Glock trigger finger placement

[GJM]

For years, we have been discussing how much trigger finger to use on the Glock. What I don’t recall discussing is how high or low on the trigger to press. Lower on the trigger makes for a lighter feeling trigger pull, however lately I am seeing a significant benefit to getting up high on the trigger, as it keeps your press closer to the centerline of the pistol.

Try this for yourself. Hold the pistol loosely in one hand, and press the trigger down low, then repeat pressing up high. At least for me, a high press results in less disturbance to the pistol.

[Mr_White]

I wouldn't say I have found anything resembling 'the answer', but I have noticed that too. Depending on how high one puts one's finger, it might engender some frame drag though. Which is interesting, because some people observe that to be a significant issue with the platform, and some don't. I wonder if those who do, tend toward higher finger placement on the trigger? But like we've observed, the geometry of the trigger pull should be straighter-back with higher finger placement. How it adds up, I don't know. Maybe person-dependent?

[Bio]

This seems like a good place to ask this:

I'm new gun owner, and the pistol I'm learning on is a Glock 34. I've mostly been dry firing as my schedule hasn't allowed much range time. I've been experimenting with different ways of holding the gun to minimize sight movement during the trigger press. What I've found is that slow and deliberate trigger presses (maybe ~0.5 seconds from initiation to click), the sights don't move. However, even with what feels like a very solid grip, if I try to just pull the trigger with any kind of urgency, the sights shift.

Is maintianing stability while increasing trigger speed mostly a function of slowly increasing the speed of a deliberate trigger press, or is there something else I should be doing?

I guess for the record, I'm more top of the trigger than bottom.

[UNM1136]

I default to high on both the Glocks and the M&Ps. My mentor is a USPSA Grandmaster, and while taking an Advanced Urban Rifle course he had us using the trigger guard as a guide to get more leverage on the AR trigger. I tried it for the course and abandoned it when I tried it with a Glock while wearing gloves. The glove bound up the trigger, its safety, and the triggerguard.

I had a 10-8 flat trigger in my 1911, and that kinda spoiled me about being consistent on the face of the trigger without paying attention to it. I also have a flat trigger in my Glock, but still go high on it.

pat

[StraitR]

For years, we have been discussing how much trigger finger to use on the Glock. What I don’t recall discussing is how high or low on the trigger to press. Lower on the trigger makes for a lighter feeling trigger pull, however lately I am seeing a significant benefit to getting up high on the trigger, as it keeps your press closer to the centerline of the pistol.

Try this for yourself. Hold the pistol loosely in one hand, and press the trigger down low, then repeat pressing up high. At least for me, a high press results in less disturbance to the pistol.

I've always gone as low as I can to maximize leverage for reducing perceived trigger weight. Tried going high as suggested, and definitely saw less dot movement SHO/WHO. Two handed, not so much, but I squeeze pretty hard with my support hand to overcome a lot of trigger pull shenanigans/deficiencies.

As to why it helps, on top of just being closer to the centerline, some additional benefits/reasons may be...

- less finger travel to ignition = less time to screw it up
- less leverage to exert side pressure during pull (aka screw it up)
- less over-travel

Only con I can see is pulling low gives me more perceived control of driving the dot. Maybe this is an instance where I need less control.

Good insight G, I'm going to keep playing with this.

[JohnO]

Trigger finger placement and resultant gun movement would be and interesting experiment with a MantisX. I purchased a MantisX for my son to use during fire.

Personally I’m not looking to alter finger placement. What I saw graphically using the MantisX was that grip matters. The firmer the grip the less resultant movement when the trigger breaks.

[YVK]

However, even with what feels like a very solid grip, if I try to just pull the trigger with any kind of urgency, the sights shift.

Sights shift in what direction?

[Bio]

Sights shift in what direction?

To the right, and I am left handed. So the gun is pulling toward the trigger finger.

[YVK]

To the right, and I am left handed.

In my experience, sights moving opposite of strong hand direction is almost always due to excessive tension/sympathetic squeeze of strong hand.

[Bio]

In my experience, sights moving opposite of strong hand direction is almost always due to excessive tension/sympathetic squeeze of strong hand.

I dry fired with a few different grasps with this in mind. I did notice an occasional up or down movement combined with the leftward movement. I tried to slowly increase speed to see if I could observe what was happening. I also tried to replicate the error at slower speed to see if o could observe it better.

The best guess that I can make is that the sight movement is coming from pressing into the trigger after the click. The striker goes forward, and as I continue pressing, my finger continues putting force into the trigger. As the trigger has nowhere to go, the gun starts moving.

I'm not 100% sure I'm right, and if I am, I'm not sure what that is indicative of, but later when I consciously tried to limit follow through at medium speeds, I reduced sight movement. So one aspect of the issue might be identified.
I'll have to see when I get to the range what the practical effect is.

Thanks for the insight.