Needle assisted injection device having reduced trigger force

An injector, comprising:

• an injector housing;
• a medicament container including a medicament and having a medicament container proximal end and a medicament container distal end;
• a trigger member having a retaining portion;
• a ram moveable with respect to the medicament container, wherein medicament is expelled from the medicament container as the ram moves with respect to the medicament container, the ram including a trigger engagement member engageable with the retaining portion of the trigger member when the trigger member is in a pre-firing condition;
• an energy source associated with the ram to move the ram with respect to the medicament container;
• and
• a user-operable firing-initiation member operable for causing movement of the trigger member from the pre-firing condition to a firing condition in which the trigger engagement member is released from the retaining portion to allow the energy source to fire the ram,
• wherein the user-operable firing-initiation member includes a skin-contacting member disposed at a distal end of the injector that is movable proximally with respect to the injector housing when a force is applied to the skin-contacting member at the distal end of the injector, a proximal end of the user-operable firing-initiation member being operatively associated with the trigger member and configured to cause the movement of the trigger member from the pre-firing condition to the firing condition upon a proximal movement of the skin-contacting member with respect to the injector housing, the distal end of the user-operable firing-initiation member being disposed distally of the medicament container distal end and the proximal end of the user-operable firing-initiation member being disposed proximally of the medicament container proximal end after the injector has expelled the medicament from the medicament container,
• wherein the skin-contacting member includes a needle guard that is retractable and is configured to expose a needle connected to the medicament container upon the proximal movement of the skin-contacting member, the needle guard including a projection configured to engage a ram assembly to lock the needle guard in an extended position after the injector has expelled the medicament from the medicament container.