Reviews Make Brass Fast, Right Out Of The Box: One Horse Express Rifle Review Jack Hennessy August 24, 2026 Join the Conversation At RECOIL, we review every product fairly and without bias. Making a purchase through one of our links may earn us a small commission, and helps support independent gun reviews. Read our affiliate policy. Find out more about how we test products. DISCLAIMER For purposes of CYA, both our own and yours, we firstly need to advise all readers RECOIL does not write from a position of offering legal advice, in any regard. We recommend when considering investing in any forced-reset technology that one thoroughly reviews both federal and local laws. At the time of writing, both forced-reset triggers and forced-reset selectors are legal at a federal level (review the official congress government page here), but are either restricted or illegal is a little over a quarter of the states in this country. Again, check all your laws. And as always, just because you beat the charge doesn’t mean you’ll beat the ride. BACKGROUND Forced-Reset Triggers (FRTs) first entered the commercial firearms market for AR-15 platforms in late 2020. Less than a year later, in 2021, the ATF began classifying FRTs as devices that turned semi-automatic rifles into machine guns. Seizures and legal battles ensued. In May 2025, federal court rulings determined FRTs did match the definition of fully-automatic or machine guns for one distinct reason: A machine gun requires one single trigger pull for continuous fire; while an FRT forces the trigger forward when the bolt cycles, therefore requiring the trigger to be pulled with each shot. During that same year, Atrius Development introduced their Forced-Reset Selector into the commercial market—a drop-in safety selector, with a third position, designed to work with the original trigger group. It also uses the cycling bolt’s momentum and via a specially designed lever, forces the trigger forward. Because it also requires the trigger to be pulled with each single shot, it is classified as merely “enhanced semi-automatic” fire, not fully-automatic fire. WHY FORCED-RESET TECHNOLOGY IS NOT FULL-AUTO TECHNOLOGY The simplest explanation: With forced-reset technology, the trigger resets and requires one pull for each round that exits the gun; while, with full-auto, the trigger is depressed initially—once and only once—while bullets continue to head downrange at a rapid rate. Both forced-reset technology and full-auto utilize the third position on the safety selector, but, with full-auto, once the trigger is depressed once, an auto sear rear of the disconnector takes over for the disconnector (thus essentially negating the need for the trigger and disconnector to interface further), allowing the hammer to continually fly forward, striking primers at lightning speed, without ever further incorporating movement from the trigger. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN FRT AND AN FRS An FRS uses a custom-designed cam and with the cycling bolt’s momentum, forces the trigger forward. During this process, the trigger group is allowed to function the same as it would in semi-automatic firing mode—the hammer interfaces with and locks onto the disconnector. Same as the semi-automatic function, the original trigger group fully resets. With an FRT, the hammer itself, while the bolt cycles reward, presses down on the trigger, forcing it forward. In an FRT self-contained trigger group (a drop-in trigger sometimes called a cassette), the hammer doesn’t lock with a disconnector. Instead, a separate lockout mechanism specific to the FRT cassette prevents a trigger pull until the bolt returns to battery. The trigger does indeed fully reset, but in a different manner compared to a traditional trigger group, hence the patent on the FRT design. WHY THE ONE HORSE EXPRESS RIFLE IS A BIG DEAL The One Horse Express Rifle is the first fully assembled, fully tuned, ready-to-rock-right-off-the-shelf AR-15 that contains forced-reset technology. They partnered with Atrius Development Group to deliver a complete rifle that contains Atrius’ FRS. Prior to this offering, anyone interested in installing forced-reset technology in his or her rifle would need to purchase separate components, perhaps do a bit of research to ensure combability, potentially upgrade to a full-auto (M16 profile) bolt-carrier group (BCG). From there, to get the forced-reset technology to run reliably, it may have been necessary to swap buffer systems, tinker with the gas block and that entire arrangement. Instead, the One Horse Express Rifle arrives with one promise: It’ll work, right off the rip. But does it? ENOUGH WITH THE SUSPENSE Yes, it most definitely works. The word “workhorse” is the obvious, natural idiomatic usage in this context. “This One Horse is a workhorse.” Because we believe for any manufacturer that touts “works right off the shelf,” we must take them at their word, so, straight out of the box, we took the One Horse Express Rifle directly to range—zero cleaning whatsoever though we did top it with Crimson Trace’s HRO (Heavy Recoil Optic) in anticipation of some heavy (heavenly?) recoiling. The rifle ate and spit out every piece of subpar ammo we offered it, which included Winchester’s 62gr M855s, PMC’s 55gr X-TAC FMJ-BTs, and Federal’s 55gr 5.56 FMJs. Over the course of approximately 500 rounds between all ammunition, we did not experience a single malfunction. ONE HORSE EXPRESS RIFLE SPECS Selector: Atrius Single-Side FRS Trigger: 5.5-pound mil-spec, single-stage, curved Caliber: 5.56mm NATO Barrel: 16-inch CrMoV, nitride, SOCOM-profile barrel with 1:8 twist, dimpled Muzzle Thread: 1/2X28 Handguard: 15-inch Express M-LOK Gas System: Mid-Length, Low-profile, staked, steel gas block Muzzle Device: A2 Charging Handle: Breek Arms Warhammer mod2 Buffer Tube: Mil-Spec Buffer Tube containing H2 buffer system Grip: THRiL RTG – Rugged Tactical Grip Stock: THRiL CCS Magazine: THRiL 30 Round Magazine Product Weight: 7.14 lbs. Origin: Indiana, U.S.A. MSRP: $1,199.99 (though at the time of writing, the One Horse website is offering it at $999.99) HOW FAST DOES IT GO? The Atrius FRS is indeed classified as “enhanced semi-automatic” functionality. If one pays close-enough attention, it is absolutely evident that as the bolt heads rearward, it is pushing the trigger forward. It’s even possible to test this with the rifle completely unloaded by rotating the selector to the third position, pulling the trigger, then—with one’s finger still pinning the trigger rearward—pulling back the charging handle (thus pulling back the BCG). The action of doing so will cause that trigger to push forward and reset. And, yes, during live fire, it’s entirely possible to consciously pin the trigger to the rear, allowing the gun to continually fire until the magazine is empty. During two testing sessions, we recorded splits as consistently low as .07-second (approximately 850 RPMs) to as high as .09-second or .10-second (approximately 650 RPMs). Both ammo and magazine choice were the deciding factors here, as the spicier M855s ran faster in conjunction with either the included THRiL magazine or a Magpul Gen 3. In those same magazines, the Federal 55s and the PMC 55s recorded a mix of splits of either .07-second or .08 second (an occasional .09-second), so somewhere between 750 and 800 RPMs. In cheaper, potentially dirtier metal magazines (with stiffer springs adding extra resistance against BCG), the bolt cycled slower and the resulting RPMs were much lower. During our second range trip, we threaded on SilencerCo’s muzzle brake ASR, ran the gun with the brake and then screwed on the SilencerCo Velos LBP 5.56. The LBP is important to note, since the Low-Back-Pressure designed of this can did not do much to increase pressure, though we do suspect other lower-internal-volume suppressors (read: not flow-through design) will over-gas this rifle and induce malfunctions. Could it run faster, as high as 900 RPMs? Potentially, though getting it there may require changing out the H2 buffer system to a lighter H1. However doing so will cause more wear and tear on internal and increase felt recoil (making it harder to stay on target in the third position), so anyone considering making that buffer change needs to weigh the gains versus the losses. WHAT WORKS WELL As mentioned, the gun runs, and ran nonstop reliably with the ammo we fed it. The barrel got hot but we never saw a significant shift in POI or a degradation in accuracy. We attributed this to the manufacturing materials as well as the heavier SOCOM profile. We were actually hoping to see it steam so to capture a smoking photo, but even after a handful of nearly consecutive mag dumps, heat vapors never made an appearance. The rifle has a nice balance to it and though it feels on the lighter side compared to some AR-15 platform setups, the recoil in the third position is more than manageable with a proper stance—though halfway through a magazine, the rifle will conduct a QC check on a shooter’s stance, and if said shooter wasn’t squared up properly and leaning forward adequately, it will be necessary to let off and reposition. The gun seems gassed perfectly for an array of ammo options. The H2 buffer system helps reduced perceived recoil, leaving the level of accuracy maintained accuracy entire up to the shooter. In terms of accuracy, it’s our opinion this is a rifle in which the phrase “cone of fire” gets applied in place of MOA. The rifle maintains a tight cone of fire in the third position. We did even test it in the semi-auto position from 76 yards following a few mag dumps. The rifle held groups in the middle A-zone of an IPSC target—something with which we were quite pleased. However, in terms of stretching out the rifle and speaking to specific MOA, that is a separate set of tests involving non-shit ammo and heavier bullets to fully take advantage of the barrel’s 1:8 twist rate. For this particular review, we handpicked shit ammo to see if this rifle would run should SHTF and it certainly did. WHAT WORKS LESS THAN WELL The safety—and in complete fairness and transparency, every and any complaint we have here is just the nature of the third position and an issue not inherent to the One Horse Express Rifle specifically. But for most shooters, in order to go from the first position (safe) to the third position (enhanced semi-auto), one will either need to shift one’s grip or break one’s connection with the rifle (perhaps by rotating the stock into one’s shoulder to better reach the safety). Some shooters with extra-long thumbs may not have this issue. Then, to go from the third position back to safe, most shooters will need unshoulder the rifle to put the rifle back on safe (making it impossible to navigate between fire and safe when transitioning targets at the range, should one so wish to do so). However, the above can be remedied with the installation of Atrius’ ambidextrous FRS model. One Horse, via their website, even offers this as an upgrade to the rifle for an additional $99.99. An ambi FRS allows a shooter to put the rifle back on safe using the knuckle of his or her firing hand. Some would advise against selecting the fire mode with the firing hand, as this could lead to an AD (accidental discharge). What will remain a consistent factor to consider: the time required to throw the selector from safe to the third position. At the beep of the shot timer, from low ready to selecting the third position once on-target and breaking the shot, we were consistently a little south or north of 1 second. Now, compare this to the second semi-auto position—perhaps even utilizing something like the Radian Weapons Talon 45-degree option—that 1 second is approximately double the time to go from safe to fire. In the time it takes to transition from safe to enhanced semi-auto and fire a round, another rifle selecting semi-auto and in the hands of a competent shooter, would have already gotten off two shots. What does that mean for each user and his or her intended application? That will vary. But should one need to let one off sooner than later, it may make sense to start off in second, THEN shift up to third should more, faster rounds be required. BUT DO YOU NEED IT? The “N” word, “Need,” gets thrown around a lot in gun discussions. Some individuals on one side of aisle prefer to using such phrasing as “No one needs XYZ,” but the reality is if a particular offering is legal in your jurisdiction, to whom do you really need to justify “need”? If you’re 18 and older and legally able to purchase this particular rifle, you’re an adult and as an adult you can make your own decisions. Is it a range toy? Potentially. Is it reliable? Absolutely. Now it’s up to you to determine your level of need. But you’ll definitely need ammo, and money for that ammo, as this rifle eats through $15 worth of ammo in under 3 seconds, easily. Why you can trust RECOIL Since our founding in 2012, RECOIL remains the premier firearms lifestyle publication for the modern shooting enthusiast. We deliver cutting-edge coverage of guns, gear, accessories and technology. We go beyond basic reviews, providing no B.S. buyer’s guides, hands-on testing and expert analysis on everything from firearms and survival equipment to watches and vehicles. Our reviewers are the backbone of our operation and come from diverse shooting backgrounds: Former law enforcement, military veterans, competitive shooters, seasoned hunters and plain old firearms enthusiasts. 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