy buffer that came with the H&R 635 lower half.
Once you get your rhythm with a binary trigger, you can burn through mags fast. It isn’t true automatic fire, but it’s quick enough that folks who don’t know better think it is. And it’s fun. With the 9mm the 635 was quite controllable, even when doing mag dumps as fast as I could. I’ve heard some guys complain about the recoil on blowback 9mm AR’s but I never felt that way. I think they’re pretty comfortable to shoot.
Now, I did have some issues the first time out. The Wilson 135gr loads ran like a top. The heavier, slower bullet had a different recoil impulse than the 115’s. It was a little smoother and the cycling time seemed slower. With the 115’s I tended to outrun the trigger at least once every mag. Basically the hammer would follow the bolt carrier to its rest position. I’d have to recharge the weapon, ejecting the live round in the chamber, to get back in action. I noted my issues and packed up for the day, although not before burning through a couple hundred rounds of 9mm anyway.
Pennsylvania weather didn’t cooperate with me and it took me a while to get another range trip planned. In the meantime, I reached out to the folks at Franklin Armory about my malfunctions. They asked what set up I was running in my gun and made some suggestions. The advised swapping from the heavier buffer to a standard carbine weight buffer, and starting with the stock recoil spring. They do provide two other recoil springs that you can swap out to tweak your particular gun as needed. They also advised that 124gr 9mm was the sweet spot that most 9mm binary AR’s preferred.
With that info, I swapped out buffers, threw the extra buffer springs in my range bag, and headed back out the first day the weather cooperated. I made sure to bring a good supply of 124gr 9mm with me this time. I was pleasantly surprised to see that just the buffer and ammo swap seemed to clear up my issues. I was burning through full mags of 124gr ammo with no problems this time out. I did still outrun the trigger one or two times during the range session, but that’s more a matter of getting used to the trigger and firing rhythm you need with a binary trigger.
Once I was sure the gun ran with 124’s I did decide to try the 115’s and 135’s again. I was pleased to see that both of those still ran with this buffer set up. The 115’s were not as smooth as the 124’s, and the 135’s were again a little slower, but both functioned. On semi auto mode there was no real difference from running the gun before the upgrade to the AR-ELITE trigger.
Actually, I take that back. Another advantage of the AR-ELITE is that it does provide a better trigger pull than a stock GI trigger. It has a clean, smooth trigger pull with minimal take up, and a release weight right around 4.5 pounds. So even when you aren’t blasting away in binary mode, you are getting an advantage over a stock trigger with the AR-ELITE.
SMG Clone Goes Brrt
Once I tweaked my 635 and dialed in what ammo I needed, it ran great. It’s a fun gun to begin with, and getting close to subgun speeds while still remaining on the right side of the NFA made it even more fun. The AR-ELITE allowed for extremely tight 2 shot strings, and this is honestly the more practical application of the trigger, versus just doing mag dumps. You can double tap much faster than with a conventional semi auto. I know folks have used these triggers on PCC courses and I’d be curious to see what a timed run on semi auto versus a run on binary would look like.
The other advantage of the deliberate fast binary double taps, versus an amusing mag dump, is that you are very unlikely to outrun the trigger that way. It’s a positive pull and release, as opposed to just squeezing that trigger as fast as you can to see how quickly you can dump a magazine. Don’t get me wrong, I suspect everyone who installs a binary trigger has to do some mag dumps here and there. It’s fun, although it can get expensive. But the more practical application is to practice those quick assisted double taps. You can still shoot in conventional semi auto mode whenever you want, but it’s nice to have the option of moving that selector switch to the third position and picking up the pace when you want to.
For more information on the Franklin Armory AR-Elite trigger, or any other Franklin Armory products, check out their website at Franklinarmory.com.
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