Please understand, as in anything you do, there are certain inherent risks involved. Try these adapters at your own risk. There are many ways to fire a weapon. As a general rule individuals with quadriplegia lack the ability to squeeze. When a friend offered to try and make an adaptive trigger for me he asked me what movement was most comfortable. After some thought I decided it was pulling toward me. The first adapter he created was based on this movement and worked very well. He made it out of a piece of aluminum which attached to the trigger on my weapon and was held in place by two small allen screws. A curved section projected outside the trigger guard for me to hook with my index finger and then pull toward me when I wanted to shoot. The problem of pushing off the safety was made easier by brazing the plunger portion of a dental syringe on the safety. Marshall Thayer was a very generous and creative man. My own vanity proved to be the downfall of this device. Several years later I removed it because I believed I could now use my index finger normally. When I tried to return the adapter to my gun I was unable to get the allen screws tight and it fell off one day while I was hunting.
Marshall had passed away so I decided to try and create my own adaption. I had long believed it possible to bring the firing action to the top of the weapon. I taped two pieces of plastic tubing on each side of the stock grip. The next step was to find a suitable material to run down though one tube across the trigger and up the tube on the opposite side to fasten on the top. I tried everything: string, wire, rawhide shoelace, a rubber band, yarn, the wire ties off bread wrappers, fishing line, lanyard and even pipe cleaners but nothing worked. Then one day I realized cable ties came in a variety of sizes. The right size worked perfectly.
After the trigger is fired the cable tie must relax but maintain its position close to the trigger. After firing the weapon you must be absolutely positive that the trigger will return to its normal position. On a semi-automatic weapon if the cable tie does not relax the gun will fire again immediately creating a dangerous situation. The tie must be close enough to the trigger to fire when pressure is applied and then loosen enough to release the trigger when pressure is released. After the cable tie was tightened properly it is fastened together. I then placed a smaller cable tie through the first creating a loop to put my finger through which I could pull to fire the weapon. After using the loop awhile I decided a string would be better letting me fire the weapon with my mouth thus freeing my hands to steady the gun. I call my creation the Poor Man’s Trigger Adapter or PMTA.
Putting one of these trigger adapters on your gun is not that difficult. What is difficult is to pay attention to the details so that you put it on correctly. All normal gun safety precautions should be followed. If you wish to make this adapter I strongly urge you to look at the detailed plans on my website
www.handihelp.net
