Are Forced Reset Triggers Legal in Montana?

Montana's machine-gun provisions define and regulate automatic-fire weapons within Title 45, chapter 8, part 3. The offense in section 45-8-304 turns on possession or use for an offensive or aggressive purpose, with statutory presumptions and exceptions.

Montana does not add a separate forced-reset-trigger or rate-increasing-device definition. A trigger that resets between shots must therefore be distinguished from a part that produces automatic fire.

Under the 2025 DOJ settlement with Rare Breed Triggers, an FRT fires one round per trigger function and is not an NFA machine gun federally. The settlement covers rifles and grip-forward pistols; it does not extend to grip-fed handguns (Glock, S&W M&P, Canik), whose federal FRT status remains less settled. State bans operate independently of federal law through broader state machine-gun, trigger-activator, or rate-of-fire definitions.

Federal baseline verified 2026-07-28. Scope: Forced reset triggers (Rare Breed FRT-15, Dairyland Defender, and similar) and forced-reset selectors (AR Super Safety, ARC-Fire). One round per trigger function. Binary triggers are a separate class.