Take up or not take up trigger slack, or should I pause before I reach the wall?

[Jay Cunningham]

Here's the way I described it one time in a conversation with Todd:

And even when the *concept* is understood, in far too many cases I see shooters prepping the trigger on their presentation - then pausing *for whatever reason* - thus killing the initial gain of the trigger prep and now putting them in the mental state of "I'm all prepped and ready to go but oh shit I paused and didn't take the shot yet wait I'm behind the power curve I better take my shot NOW" BANG! and then snatching the trigger due to the mental anticipation game inside their head.

Two other threads with good related discussions:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....dated-12-04-16

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....-Movement-quot

[Leroy]

When people say just press through be careful that you don't interpret that as I take out slack at the same speed as breaking the shot. I tend to think of removing trigger slack as not really part of the press but something I have to do before I actually have to press the trigger. On easy shots I just wack the trigger on hard shots my press will most likely slow as I work trigger resistance after removing slack. Feedback from the sights are subconsciously controlling the speed of the press.

[Lomshek]

When people say just press through be careful that you don't interpret that as I take out slack at the same speed as breaking the shot. I tend to think of removing trigger slack as not really part of the press but something I have to do before I actually have to press the trigger. On easy shots I just wack the trigger on hard shots my press will most likely slow as I work trigger resistance after removing slack. Feedback from the sights are subconsciously controlling the speed of the press.

For 99% of my handgun shooting I have one trigger press. Once the decision to fire is made I move the trigger finger as quickly as I can do it without disturbing the gun. Body shots at 50 yards get the same trigger press speed as body shots at 5 yards. The only thing that changes is how long I take to get sight alignment/picture.

The only exception is uber precision shooting and I'm trying to improve my trigger control to the point I don't have a modified trigger stroke there.

[Leroy]

For 99% of my handgun shooting I have one trigger press. Once the decision to fire is made I move the trigger finger as quickly as I can do it without disturbing the gun. Body shots at 50 yards get the same trigger press speed as body shots at 5 yards. The only thing that changes is how long I take to get sight alignment/picture.

The only exception is uber precision shooting and I'm trying to improve my trigger control to the point I don't have a modified trigger stroke there.

I just can't get on board with this idea unless I am cool with really slow 5 yard shots. The speed at which I press the trigger at 5 yards moves the gun it just doesn't matter becuase the target is so close. Anybody aggressively working a trigger is moving the gun during the press.

[Jay Cunningham]

I just can't get on board with this idea unless I am cool with really slow 5 yard shots. The speed at which I press the trigger at 5 yards moves the gun it just doesn't matter becuase the target is so close. Anybody aggressively working a trigger is moving the gun during the press.

What does your dry practice look like? How hard do you grip your gun?

[GJM]

on point:

https://nextleveltraining.com/trigger-press-methods/

[Gio]

I just can't get on board with this idea unless I am cool with really slow 5 yard shots. The speed at which I press the trigger at 5 yards moves the gun it just doesn't matter becuase the target is so close. Anybody aggressively working a trigger is moving the gun during the press.

I agree with this. The speed my trigger finger moves changes depending on target difficulty, but it's always a continuous press through the slack and break.

[Trajan]

Slack comes out on the press out. Sight picture and break the wall. In recoil the trigger finger loosens up, and due to the mechanics of Glocks and DA S&W revolvers, the trigger pushes itself back out to the point where it can be pressed back again.

This results in me just preforming short presses, vs the entire length of the trigger.

[JustOneGun]

Two ways of getting to the same place? First does your pistol have slack. Telling someone shooting a 1911 or TDA to take up the slack is pretty limited at best. A Glock? For new people it's been my experience that most are helped by taking up the slack. But really once a new person is trained and making good gains what is really happening? Finish taking up the slack right before the draw stroke is done. There is a pause while a person gains the final sight picture and press.

Or a person can just press through the wall on the Glock at the end of the draw stroke. Either way the timing for each would be pretty much the same. If you look at well trained shooters it is often hard to tell how they are doing it because they are essentially doing the same thing. With training isn't the robotic 1, 2, 3, 4 draw stroke look like one fluid movement? Same for take up the slack. Ultimately the goal is accuracy with no pause.

As for surprised break? Yeah I dislike the term too. It's not a surprise. It's just not caring that the gun is going off. In fact a click would be the surprise. As the saying goes, "No louder sound in a gunfight as a click." LOL!

[Lomshek]

I just can't get on board with this idea unless I am cool with really slow 5 yard shots. The speed at which I press the trigger at 5 yards moves the gun it just doesn't matter becuase the target is so close. Anybody aggressively working a trigger is moving the gun during the press.

The only thing that changes is what I look for to indicate I'm on target. A 5 yard (or less) target gets either a very crude flash sight picture or even just a slide profile in front of the target. At 50 yards I need a much more precise picture. That quality of sight picture needed will also affect how long it takes me to get a first shot off and follow up shots. None of that affects how quickly the trigger moves.

If I'm jerking the gun I need a better grip, better contact spot with the trigger or better trigger control in general. Slowing the trigger speed down will allow me (maybe) to correct for those deficiencies and make the shot but correcting those deficiencies is better.

I'm an Appleseed shoot boss and run USPSA matches where I inevitably end up teaching new competitors in handgunnery and do some freelancing for things like ROTC handgun familiarization. For all of those I teach the fast stroke trigger press and everyone (rifle shooters, new USPSA competitors and novices) sees their groups shrink when they do it whether shooting a Glock, DA Beretta 92 or AR. The smallest target in Appleseed is a postage stamp size square at 25 yards (4 MOA) to give some idea of the level of precision we teach.

If a shooter slows down their trigger speed they inevitably start anticipating when the shot will break and end up holding their breath as they think "Here comes the shot...almost there...hold your breath...get the sights back on target...BANG!" That mental discussion can take anywhere from 1 second to 5 seconds but is plenty of time to screw up the shot.

The original question was whether the trigger slack is taken out then the shot is fired after a pause. My answer is not normally unless you're shooting crazy precise stuff. Trigger speed is a related part of that that I see a lot of folks hurt their accuracy potential with by going too slow. Try crushing the handgun and sweeping through the trigger stroke quickly. You should be able to do it with an empty case balanced on your front sight. I can usually get 2 or 3 repetitions on a DA trigger before the case vibrates off the front sight from the hammer dropping.