Controlling Your Trigger

While trigger control may not be the most exciting topic to discuss, it is the one thing that will improve the shooting of most students I have worked with.  If you have a good grip, good sight alignment, and good sight picture, trigger control will be that one thing that takes you to the next level as a shooter.

There are different approaches to trigger control.  I have chosen to share two with you today.  One is more suited for target shooting, or for slower methodical practice.  The other is for those who are wanting to advance their skills to be effective self defense or competition shooters.  They share important key elements:

• Pressing the trigger straight back
• Keeping sight picture through the entire process until after the shot is fired (not moving the pistol)
• Not anticipating movement of the pistol when it fires 

I have posted two different videos below covering both of these approaches.  The first is for those who want to shoot well when there is time to work through a good process - target shooting, going through the motions in dry practice, or slowing down defensive or competition shooting to develop muscle memory.  The other is better suited for actual defensive shooting or competition, or the full speed practice for both.  The key difference being the speed with which you pull the trigger and the anticipation of when the trigger will release the firing pin.  Not anticipation of the recoil, but of when you intend to take the shot.

Both approaches use the pad of the finger to press back on the trigger, not the joint or any area closer to the hand.  Just the pad of the trigger finger - this is shown well in both videos.  There is some allowance here for placement between the middle of the pad and the joint, and some shooters with heavy trigger pulls and weaker hands may need to use the joint to be able to pull the trigger back.  I do not recommend this type of pistol because of the difficulty with being accurate and the delay needed to place an accurate shot.  You need to be careful when buying "defensive" pistols as that is usually code for heavy trigger pull.

You need all the joints of the finger to be able to make a backward pressing motion.  If you cover the trigger with a joint, you no longer have that joint to help you move straight back.  Moving your trigger straight back without a jerking motion, or hooking, is essential to a well aimed shot.

When shooting for accuracy or practicing defensive motions at a slower speed, you will want to let the pistol surprise you when it goes off.  You want to train yourself to not anticipate the recoil of the fired shot.  Anticipating the recoil causes all sorts of flinching or jerking.  Most shooting problems I see on the range are caused by this type of anticipation, which includes jerking the trigger itself.  You want a smooth motion that allows you to keep your sight picture through the entire shot.  This expectation in the mind that you are holding sight picture through the shot, is what is called follow through.  This is a highly mental game, and controlling your intentions here can yield great results.

To practice defensive or competition (practical) shooting at full speed.  You will want to know when you are taking your shot.  This still does not allow for a jerking motion with the trigger.  It requires control and discipline built through a great deal of practice.  Both dry practice and live fire.  You need to come to understand how your pistol's trigger works: How much slack can you take up quickly, at what point does it release the firing pin, what is the reset, and how do you cycle through from one shot to the next with minimal movement and steady control of the pistol.

A lot of my student have not known what trigger reset is, so I will explain it here.  Trigger reset is when your trigger is ready to release the firing pin again.  You find the reset point by trapping the trigger back after a shot and then slowly letting the trigger move back forward until you feel and hear a click.  Now, if you press the trigger to the rear again, it will release the firing pin again.  If you are doing this during dry practice, you will need to cycle the slide with the trigger trapped to the rear to reset the action, then you can allow the trigger forward to find the reset as described above.

The advantage here is that you do not need to let the trigger all the way out before firing another shot.  This reduces overall movement, and allows for a quicker shot.

Thinking this through as you practice will help you to understand how your trigger functions.  Once you understand it, you can apply what you have learned to fire accurate shots quickly.  Developing muscle memory in trigger control is essential to effective defensive and competition shooting.

If you are an experienced shooter that has struggled with accuracy.  Apply these ideas to your next range session, and you will be happy with the results.  Guaranteed or I will gladly refund the price of reading this blog post.