Chris Kyle on Trigger Control

[FiremanBob]

I was reminded by this blog post of what he wrote in his book: http://www.captainsjournal.com/2015/01/21/what-rifle-did-chris-kyle-use/

In his autobiography, Kyle mentions his love of Nightforce scopes for the quality of the optics and its durability in harsh conditions. He also reduced the trigger pull weight to 2 pounds, stating he liked to be surprised when the gun went off, he didn't want to jerk the gun when pulling the trigger. "I used a 2 pound trigger on my rifles. That's a fairly light pull. I want the trigger to surprise me every time; I don't want to jerk the gun as I fire."

A useful quote for the 6 Steps lesson.

[jmdavis]

I was reminded by this blog post of what he wrote in his book: http://www.captainsjournal.com/2015/01/21/what-rifle-did-chris-kyle-use/

In his autobiography, Kyle mentions his love of Nightforce scopes for the quality of the optics and its durability in harsh conditions. He also reduced the trigger pull weight to 2 pounds, stating he liked to be surprised when the gun went off, he didn't want to jerk the gun when pulling the trigger. "I used a 2 pound trigger on my rifles. That's a fairly light pull. I want the trigger to surprise me every time; I don't want to jerk the gun as I fire."

We could wish, however, that Bradley Cooper had read these quotes. His trigger control leaves something to be desired.  That said, it's a minor flaw in an otherwise powerful film.
A useful quote for the 6 Steps lesson.

[Nero]

We could wish, however, that Bradley Cooper had read these quotes. His trigger control leaves something to be desired.  That said, it's a minor flaw in an otherwise powerful film.

That could be Eastwood's issue as much as Cooper's: If you do it perfectly, the finger will barely move, but that's not how you make movies - significant actions have to be seen/acted out on the screen.

Fully agree about the film.  Powerful and thoughtful.  I'm guessing a lot of people have confused the current Eastwood for his 'get off my lawn' character.  He's a master director at the height of his powers.  I may go back and see it again just to appreciate all the details - watch, for instance, as the mix of gear and bases change from one tour to the next.

[jmdavis]

""I used a 2 pound trigger on my rifles. That's a fairly light pull. I want the trigger to surprise me every time; I don't want to jerk the gun as I fire."


Slim keep in mind that the quote was from Chris Kyle.  He might know a bit about shooting.

No one knows what trigger Murphy used on the rifle that shot Fraser. We don't even know for sure whether it was a single shot or a swivel barrel (as he certainly owned later in life). So saying that he used a hair trigger might or might not be true. We cannot even say that "most" rifles were fitted with set or "hair" triggers. We can say that many surviving high end examples are fitted with such.

The key to trigger control may or may not be a "surprise break." Many shooters know the instant that the gun will fire. But they don't choose the instant to "fire" the gun. They choose the instant to begin their trigger squeeze. Further the trigger squeeze doesn't have to be "slooooooow". It has to be steady and even. The key is not to squeeze slowly but to activate the trigger without disturbing the sights. That's it. Activate the trigger without disturbing the sights.

For many a light trigger can  help with that. One need only look at the National champions of silhouette to see examples of such. 1lb is on the high end for them in small bore and they shoot with 24x-36x scopes at 40m, 60m, 77m, and 100m, in smallbore and 200m, 300m. 385m and 500m in highpower silhouette.

A good trigger is a personal thing and the only thing that is important is that the person who uses it can activate it and make the shot without disturbing the sights.

[Shooter30-06]

Activating the trigger without disturbing the sights and shooting well, isn't smallbore or high power, it is good shooting.

Absolutely true!  The articulation of steady versus slow trigger squeeze is even more of an issue in my handgun classes.  Someone who takes the "slow" approach  literally has a lot of trouble with a long double action trigger.  I still repeat the six steps verbatim but in one on one instruction I use the word "steady" more often than "slow."