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Thread: Handgun Accuracy Fundamentals: Trigger Control

  1. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by derekb View Post
    I can exhibit perfect trigger control when dry firing, but I notice when I'm at the range, I tend to 'forget' about it until I start missing. Then I have to mentally slow myself down and think about the trigger.
    I'll let Jay provide the details of the drill (I hate typing), but LAV has the best solution to this that I've seen. He calls it the Dummy and Ball Drill. The reason you can pull the trigger perfectly in dry fire but not live is because you have two boxes in your head. One tells you how to pull the trigger on an empty gun, and the other tells you how to do it on a loaded gun. You need those two boxes to come together, so that your finger (and your mind) only know one way to pull the trigger.

    The other mostly overlooked aspect of this is that trigger control may not be your issue. Anticipation of recoil is far more destructive to most people's accuracy than trigger control, and it usually gets misdiagnosed by school trained instructors.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by SLG View Post
    Anticipation of recoil is far more destructive to most people's accuracy than trigger control, and it usually gets misdiagnosed by school trained instructors.
    Absolutely. Especially if you have a strong two-handed grip on your pistol, it's pretty hard for your trigger finger to put so much extra movement on the gun that it shoots many inches low...

  3. #13
    Member derekb's Avatar
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    The other mostly overlooked aspect of this is that trigger control may not be your issue. Anticipation of recoil is far more destructive to most people's accuracy than trigger control, and it usually gets misdiagnosed by school trained instructors.
    Quote Originally Posted by ToddG View Post
    Absolutely. Especially if you have a strong two-handed grip on your pistol, it's pretty hard for your trigger finger to put so much extra movement on the gun that it shoots many inches low...
    This is true. I don't believe it's a recoil anticipation issue, though. The trouble I have is I fire a few rounds, and then remember that I'm not paying attention to the trigger. Once I start paying attention to it everything goes great. I think the big thing is just getting to live-fire more often. I've been on somewhat of a hiatus from shooting for the last six months to a year, and don't have the funds to do a lot right now. That's what's killing me I think.
    I don't understand what's happening, but I have a soldering iron.

  4. #14
    Site Supporter Jay Cunningham's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SLG View Post
    I'll let Jay provide the details of the drill (I hate typing), but LAV has the best solution to this that I've seen. He calls it the Dummy and Ball Drill.
    There are some different variations of the Ball and Dummy that LAV employs to great effect. You can do these drills by yourself but there's no comparison to having a partner scrutinize you and to help set your gun up and also to operate a timer for you (for "Command" Ball and Dummy).

    The plainest version is to hand off some loose rounds and a magazine to your partner, and then have him take control of your firearm. You then turn away and allow him to set you up. He taps you and you turn back and take control of your pistol. Your partner has either chambered a live round or no round at all.

    The drill should be performed at close range (2 or 3 yards) and on a small target (a target paster works for this). Attempt a perfect trigger press while your bud scrutinizes you. Live fire is nowhere near as revealing as when you snatch the trigger on a dummy. If your press would have caused an empty case to fall from your front sight, clear your weapon and perform 5 perfect dry fires - then resume.

    Alternately, your magazine can be set up with random live and dummy rounds - do this with a few magazines and mix them up if you are going to work on this alone.

    As SLG and Todd alluded to, there are other conditions that can mask or mimic trigger snatch such as recoil anticipation and post-ignition push... I'll let those guys speak to that!
    Last edited by Jay Cunningham; 02-26-2011 at 01:30 AM.

  5. #15
    Member MechEng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jay Cunningham View Post
    Alternately, your magazine can be set up with random live and dummy rounds - do this with a few magazines and mix them up if you are going to work on this alone.
    This is how I do it when alone at the range and it's the second drill I do at the beginning of a practice session. The first drill being some dry fire exercise, i.e The Wall Drill, on a white piece of paper. I load up all my magazines at home with a few dummy rounds thrown in.
    "Take the message to Garcia."

  6. #16
    My variant of "do it alone B&D" is even number of mags, usually 6 or 8, 3 to 5 rounds into each, then half of them get a dummy round on top. I put them on the deck, mix and then load randomly, without looking. The support hand needs to have a glove on in order not to feel the top round.
    While this sounds complicated, it leads to lesser expenditure of live rounds, i.e. higher D to B ratio (in fact, around 50%) as opposed to setup when dummies are buried in the mags.

  7. #17
    Member fuse's Avatar
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    Great great post
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  8. #18
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    very helpful post, cant wait to read the one on sight management.

  9. #19
    Member VolGrad's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TCinVA View Post
    The two things we must do to hit a target...any target at any distance...are:

    - get an acceptable sighting reference
    - manipulate the trigger in such a way that the sighting reference is not disrupted before the bullet leaves the barrel
    Excellent post. I've seen similar demonstrations from LAV, Erik Lund, Tod Litt, and several other instructors showing how an average sight picture combined with a good trigger press will get good results. It doesn't work the other way around.

    I notice in circles outside good forums like this one, quality firearms classes like those mentioned, etc. the focus still tends to be sight picture over trigger press. For instance, I shot the Griffin GSSF match yesterday and can't tell you how many times I heard people discussing their sights and how few I heard talking about their trigger press. I know for me I felt every single bad shot I took (and there were more than I care to admit). However, I did feel them (calling my bad shots) and know what I need to work on. I guess that's worth something.

  10. #20
    Member Glockslinger's Avatar
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    This is outstanding advice, guys! I especially like the Glock example. (Of course!) My only addition to this discussion is that I've found a laser to be a HUGE advantage, especially when dry fire training. You see every movement, no matter how microscopic! It has done WONDERS for my trigger control. I can't say enough good things about 'em.

    I'm also battling all of the nifty eye problems one gets as we get older, so I agree with those who prefer the high-contrast targets, too. I like to use the stick-on Orange Peel (or the green whatever-the-heck-brand) that are normally used to repair the bullseye portion of their big targets, and stick them on a white BG. Highly visible at distance, and I like that the hits are easy to see to boot.

    Again, thank you all for the quality of your posts!
    "If guns cause crime, all mine are defective." - Ted Nugent

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