Okay…..here comes "Tactical Timmy"
. Here is the issue. Consistent grip. Wayne does most of the "Marksmanship" side when we do classes because he is exceptional at teaching it, especially the "Grip" and "Trigger press" part. The key to much of this is grip. Most of your top level sport shooters have not only an exceptionally good and well developed grip, it is also VERY consistent. A perfect or near perfect grip does a ton to place less reliance on the sights and the press. Here is my problem as a "Tactical Timmy". When I assessed many shootings and watched in field performance of LEO's over a career, I found that their grips were often bad/horrific for a variety of reasons. Startle starts to fights, improperly fit pistols, poor holsters, lack of good practice, lack of consistency, unconventional positions, weather and environmental issues, clothing, obstructions, injury, use of multiple pieces of force equipment at the same time, multi-tasking with other equipment, etc. Essentially, grip being hugely important was also that factor that was also the first thing and most likely part of the equation to be sacrificed. To counter this in training, I emphasized "sights" and "trigger press" as a means to make up for the lose of proper grip. We also heavily emphasize trying to start from a low or contact ready vs. from the holster if at all possible in order to "fix" the grip before the fight starts.
As far as the press itself. How much time do you have to dedicate to the press and where do you dedicate? I had (and personally these days this fits me as well) only a set amount of time and ammunition to impart on my shooters. That was devoted to trying to over-learn and making a trigger press an almost sub-conscious process that was optimized for the particular action of the shooters primary shooting platform. The reason for this is simple-during the shootings I was in, I couldn't really "feel" what my trigger finger was doing. I knew it had to go straight to the rear with a proper application, I could feel it moving, BUT I had very little true tactile sensation or input. It was probably there, but other parts of my brain were overriding it with more important inputs, most of which was visual (another plus of the LEM is that you can see your press and reset in your peripheral). So, strictly based on my own experience, I like to use a consistent optimal press for the action that is not grip dependent to work. Reasoning for me is that if my grip is simply stupendous for the incident, then I am REALLY good. If my grip is compromised for any reasoning, I can overcome it with press and sights. Trust me, I have seen the results of slapping the crap out of a trigger without a solid and consistent grip and it is ugly……especially if the sights are not used as well. The biggest issue with the LEM was kind of figuring out how to press it. This was the same with all the other actions we use. They all seem to have a means to best work their triggers respective to their individual traits. I try to optimize a single press that is best for what I am carrying and shooting. It is why I have to take a deep breath, and really consciously think when I use a students pistol to demo something or check sights when their pistol is different from mine.
Overall, I get why many top sport shooters are able to slap a trigger very efficiently. I also get that you can optimize the type of press you will use for a specific target based on range and level of accuracy needed. For what they are doing, it is highly viable. For those who shoot nothing but "two way surprise matches" messing the slap method up can easily result in a very bad 2nd place finish.
Originally Posted by GJM
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