Beyond Trigger Control: The Imperceivable Press

[Lowlight]

In this world filled with talk of viruses, cures and vaccination, the ultimate immunity you seek is right under your nose; Imperceivable trigger press. You inoculate yourself by taking a SnipersHide Precision Rifle Course.  Within an hour of the introduction of the instructors you are handed a prescription in the form of a Fundamental Evaluation Score Sheet.  Your diagnosis; a nagging tap – slap – crush or jerk of a trigger.  



Recovery from this horrible disease will not be easy.  It will require hundreds of perfect presses.  Most of them will be under the direct scrutiny of Frank Galli or Marc Taylor.  You can’t ignore or hide it anymore and the only path to wellness is an imperceivable trigger press..



In “Mechanics of the Firing Hand” we discussed the pincer function of the trigger finger and the thumb.  Isolation of the thumb from doing what it was designed to do; move toward the index...

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[chrisgrammar]

Competence in thought, action, and teaching. Useful information I can take to the range today.
Thank you

 

[Strike_out]

Thank you

 

[ChuckSwagger]

So, after the the trigger brakes, despite the trigger have more travel, should you stop the movement and do not go to the end of its travel?
Thank you!

 

[natdscott]

So, after the the trigger brakes, despite the trigger have more travel, should you stop the movement and do not go to the end of its travel?
Thank you!

Sure you should, but good luck. Most people DO bottom out the trigger unless it is very light with a long overtravel.

Many “modern, match, superduper” bolt gun triggers these days are set up with little-to-no overtravel, and some have very little ability to get any.

The Jewell HVR, for a positive example, can be set with a long, squishy overtravel. Perfect.

For some time, it takes a shooter awhile to get used to it, having been indoctrinated to the idea that a “crisp” break with no roll, followed by a short stop is what a “great” trigger feels like.

—The lack of roll can be fine. Lack if takeup can be fine.

—The crisp break is fine. Maybe even preferred, as long as it is consistent. (some are, some aren’t)

—A short stop to the rearward movement is not necessarily to our benefit.

One trigger that got away with a short stop VERY well was the Winchester Micromotion. It moved almost not at all (total blade motion under 0.005”, I think) generating very little free movement or rearward momentum, and was generally set light anyway.

AR triggers, as a bad example, basically canNOT get much over-travel, unless you just don’t care if the safety works. That’s ONE contributory reason why guys can’t shoot them as well, easily.

 

[Dildobaggins]

Great read. Thank you for the knowledge!

 

[TryLikeHell]

Great article. I've been playing the trigger thought game for a while, wondering how much it's been affecting my consistency and accuracy

 

[Rust]

I learned more about trigger control from competitive pistol competition (Speed Steel, Steel Challenge and USPSA) than I ever did from long guns. Not too many long gun shooter will burn through 500 rounds in a practice session. Consistent squeeze with the ball of the finger and since over travel can be set quite short a fast release is easy to allow the firing mechanism to reset. Same hold true for semi long guns (there are ways to control over travel for most).

Bolt action is more complicated as the trigger hand must manipulate the bolt thus releasing the hold. Trick is to consistantly resume the exact same hold with minimal upset of position. I like watching those Norwegian rapid fire shoots where the the thumb and index finger manipulate the bolt while the trigger finger is the middle finger or sometimes the ring finger. The firing hand does not have anything to do with positioning the rifle. Granted it's prone positional shooting but the consistency of control is amazing.

Dry firing with one of the new laser systems could go a long way towards tuning the firing action. The final arbiter is actual firing.

 

[TryLikeHell]

I learned more about trigger control from competitive pistol competition (Speed Steel, Steel Challenge and USPSA) than I ever did from long guns. Not too many long gun shooter will burn through 500 rounds in a practice session. Consistent squeeze with the ball of the finger and since over travel can be set quite short a fast release is easy to allow the firing mechanism to reset. Same hold true for semi long guns (there are ways to control over travel for most).

Bolt action is more complicated as the trigger hand must manipulate the bolt thus releasing the hold. Trick is to consistantly resume the exact same hold with minimal upset of position. I like watching those Norwegian rapid fire shoots where the the thumb and index finger manipulate the bolt while the trigger finger is the middle finger or sometimes the ring finger. The firing hand does not have anything to do with positioning the rifle. Granted it's prone positional shooting but the consistency of control is amazing.

Dry firing with one of the new laser systems could go a long way towards tuning the firing action. The final arbiter is actual firing.

I've tried the ball of my finger and center of the end. The balk of my finger seened to help on my AR with a heavy trigger pull. My other AR is 2lb trigger as well as my bolt rifle