Feeling the Trigger Reset

[XRe]

I can feel the reset when my splits slow up to a .35-.40 as I'm engaging long or hard targets. Its part of a greater focus on trigger manipulation on those shots. I can't feel it with a faster split than that, and in matches, with the adrenaline dialed up a little, I also tend to miss feeling it, even on slow splits. But... its something I'm aware of, but not something I'm literally trying to find via trigger manipulation.

When shooting groups, I want to feel the rest on every shot - I want to pull smoothly through the break and pin the trigger to the rear, and then let it off until I feel the reset. Of course, that's a different kind of trigger control than I usually use for practical shooting, so...

[mark dye]

I am glad to see that there are others who agree with me. My friend who I spoke of in the original post...the pretty good GM... actually causes 1911 triggers to do a lot of funny stuff due to his trigger technique. He has an extremely fast finger, .11 and .12 splits fast. He also insists that he only releases the trigger to the reset point. Somehow in this combination he causes a syndrome where the hammer follows (also known as the Phil Strader syndrome to a lot of folks). He can repeat this on ANY 1911 regardless of the make or gunsmith. Basically, he is apparently catching the timing of the disconnector and causing the sear to trip. The best fix I have found so far has been to remove his overtravel stop completely, give him very light trigger return spring pressure, and a lot of sear engagement. This makes the reset point a little harder to find, and forces him to release the trigger a little more.

I haven't found a lot of merit to this technique, but others continue to swear by it. I guess it is just diferent strokes for different folks.

G-man, I enjoyed your coments about the sensor that tracks trigger movement on a graph. I would love to play with that gadget just to learn more about my own trigger control!!! You Feds get all the cool toys!

Mark Dye

[pjb45]

I was at a match a couple of years ago when Taran told me I needed to learn trigger control. I talked with Mark Hanosh about it. He thought he and TGO were the last of the trigger slappers. I know what Matt preaches.

So to make a long story even longer, I had about 5 or so conversations with Brian. He kind of chuckled and went on to explain that none of that stuff matters, eg, placement of the pad of the finger, riding the sear (Mic is famous for riding his sear), etc.

Brian's mantra was - your trigger pull (or whatever verb you want to use) should not disturb your sight picture. That is it in a nutshell. If you read his book he talks about shooting off a bench or stable area and focus on how the trigger feels when it breaks, etc. The key is not to have the sights move (the negative advice) or keep your sights perfectly aligned when you break the shot.

Don Golembieski (Kodiak Precision) once said if you know where your sights were when the shot breaks--you will know where your bullet went--hence calling your shot.

[G-ManBart]

I can feel the reset when my splits slow up to a .35-.40 as I'm engaging long or hard targets. Its part of a greater focus on trigger manipulation on those shots. I can't feel it with a faster split than that, and in matches, with the adrenaline dialed up a little, I also tend to miss feeling it, even on slow splits.

Now that, I can believe. An excellent shooter at something like a .40 split might notice it, but not too likely during a match. I think I said half a second and that was just a wag as I haven't ever tried timing it to find out for certain. Heck, during a match I don't even remember or feel a reload if things are going well so how the heck am I gonna notice a trigger reset

[Reconvic]

I can feel the reset when my splits slow up to a .35-.40 as I'm engaging long or hard targets. Its part of a greater focus on trigger manipulation on those shots. I can't feel it with a faster split than that, and in matches, with the adrenaline dialed up a little, I also tend to miss feeling it, even on slow splits.

Now that, I can believe. An excellent shooter at something like a .40 split might notice it, but not too likely during a match. I think I said half a second and that was just a wag as I haven't ever tried timing it to find out for certain. Heck, during a match I don't even remember or feel a reload if things are going well so how the heck am I gonna notice a trigger reset

The Sig Srt trigger or a Glock even will let you get use to trigger rest I still feel the 1911 has the best reset ever made. I added a set screw on my Sig Supermatch 220 Elite, on the short trigger no less and polished all the parts inside and out.

S/F Vic

[PEC-Memphis]

I have small hands, and can say that I pretty much manipulate the trigger near reset. Usually, my first shot is near the tip of my finger, after the first shot - the follow-ups are pretty much on the pad of the trigger finger.

I don't think you need a machine to determine if you are shooting at, or near, trigger reset on a Glock. Just remove the trigger spring and run a COF. If you can shoot it without stopping, you are shooting at, or near, trigger reset. If you let the trigger go much past reset the Glock'ill stop. When I try this, I'm pretty much running the gun to slide lock - which means that the trigger never came fully forward.

Personally, I like a firm, fast reset on a Glock. Several competative shooter like the "old" NY-1 with the 3.5/4.5 connector, for a even firmer, faster reset.

Now a 1911/Hi-Power reset is completely different. The travel is much less, and the reset is much less distinct.

[G-ManBart]

I don't think you need a machine to determine if you are shooting at, or near, trigger reset on a Glock.

That's pretty much what a couple hundred instructors and some of the best competitive pistol shooters in the world thought/said until it was proved to them on the box. One or two people were able to stop the forward travel roughly half way between the actual reset point and where the forward travel of the trigger stops, but that's as close as anybody got. Those one or two swore up and down, all day long that they stopped right at the reset point....but they didn't really and admitted it after seeing the evidence. Granted, that's shooting at speed and not at a bullseye pace.

Now, keep in mind that they went into this blind. They were asked whether they went to reset, fully forward or something else. They were then handed a gun with the device attached and asked to shoot a portion of our standard qual course. The results were graphed and replayed for them. So, even if they were capable of going right to the reset point at a slow split pace, they didn't actually do that when put under conditions similar to how they shot the qual course. So, they thought they were going right to the reset point, but weren't which tells me it's not quite so clear when actually shooting normally. Maybe if you focus on that to the exclusion of everything else it's doable, but that really doesn't mean much since it's not what people actually do when they shoot normally (again, excepting slow fire bullseye type shooting). R,

[SharonAnne9x23]

right from the start I worked at maintaining contact with the trigger. My mentor was an old time bullseye shooter. As my splits got shorter I found trouble. My best competition splits run .15-16 seconds. At the 2004 USPSA Nationals in the dark house I was cruising along at what for me was decent pace when suddenly, on the second shot at a target my gun did not fire. I immediately racked the slide and continued shooting.

In retrospect I am sure I did not release the trigger. One of my shooting buddies was a middle Master and for years talked about 'feeling the reset'. I thought I was missing something because at speed I never felt the reset. I endeavored to maintain contact with the trigger; forever searching for the feel of the reset.

Makes me wonder what I might have done if I was a 'slapper'.

[JasonC]

I prefer a short reset with a sharp "click". I do not notice the reset while shooting a stage, but I do notice when the reset is not there. I find shooting a gun with a mushy reset is distracting because it feels like I have short stroked the trigger. But I suppose that someone that has always shot a gun with a soft rest would find a sharp reset to be distracting. Eh, just shoot.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I'm not a new shooter, but I'm actually starting to pay attention to the smaller things. I couldn't tell till I shot more precise guns that I was letting all the way out and coming back in. I guess my question is, in this testing, when is everyones finger's coming off the trigger? Are they releasing the trigger during recoil, or as they bring the gun back down?

Anybody have high-speed photography of all this?

[Paladin]

not an important point to focus on...

[heavy metal]

I don't find trigger reset nearly as important as yelling Get Some while I'm shooting

[Chris iliff]

I don't find trigger reset nearly as important as yelling Get Some while I'm shooting

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I don't find trigger reset nearly as important as yelling Get Some while I'm shooting

Yelling 'Get Some' gets you noticed, yelling 'Wolverines!!!' gets you respect.

Is there a post here about correct trigger pull, I assume by application?

[mjoy64]

I certainly don't give much/any thought at all about hitting the reset exactly while I'm shooting. That said... I have short-stroked it many times and not let it out far enough to hit the reset while shooting a stage. I feel like a dork when that happens. I believe what gman says... but I know for a fact I don't always let the trigger all the way back out.

Wolverines baby!