Trigger Overtravel......good or bad?

[ToddM]

It seems like most folks hate overtravel and go out of their way to adjust it out when we hear folks talk about triggers on forums etc. Now in action handgun or other sports where max speed is essential in a semi-auto I get that, less trigger travel after the sear breaks and faster reset = faster splits. I've also heard that some people are fooled into liking little to no overtravel because it makes the trigger feel like a "glass rod" break because you immediately feel the trigger hit a solid wall with almost no movement.

However in the precision world logically it seems like having overtravel would be a good thing. Pretty much everyone goes out of their way to run super light 8-12oz trigger, in the lightest performant cartridge, in very heavy rigs (20-25lb 6mm's with 8oz triggers) all to remove as much shooter technique and follow through influence as possible. In that case why would you want your trigger to slam into a hard wall immediately after the sear releases?

Now I guess given a low recoil cartridge, in such a heavy rig, with such a light trigger, if you have a really good trigger press hitting an overtravel stop probably maybe it just gets lost in the noise. However it seems like everyone is clearly going WAY out of their way to remove every possible shooter influence regardless of form/skill level that it would still be preferred to have an easy transition after the sear releases instead of hitting a solid stop.

 

[tinker]

I would say it's just less movement overall. The less anything moves the more stable everything is. Reset doesn't matter though since you aren't going to feel it anyway.

 

[hlee]

Press, break, freeze… implies that some amount of overtravel is good for precision rifle shooting. As soon as the trigger breaks, and ideally before you hit “the wall”, you freeze your trigger finger movement so as to minimize shooter influence on the rifle.

I’ve never found this to work with ARs, especially as the theory has always been to pin the trigger on the wall and ride the recoil, to prevent unintentional double taps. But, it works for the trigger in my RPR, which does have not-insignificant overtravel.

 

[JerkyFreak]

I prefer as much overtravel as the trigger unit can give me. As a human being, my finger cannot stop when the trigger breaks. Has to do with the tension placed on the trigger. My finger "hitting the wall" after the break has shown to cause deviation directly after the break.

Increasing the overtravel for me has allowed me to stop my finger before hitting the wall. The usual horizontal flyers reduced and my groups became more round.

I have thought to use almost zero overtravel, but I was concerned that any dirt that got into the unit can cause the trigger not to function when I need it to. Specially at the dusty and windy ranges that I shoot.

 

[NateVA]

It's interesting to me how the two top trigger brands (TT / BnA) handle overtravel completely differently. Not sure what to make of it. I have a BnA Tacsport Pro-X two stage on the way so I guess I chose a side.

 

[CK1.0]

A little bit of overtravel is actually a good thing. I've been running a TT Diamond for so long that I'm almost hesitant to try anything else, but a Bix TacSport Pro-X may be in my future.

 

[FimRire RongLifle]

I like two stage with a little bit over overtravel. I shoot bna and Bernard triggers mostly.

 

[kthomas]

I love over travel.

For that an other reasons, I run BnA tacsports on most of my rifles.

 

[NateVA]

I love over travel.

For that an other reasons, I run BnA tacsports on most of my rifles.

Some of your posts have made me tempted to get one for my Mausingfield M5 (to replace the Huber). I only have 100 rounds on the action but the bolt lift is quite a bit stiffer than I'd prefer. Not sure whether the trigger contributes to that or not. For starters though I'll see how I like my BnA Pro-X two-stage whenever my Fuzion barreled action arrives (1-2 months hopefully). From just pressing the sear down with my finger and messing with the trigger, signs point to it being my new favorite.