I am recently starting to change my feelings about trigger pull weight. I use mostly Jewell triggers in my rifles and have had them all set to about 8oz for the last six years. However
The start of my realization:
Last year I signed up for a handgun hunting competition that required me to do lots of practice with a Smith and wesson 686 357 magnum and a smith and wesson 629 44 magnum. Both handguns are custom shop revolvers with scopes and can hold sub moa groups. After receiving my 686 back from the smith who performed a trigger job and other accuracy work I realized I didn’t know how to shoot anything with a trigger over 1lb. I was so used to cheating bad form with lighter trigger pull that I was a terrible shot with my newly accurized revolver. I knew the problem was me because I was sent a .3” 50yd group fired with open sights on my revolver by the gun smith after the work was done. I knew the gun could shoot but I stunk at shooting it. I called the gunsmith and asked why I sucked. He told asked me a question. “Why do you assume that you are able to pick up a new / unfamiliar platform and be an expert in one day?” I just assumed that since I could shoot well with a rifle that I could with a pistol too.
What I learned:
Pistol shooting magnified my bad trigger control and poor form. I always laughed at guys who talked about their “crisp 3lb trigger pull” I thought I was superior and these jokers were fools who knew nothing about shooting or they would be running 8oz triggers too. I learned that I was unable to pull a trigger without affecting the natural point of aim of the pistol. I lay prone on the floor in my basement dry firing for hours days on end prepping for the handgun hunting competition. I shot my snap caps at my kids toy animals and watched my crosshairs dance all over the place. I had no ideal how to keep the gun still while pulling the trigger.
My second realization:
This spring I met a guy at church who happened to be retired army. He was a sniper and sniper instructor in the army. We hit it off immediately when he told me he owned and AMP annealer and I told him how jealous i was lol; no one else at church could talk about shooting on a level that was interstate to the two of us. We have been shooting a few times and I asked him to criticize my form and show me how I can improve. I brought my switch barrel rifle with a 308 barrel and jewell trigger set at 8oz. When I fired my first round he said you are slapping the trigger. I thought to myself “no I’m not! I know what I’m doing I never slap the trigger!” I fired again and he responded the same way. He then told me stuff I already knew about follow through on the shot. I focused on following through on the next shot and he said I slapped the trigger again. I realized then what was happening. The trigger set off the round with such light pressure that the rifle recoils out from under my finger and i was left with my finger hanging in mid air as if I had slapped the trigger and pulled my finger forward for another go. I wanted to tell my new friend that he was wrong and that I just had a more sophisticated trigger than he was used to and that it was too light to keep my finger held on it after recoil. But instead I held my tongue and acted like I was learning from him. Turns out I was learning…
Putting it all together:
The realization of my bad form on the 308 automatically led into my realization of my bad for on the revolvers. I was full of bad trigger pull habits that needed to change. The change started with a podcast on prs trigger control. The main take away for me was pulling with a 90degree trigger finger. I had been pulling the trigger with the pad of my index finger not the crease forever but I had never taken notice of the angle of my finger or how that angle was affecting or influencing the position of the gun. I realized that my finger position had handicapped my ability to shoot the revovlvers and made using an 8oz trigger necessary.
Perfect practice makes perfect:
I started practicing in my basement with the toy animals and watched as in just a few days of practice my shots began to break more and more steadily. The reticle moved less and less as I got the hang of pulling the trigger with the leverage from a 90degree angle and the strength of the middle joint instead of my the small joint strength and my finger tip at an angle. I set up on my 224 Valkyrie ar it has a great two stage trigger but it is 3lbs. I realized for the first time what trigger reset felt like. My new found trigger technique allowed me to pull a much heavier trigger and not influence the gun in any way. It also gave me rock solid follow through with my finger glued to the trigger till I saw the impact through the scope. After all the time pulling the 2.5lb revolver triggers I learned about how to pull a rifle trigger without messing up the point of aim. Now I have built a muscle memory that needs feedback from the trigger itself. 8oz triggers do not provide the feedback needed to control the shot and maintain proper follow through. I’m sorry to say it but I’m turning all my triggers up to 2lbs. I hope this has been somewhat helpful to someone I thought it was very interested and helpful in my evolving experience and knowledge of shooting.
The start of my realization:
Last year I signed up for a handgun hunting competition that required me to do lots of practice with a Smith and wesson 686 357 magnum and a smith and wesson 629 44 magnum. Both handguns are custom shop revolvers with scopes and can hold sub moa groups. After receiving my 686 back from the smith who performed a trigger job and other accuracy work I realized I didn’t know how to shoot anything with a trigger over 1lb. I was so used to cheating bad form with lighter trigger pull that I was a terrible shot with my newly accurized revolver. I knew the problem was me because I was sent a .3” 50yd group fired with open sights on my revolver by the gun smith after the work was done. I knew the gun could shoot but I stunk at shooting it. I called the gunsmith and asked why I sucked. He told asked me a question. “Why do you assume that you are able to pick up a new / unfamiliar platform and be an expert in one day?” I just assumed that since I could shoot well with a rifle that I could with a pistol too.
What I learned:
Pistol shooting magnified my bad trigger control and poor form. I always laughed at guys who talked about their “crisp 3lb trigger pull” I thought I was superior and these jokers were fools who knew nothing about shooting or they would be running 8oz triggers too. I learned that I was unable to pull a trigger without affecting the natural point of aim of the pistol. I lay prone on the floor in my basement dry firing for hours days on end prepping for the handgun hunting competition. I shot my snap caps at my kids toy animals and watched my crosshairs dance all over the place. I had no ideal how to keep the gun still while pulling the trigger.
My second realization:
This spring I met a guy at church who happened to be retired army. He was a sniper and sniper instructor in the army. We hit it off immediately when he told me he owned and AMP annealer and I told him how jealous i was lol; no one else at church could talk about shooting on a level that was interstate to the two of us. We have been shooting a few times and I asked him to criticize my form and show me how I can improve. I brought my switch barrel rifle with a 308 barrel and jewell trigger set at 8oz. When I fired my first round he said you are slapping the trigger. I thought to myself “no I’m not! I know what I’m doing I never slap the trigger!” I fired again and he responded the same way. He then told me stuff I already knew about follow through on the shot. I focused on following through on the next shot and he said I slapped the trigger again. I realized then what was happening. The trigger set off the round with such light pressure that the rifle recoils out from under my finger and i was left with my finger hanging in mid air as if I had slapped the trigger and pulled my finger forward for another go. I wanted to tell my new friend that he was wrong and that I just had a more sophisticated trigger than he was used to and that it was too light to keep my finger held on it after recoil. But instead I held my tongue and acted like I was learning from him. Turns out I was learning…
Putting it all together:
The realization of my bad form on the 308 automatically led into my realization of my bad for on the revolvers. I was full of bad trigger pull habits that needed to change. The change started with a podcast on prs trigger control. The main take away for me was pulling with a 90degree trigger finger. I had been pulling the trigger with the pad of my index finger not the crease forever but I had never taken notice of the angle of my finger or how that angle was affecting or influencing the position of the gun. I realized that my finger position had handicapped my ability to shoot the revovlvers and made using an 8oz trigger necessary.
Perfect practice makes perfect:
I started practicing in my basement with the toy animals and watched as in just a few days of practice my shots began to break more and more steadily. The reticle moved less and less as I got the hang of pulling the trigger with the leverage from a 90degree angle and the strength of the middle joint instead of my the small joint strength and my finger tip at an angle. I set up on my 224 Valkyrie ar it has a great two stage trigger but it is 3lbs. I realized for the first time what trigger reset felt like. My new found trigger technique allowed me to pull a much heavier trigger and not influence the gun in any way. It also gave me rock solid follow through with my finger glued to the trigger till I saw the impact through the scope. After all the time pulling the 2.5lb revolver triggers I learned about how to pull a rifle trigger without messing up the point of aim. Now I have built a muscle memory that needs feedback from the trigger itself. 8oz triggers do not provide the feedback needed to control the shot and maintain proper follow through. I’m sorry to say it but I’m turning all my triggers up to 2lbs. I hope this has been somewhat helpful to someone I thought it was very interested and helpful in my evolving experience and knowledge of shooting.
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