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Hello, I'm not only new here but I'm a newbie as well. I was watching You Tube a minute ago and the instructor kept referencing "the wall." He kept telling his student that "you need to press up against the wall". The student and teacher were out in the open range, nothing was around them, this "wall" he was talking about had something to do with being inside the trigger guard and where the student should place his finger first, up against the wall then squeeze. What is meant by "wall" Anyone?
The "Wall" refers to the point in the trigger press after all the slack has been taken up. The point at which a significantly greater application of pressure is required to move the trigger any further.
In Glocks, for example, it takes about 2lbs of force to move the trigger halfway through its stroke. Then about 3.5lbs of force to get through the "grit" then you hit the "wall" where the trigger does not move until you increase pressure to about 5 lbs.
I'm no Expert but I would not reccomend pulling up to the Wall in combat shooting. It is better to apply steadily increasing pressure to the trigger since thia reduces flinching and various other things that lead to misses, and is applicable across all trigger types.
Pulling up to the Wall can be good if you are a newbie just trying to learn how to get all your rounds in the center of the target and MAYBE for bullseye type shooting.
My counter to this, as in all things, is "it depends." On a Glock or any similar gun that has takeup and then break, that takeup can be sloppy wasted time if we let it be. If we're trying to shoot fast and accurately, it behooves us to do things sooner, and one of those things is removing the takeup from the trigger press before we do the actual press. That first part can be done fairly rapidly with no negative downrange consequence, provided that the gun is indexed on the target/threat. The actual press through the trigger break requires some care, and that is where pressing steadily through works well.Quote:
Originally Posted by TicTacticalTimmy
If you have any tendency to anticipate during your shots, removing the takeup prior to your full trigger press may help mitigate (not remove, just mitigate) some of that anticipation, or at least cause the downrange effect of your anticipation to be less than if you smashed all the way through the trigger.
Lastly, if your trigger type isn't a slack/wall/break type trigger, such as a DA trigger, what you do with it will be different to some degree, even if the concept is similar. For instance on a 12 lb Sig DA trigger pull I've already put about 8 lbs of force on the trigger before I get the gun to full extension, lest I do some crazy stuff at full extension. I'm still trying to do some of the work before I get to a final marksmanship solution.
I think the old "taking the slack out of the trigger" is being referenced. My opinion is that this probably has a place in the discipline of bullseye shooting, but is a bad idea for practical shooting.
It's bad because it doesn't resemble what we're actually going to do. What we're actually going to do is very aggressively operate the trigger. So we should practice that way.
Many tend to (mistakenly) think that new shooters need to manipulate the trigger very slowly. May also tend to (mistakenly) think that in order to shoot a handgun accurately, one must manipulate the trigger very slowly.
In practical pistol shooting, a proper grip on the handgun (which consists of correct hand placement and engagement of appropriate muscle groups) will facilitate the ability to aggressively manipulate the trigger without significantly moving the gun at the moment of discharge. This should be how brand-new shooters are taught and should continue to be practiced by more veteran shooters.
"Surprise break" trigger control methodology is supposed to eliminate "flinching" by having the gun go off almost by "surprise". This does not work in reality. In reality, this methodology actually builds anticipation and invariably leads to pulling shots low left for right handed shooters (and vice versa). Unless one is an absolute master of trigger control, the longer one takes to break a clean shot, the worse result one usually achieves. People get inside their own heads.
I am not saying that all trigger manipulation need occur at the same speed. Of course tighter shots may require a little more finesse (i.e. slower manipulation) but by that I mean instead of taking .2 seconds to break your shot from the moment you decide to do it perhaps it takes .9 seconds. If you are letting your breath halfway out, sloooowly taking the slack out of the trigger - and this is all taking you 6, 7, 8 seconds - this is the wrong way to build the fundamentals you need for practical pistol shooting.
This is evidenced by having to typically endure a whole slew of Ball-and-Dummy drills to counter act this terrible trigger control methodology. If one starts off with a proper grip and moves forward into an aggressive trigger manipulation (.25 to .35 seconds) one can skip all the B&D because you won't need it.
Regarding terminology: gradually increasing pressure is not a helpful concept. A steady pressure from start-to-finish rolling through any slack or "wall" should be more the goal. THERE MUST BE A CERTAIN DECISIVENESS TO YOUR TRIGGER MANIPULATION IN PRACTICAL SHOOTING.
The 'wall' is the point in the trigger press operation where the resistance noticeably increases.
The "wall" is the point of the trigger pull where the sear and trigger, striker is tight and the"play" is taken up.
In all types of shooting ,competition, hunting target SD technique I am always aware of this point. I make sure sights alignment is where I want it to be then squeeze enough to trip the trigger.
I do this fast or slow . The observer could never detect it.
Thanks s method get very good results with all handguns Ruger lcp Glocks 1911 S&W revolvers etc.
This is similar but not the same as "staging" a S&Wrevolver or riding the link on semi autos.
The difference is I am aware of the wall but do not hold on the wall before the shot.
As Jay says, our trigger presses must be deliberate.
Straight back, as smooth and quickly as possible, without disrupting the sights.
My, personal, exception to that is 25+ yard shooting with a J-Frame or similar revolver. Because the sights are small, the gun is light, the trigger is mediocre, and the distance is long, I will "stage" the trigger. That is take the vast majority of the stroke up where the cylinder has rotated a fresh round and all I'm doing is tripping the sear, take a brief moment to check my sight alignment, and then press through and release the sear. That is honestly an advanced trigger control technique and one that requires substantial practice to achieve. It works for me, but I wouldn't advocate anyone bothering to learn how to do it. I taught myself how to do it, because I read about it in old revolver shooting books.