Trigger Prep

[PatJones]

you don't stop or hesitate once you start your Revo trigger pull, do you? Isn't trigger prep usually defined as taking up the pre travel and then either stopping or hesitating before breaking the shot?

No, I pull smoothly thru. Stopping the pull can lead to skipping by a chamber. With a tuned Revo trigger there isn't a lot of weight on the trigger return spring. If you stop the pull, it's easy back off the trigger a bit and allow the hand to catch to the next tooth on the ratchet. It's a long trip around to go back to the chamber you didn't drop the hammer on.

I took a class from Manny Bragg where he talked about trigger prep and I just couldn't feel what he was talking about. I was shooting a 1911 with most of the pre-travel taken out of the trigger, I can't really feel that trigger move at all. What I took away from Manny's class was how far away I could be from the target and still slap the trigger and hit the A zone.

[Nimitz]

I've taken quite a few classes with Ben and he always advocates not stopping once you start the trigger pull. Maybe it's just semantics but when I hear people talk about prepping the trigger I assume they have some kind of non continuous motion in their pull which usually leads to trigger jerk .... Prep the trigger ... Stop or hesitate while you get the perfect sight picture, now instantly slam the trigger home before your sights move .... Not good ...

To me if once you start your trigger pull you just continue until you break the shot there is no 'prepping' going on. It's just a trigger pull. If however, you take out the pre travel, then do something non continuous and then complete the trigger pull now you have 'prepped the trigger'. ....

[highhope]

trigger prep is that kind of high end level techniques, I think the meaning of trigger prep is that you have to focus on your trigger in order to not AD, you have to learn to  call your finger to do that. It's kind of "tool" to train your trigger control. 

[Nbrew875]

Shooting a 2011 there's not much room for trigger prep 

 

Targets with in 15 yards I smash the trigger not going to lie 

 

15 yards plus Prep sights press 

Prep the trigger just before it breaks 

Confirm the sights 

Press the trigger to the rear 

 

This is something that I just learned from a GM as well and it changed my trigger control completely 

 

Give it a try 

[BoyGlock]

In a recent interview in anderson podcast, Sailer claims to prep trigger on difficult shots. As said, could be meaning differently. And he and Stoeger are saying the same thing. Not the classic trigger prep we all know. 

[BoyGlock]

Went to the range w/ sole purpose of testing this technique. Results were very encouraging to say the least. Difficult targets were not so hard anymore and hits were mostly As. On plates at 20y, could tell w/ certainty my misses were due to bad aim. Not trigger pull.
I say this is not trigger prep per se. It felt like just being more careful w/ my tr. press. 

[csailer]

This string gave me a good laugh.  Please prep the trigger and take up the pretravel before attempting to push through the break.  Take this pretravel out when your sights are coming back down from the first shot.  Follow this and shoot accurately at a high rate of speed.  Or not.......and then consistently shoot inefficiently, thus losing time as well as shoot inaccurately and just slap through the pretravel.  Not a theory, but a technique that can be practiced and perfected.  

[BoyGlock]

On 12/29/2019 at 4:38 AM, csailer said:

This string gave me a good laugh.  Please prep the trigger and take up the pretravel before attempting to push through the break.  Take this pretravel out when your sights are coming back down from the first shot.  Follow this and shoot accurately at a high rate of speed.  Or not.......and then consistently shoot inefficiently, thus losing time as well as shoot inaccurately and just slap through the pretravel.  Not a theory, but a technique that can be practiced and perfected.  

Thank you. 
Made another try in cofs in a clubshoot, and was partially conscious prepping the trigger. Free style, sho, who. At MY speed. Hits on paper were almost all As. Far steel plates (25y) were no reengagements. 
Yes time was good and hits were awesome! 
By prepping the trigger I was forced or directed to be more careful w/ my pull. At close and mid targets hits were almost 2-3” apart in As if I keep my focus. Dot prep pull and repeat. In transition I was prepping while the dot is approaching near the target. 
Far from being you but you helped a lot! Open A. Threshold of Super Sr. and learning

 

eta. I Believe prep/dot pull is my sequence. Focus on prep and dot is almost simultaneous, w/ prep a bit ahead at times, then pull when both are appropriate for the target. 

Edited January 1, 2020 by BoyGlock

[scgun]

On 8/3/2016 at 4:23 AM, Nimitz said:

you don't stop or hesitate once you start your Revo trigger pull, do you? Isn't trigger prep usually defined as taking up the pre travel and then either stopping or hesitating before breaking the shot?

 

Using a DA/SA pistol.

Does trigger prep mean taking up the pre travel or tensing the hammer on the first DA shot?

[Nimitz]

yes, same concept, trigger prep is removing the 'slack' or pre-travel from a trigger and then hesitating before continuing to break the shot - you see this a lot with Glock triggers which can have a lot of pre-travel.  it is not a good technique for trigger control as it usually introduces 'trigger jerk' which results in shots going low-left on RH shooters.  when happens is shooters prep the trigger while they refine their sight picture and then wait and when they get the perfect sight picture they jerk the trigger to complete the shot while they still have a good sight picture.

Once you start your trigger pull you shouldn't stop.  For all shots except exceptionally difficult or long shots you don't need a '[perfect' sight picture to hit the A zone.  And your gun will always be moving - its called the wobble zone so prepping the trigger while you wait to stop the gun never works.  get a 'good enough' sight picture then start pulling the trigger and don't stop.

[BoyGlock]

On 1/18/2020 at 9:25 PM, scgun said:

 

Using a DA/SA pistol.

Does trigger prep mean taking up the pre travel or tensing the hammer on the first DA shot?

Think Sailer meant SA pull. Dont know how it will be on DA. I came from revo then glocks in my early yrs of pistol shooting and I pull them through without hesitation. Then in 2011 I used this pull w/ good results. But recently learning this prep technique my hits and stage times are far better if not best. Most notably in pressure shots as in swingers and texas stars where it feels like chasing the targets before it goes away. Its more efficient as Sailer said. 

Edited January 19, 2020 by BoyGlock

[BoyGlock]

It may feel slow in splits but its not. Even at spitting distance I feel the prep though w/ least hesitation and hits were so good I wont trade it for anything else. 
Yesterday in a clubshoot i had the best hits and best time in a 32 rnd stage. No GM or M around. But my hits were 31A 1C. Just to prove to myself,  Rerun the stage and had almost same time and all As. 
Who would not like that! 

[YVK]

The fastest I have ever pulled the trigger in splits, no prepping, just slapping, was 0.11 sec.

Handgun cycles in approximately 0.05 sec (derived from cyclic rate of full auto counterparts such as Glock 18 or Beretta 93R). 

So, when folks say that we should release the trigger and then take out pre-travel as my sights are coming down in recoil, that means I have to do something so precise, in terms of trigger finger manipulation, in half the time that I am capable of just pulling the trigger as fast as I can. Naturally, the sights don't settle in 0.05 sec; question is when they settle and do we still have time to complete the prep.

 

Edited January 21, 2020 by YVK

[Clerget]

I just wanted to add that my shooting didn’t significantly improve until I started prepping the trigger. Then I was shooting 2-4 in groups from 7yds instead of 10 in groups sometimes missing entirely.

[Johnny_Chimpo]

20 hours ago, Clerget said:

I just wanted to add that my shooting didn’t significantly improve until I started prepping the trigger. Then I was shooting 2-4 in groups from 7yds instead of 10 in groups sometimes missing entirely.

 

Prepping the trigger is a training-wheels technique that gets discarded pretty soon if one wants to continue to get faster without losing accuracy.

 

Tactical timmies love it tho

 

Something else in addition to horrendous trigger control must at been at play if you were having 10" groups at 7 yards.  Like a fundamentally flawed grip.

[Blackstone45]

I suspect when the very high level shooters talk about "prepping the trigger", they are just talking about taking a bit more time to ensure their sights are aligned/dot is stable on the part of the target they want to hit. And it is reserved only for those high difficulty/high risk shots.

[shred]

Well, the current world IPSC champion in Open and multi-time USPSA champion posted his thoughts on the topic about 10 posts ago...

 

[Blackstone45]

3 hours ago, shred said:

Well, the current world IPSC champion in Open and multi-time USPSA champion posted his thoughts on the topic about 10 posts ago...

 

True, but he also posted this 3 years ago. Technique can change a lot in that time.

[shred]

That was the first year he won the USPSA nationals, so probably noob then.

 

A top shooter long ago was giving advice and said something like "Either learn to slap the trigger or prep the trigger.  As you rise up the ranks you'll have to learn to do both, but for now just pick one."

 

Different top guys blend that differently IME.

 

[RangerTrace]

I've read Brian's book and I've been in TGO's class.  They are all right.....

[Blackstone45]

In any case I'd love to hear what @csailer thinks of this subject now.

[broadside72]

With a good grip how can you even get your finger to react to resetting during the recoil phase? The gun cycles and settles so fast on a properly tuned gun with a good grip I can't see the mind thinking about it and the body reacting to it faster than the gun is ready and then prepping on top of that. 

 

[csailer]

On 1/31/2023 at 2:42 AM, Blackstone45 said:

In any case I'd love to hear what @csailer thinks of this subject now.

In theory, prep is not needed.  With a perfect grip, you can pull the trigger with or without prep and not disturb the sights.  Prep is a CYA for a sub optimal grip.  With the speed we shoot at and the perfect grip being something we always chase, I find it wise to add prep on more difficult shots.  I drop queues on parts of the stage that require a bit more prep.  Work towards needing it less by building a more optimal grip for not disturbing the sights when pulling the trigger.  

[Blackstone45]

14 hours ago, csailer said:

In theory, prep is not needed.  With a perfect grip, you can pull the trigger with or without prep and not disturb the sights.  Prep is a CYA for a sub optimal grip.  With the speed we shoot at and the perfect grip being something we always chase, I find it wise to add prep on more difficult shots.  I drop queues on parts of the stage that require a bit more prep.  Work towards needing it less by building a more optimal grip for not disturbing the sights when pulling the trigger.  

Thanks champ!