Trigger Control *Advanced*

[USNAVYCHIEF(Ret)]

Trigger Control

Appleseed covers this in the 6 steps of firing the shot, and it is covered adequately.

Step 5, Squeeze The Trigger, and that segues nicely into "Hold The Trigger Back" for
Step 6: Follow thru and call your shot

I'm gonna dive a bit deeper into step 5, squeeze the trigger.

You must do and MAINTAIN (repeat MAINTAIN) steps 1 thru 4 before starting the trigger squeeze. If you breathe, you must start over from step 1.

Squeeze the trigger straight back and to the rear.

Then hold it there, maintaining steps 1 thru 5 (and not breathing) and call the shot.

How do we SQUEEZE the trigger?

One glance at any competition small bore rifle, palma rifle or competition air rifle and one will see that the grip is likely customized to the shooters hand.

All that customization on those rifles is to allow one to properly squeeze the trigger straight back and to the rear without disturbing sight alignment (the hold).

A 10/22 grip is different than an AR15 grip is different than an M1 Garand's grip.

All rifles require a bit of a different grip, in order to squeeze the trigger straight back and to the rear without disturbing sight alignment.

Push the trigger left or right some, and the shot will go left or right some.

A personal experience:
My 300 yard rapid fire prone used to be my strongest position. Last year I would routinely CLEAN the course of fire.

Then something happened, that I was unaware of. My scores dropped about 5 points or so in Rapid Prone and I was baffled as to "why".

A fellow competitor videoed me during a match, and 3 High Masters approached me to give me some "counseling".

All 3 of these High Masters are personal friends. As I got out of position at the 300 yard line....they said, "You REALLY need to stop that combat trigger stuff!"

I was confused, and they asked me to tell them my shot process in rapid fire.

I explained steps 1 thru 6 of the AS shot process, and they stopped me at "hold the trigger back".

That is still ABSOLUTELY what one needs to do (hold it back), but when I get ready for the next shot is where my issue was.

I would only let the 2 stage trigger out to the reset, breathe, and then squeeze.

It went like this:
Breathe
Relax
Focus on reticle and check NPA (quickly)
Squeeze
Bang
Hold trigger back and call shot
------
Let out to reset
Breathe
Squeeze
Bang

Breathe
Squeeze
Bang

That was causing me issues.

I was counseled that after the shot, and shot call.....to let my finger completely come off the trigger and start the process over.

Once more:
"Let my finger completely come off the trigger after follow thru"

Once I started incorporating that into my shot process....my rapid cleans (or close to) returned.

Same applies for seated.

For the 2 stage trigger I was advised to take the first stage, and if it is there, continue to hold breath and then take the 2nd stage.

It worked.

In slow prone, on my two stage trigger, often I would take the first stage, then hold that....and breathe again while holding in the first stage. That can also work, and it has for me...but there is also a risk with that of squeezing the second stage off before the sights are in the X ring.

For slow prone, I take both stages with the same breath now. It seems to be working well.

For standing, that is the only position that I take up the first stage on top of the target and maintain the hold into the X ring.

Give it a shot, it may help you as well. Of course if what you are currently doing is resulting in perfect scores, absolutely disregard this.

R/
Chris

[CarrollMS]

"Let my finger completely come off the trigger after follow thru"

I was put in mind of BRASS, with the Slack step before squeeze.  If one resets only, it eliminates taking up the slack after the first shot.  I'll give your experience and advice a try.

[Lomshek]

For the 2 stage trigger I was advised to take the first stage, and if it is there, continue to hold breath and then take the 2nd stage...

...For slow prone, I take both stages with the same breath now. It seems to be working well.

I'll try this. 

Like you said you used to do my habit has always been to just reset the trigger but not remove my finger from the trigger.  I'm not sure if I breathe while holding at the second stage or not.  I know my habit is to reset my finger if I'm off and need to start over but I am really not sure if I take a breath while sitting on the second stage.