Hoffman Tactical Trigger Kicker: $43 Forced-Reset AR-15 Trigger

The Trigger Kicker is a $43 active-reset device that replaces the disconnector in an otherwise standard AR-15 fire control group. Hoffman Tactical calls it the simplest active-reset mechanism on the market, and the claim holds up: it is a single L-shaped part machined from hardened 4130 alloy steel that drops into the space a mil-spec disconnector already occupies. There is no proprietary trigger module, no replacement hammer, and no modified safety selector. You pull out the disconnector and put the Kicker in.

Functionally it lands in the same category as a forced reset trigger. The cycling action does the work of resetting the trigger instead of your finger lifting off, so follow-up shots come faster and more positively than a standard trigger allows. Hoffman uses the term "repeat reset" to draw a line between his mechanism and the patented Rare Breed approach, but the shooter experience is the rapid, driven reset that has made the FRT category the most talked-about segment in AR-15 fire controls.

The reset cycle hinges on three interactions: the hammer, the Kicker, and the standard safety selector. When the rifle fires and the bolt carrier travels rearward, the hammer is driven down and its cam surface contacts the Trigger Kicker. That contact pushes the trigger forward into the reset position while your finger is still on the trigger. A "lock step" machined into the Kicker then slides under the bottom of a standard mil-spec safety selector, trapping the trigger in reset.

That lockout is the safety logic of the whole system. While the bolt carrier is out of battery, the Kicker holds the trigger back so the rifle cannot fire out of sequence. As the carrier returns forward to a position where firing is safe, the geometry releases the Kicker, the trigger is freed, and the next pull drops the hammer. The continuous rearward pressure from your trigger finger supplies the friction that keeps the Kicker locked through the cycle, which is why the system only runs as fast as you keep pulling.

Because the entire function depends on standard hammer and bolt-carrier timing, the Trigger Kicker is specified for AR-15s running mil-spec carriers and fire control groups. A full-auto profile bolt carrier and a properly tuned buffer and spring give the most consistent reset, the same hardware logic that applies to any FRT build. If you are assembling a lower around one of these devices, our rifle builder lets you spec a compatible fire control and carrier before you buy.

The Trigger Kicker is a direct answer to a lawsuit. Rare Breed Triggers sued Hoffman Tactical in December 2025 for patent infringement over Hoffman's earlier Super Safety, an active-reset selector that he had also released as a free 3D-printable file. In January 2026 a federal court in the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a temporary restraining order, then a preliminary injunction, halting Super Safety sales and ordering the free downloads pulled. The ATF filed a statement of interest backing the injunction on public-safety grounds.

Rather than fight on the same ground, Hoffman changed the mechanism. The Super Safety worked through the safety selector; the Trigger Kicker works through the disconnector. It is a deliberate engineering pivot meant to land outside the specific patent claims Rare Breed is asserting. Hoffman framed the launch as out- innovating a competitor that he argues relies on litigation rather than design. Whether the Kicker ultimately clears those patents is a question for the courts, and a three-position version is reportedly already in development.

The pricing is part of the strategy. At $43 for a single hardened- steel part, the Trigger Kicker is an order of magnitude cheaper than a proprietary forced reset trigger module, and far simpler to manufacture. A cheap, easily produced design spreads faster and is harder to suppress through injunctions than an expensive, centralized product. For the broader market context, see our Partisan Disruptor FRT review and our forced reset trigger buyer's guide, which cover the legal-but-litigated devices already on the market.

For most shooters we recommend a three-position forced-reset design over a two-position part like the Trigger Kicker. The Kicker runs off a standard two-position safety, so the rifle is in forced-reset mode the moment it comes off safe. There is no dedicated standard semi-auto setting short of pulling the part back out.

Three-position designs fix that. The AS Designs Arc-Fire V2 runs Safe at 0 degrees, normal semi-auto at 90, and forced reset (ARC) at a full 180-degree sweep. The Partisan Disruptor FRT uses the same logic with Safe, Semi, and Enhanced Semi positions. You keep a clean ordinary trigger for precise or controlled fire and engage forced reset only on a deliberate, separate selector motion that is hard to bump into by accident. Hoffman's own three-position Trigger Kicker is in development, which is the clearest signal that the two-position layout is a starting point, not the destination.

That said, the Trigger Kicker still earns a recommendation on its own terms. At $43 it is the cheapest, most entertaining way into forced-reset shooting, an excellent range toy for a dedicated plinking lower. Buying it also puts money behind Tim Hoffman, the original designer of the Super Safety, who is funding a patent fight against a competitor that leans on litigation rather than design. If your goal is a serious-use rifle that shoots normal semi-auto and forced reset on demand, spend up for a three-position Arc-Fire V2 or Disruptor. If you want cheap fun and want to support the designer who started this whole category, the Kicker is the easy call.

Forced reset triggers are not machine guns under federal law. In May 2025 the Department of Justice settled its multi-year enforcement fight with Rare Breed Triggers, conceding that FRTs require a separate function of the trigger for each shot and so do not meet the machine gun definition. As part of that deal, Rare Breed agreed to enforce its patents aggressively against competing FRT makers, which is the thread that runs directly to the Hoffman lawsuit. The federal legality of the category and the private patent fight are two separate issues.

State law is where buyers need to pay attention. Several states restrict or ban rate-increasing devices regardless of federal status, and Hoffman Tactical will not ship the Trigger Kicker to California, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, or Washington. Confirm your own state and local law before ordering. This is product information, not legal advice; the regulatory picture around reset triggers has moved quickly and can change again.

The Trigger Kicker is the most interesting product the FRT segment has produced this year, less for the hardware than for the strategy behind it. A $43 hardened-steel disconnector that delivers active-reset performance with a single drop-in part is a genuinely clever piece of engineering, and reframing the function around the disconnector instead of the selector is a pointed answer to a patent injunction. For shooters who want forced-reset behavior without a several-hundred-dollar proprietary module, it is the cheapest entry point on the market.

The caveats are real. The legal ground under reset triggers is actively contested, the patent question is unresolved, and the shipping blacklist rules out 13 states outright. Buyers outside those jurisdictions get a simple, inexpensive part backed by a maker who has spent years iterating on this exact mechanism. If you are building a lower to run one, spec a full-auto carrier and a tuned buffer in our builder, and compare it against the catalog of legal-but-litigated FRTs in our buyer's guide before you commit.