Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 36

Thread: Reluctant to prep the trigger

  1. #1

    Reluctant to prep the trigger

    I've noticed throughout my practice that one thing slowing me down getting my first shot off on target sooner is being reluctant to get my finger on the trigger before confirming sight alignment. I know it's recommended to begin prepping the trigger on the way out towards the target, but my mental insistence on being accountable for every round fired tends to hold me back. Essentially I worry about pulling through the trigger too soon.


    What recommendations are there to help me work through this reluctance?
    “Conspiracy theories are just spoiler alerts these days.”

  2. #2
    banana republican blues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Location
    Blue Ridge Mtns
    Personally, I'd be reluctant to tell you to get on the trigger any sooner than your brain tells you that you need to.

    (As long as you are aware of the target and what the target is doing, vis a vis "shoot/don't shoot", I think you'll be fine in making the right calculation.)
    There's nothing civil about this war.

    Read: Harrison Bergeron

  3. #3
    Member snow white's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Lakes region, New Hampshire
    Focusing on trigger prep is somthing we went over pretty heavy in the last Jared reston class I was in. The way he explained it was, we are in the controlled environment of a range to practs skills. Prepping the trigger is a skill we need to practice. Part of that learning curve means you are going to let some rounds go early/ unintentionally as you become accustomed to how much pressure you can apply to the trigger. As long as the gun is relatively flat as you apply the pressure and you have an acceptable back stop you can practice this skill safely. My advice would be to get closer to your backstop so it will catch any early shots if you send them a bit high. Part of learning this skill means you will let some shots go before you mean to, don't look at it as negligence. Set yourself up to account for this, train hard and be safe.
    Come, mother, come! For terror is thy name, death is in thy breath, and every shaking step destroys a world for e'er. Thou 'time', the all-destroyer! Come, O mother, come!

  4. #4
    Deadeye Dick Clusterfrack's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Wokelandia
    Quote Originally Posted by HCountyGuy View Post
    I've noticed throughout my practice that one thing slowing me down getting my first shot off on target sooner is being reluctant to get my finger on the trigger before confirming sight alignment. I know it's recommended to begin prepping the trigger on the way out towards the target, but my mental insistence on being accountable for every round fired tends to hold me back. Essentially I worry about pulling through the trigger too soon.


    What recommendations are there to help me work through this reluctance?
    What gun are you shooting?

    Who recommends prepping the trigger in this way and why? It is not universally recommended to do so.

    I do not prep the trigger on the draw, even on a TDA gun or a revolver. Pushing speed, I can get the first shot off in 0.7 to 1sec without prepping. Simply put, prepping the trigger doesn't speed anything up.

    Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean by 'prepping'. Do you mean pressing the trigger before you have a stable sight picture? If so, this is more of a "how to shoot targets of varying difficulty" question--How much sight confirmation you need for a given target.
    "You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
    Shabbat shalom, motherf***ers! --Mordechai Jefferson Carver

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Clusterfrack View Post
    What gun are you shooting?

    Who recommends prepping the trigger in this way and why? It is not universally recommended to do so.

    I do not prep the trigger on the draw, even on a TDA gun or a revolver. Pushing speed, I can get the first shot off in 0.7 to 1sec without prepping. Simply put, prepping the trigger doesn't speed anything up.

    Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean by 'prepping'. Do you mean pressing the trigger before you have a stable sight picture? If so, this is more of a "how to shoot targets of varying difficulty" question--How much sight confirmation you need for a given target.
    Currently I'm shooting a Glock, but even when I was shooting TDA I was reluctant to get on the trigger. With regards to clarifying my usage of the phrasing "prepping the trigger" I refer to getting the slack out of the trigger while I work on pressing out towards my intended target. Most instruction I've seen referenced advocates for prepping the trigger (once the decision to fire has been made) as you present to the target so your shot breaks as you reach full extension.
    “Conspiracy theories are just spoiler alerts these days.”

  6. #6
    Deadeye Dick Clusterfrack's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Wokelandia

    Reluctant to prep the trigger

    Quote Originally Posted by HCountyGuy View Post
    Currently I'm shooting a Glock, but even when I was shooting TDA I was reluctant to get on the trigger. With regards to clarifying my usage of the phrasing "prepping the trigger" I refer to getting the slack out of the trigger while I work on pressing out towards my intended target. Most instruction I've seen referenced advocates for prepping the trigger (once the decision to fire has been made) as you present to the target so your shot breaks as you reach full extension.
    Got it. Here’s my perspective. Obviously opinions differ on this, but I have some world champions on this side:

    Focus on pressing the trigger FAST, straight back without moving the gun.

    Prepping the trigger is a bad idea. You don’t need to do it for speed, and it’s a good way to fire a bullet at the wrong place and time.

    On the other hand, if you mean getting your finger on the trigger as the gun comes on target, pressing to the wall, and then firing at the time your sight picture is right, this is fine.

    You could try both types of trigger presses, with sights on target. At the beep, fire. Is a prepped trigger measurably faster? More accurate?
    Last edited by Clusterfrack; 10-26-2020 at 10:39 AM.
    "You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
    Shabbat shalom, motherf***ers! --Mordechai Jefferson Carver

  7. #7
    IMO this is something that is easily fixed in dry fire. I would come at it from 2 ends.

    1) Moving deliberately and going step by step, do some draws where you get in the trigger guard as early as you want to, slowly stack weight on the trigger as you present the gun, then break the shot as soon as you get a good sight picture. This is to establish some comfort getting on the trigger earlier.

    2) Do some full speed dry fire on a big close target, like a 3-5 yd fullsize USPSA target, where you basically need 0 sight confirmation to shoot As, and push the par times down progressively in increments of 0.1s. For this part I wouldn't even think about prepping or anything, just think about breaking the shot as soon as the gun is up and on target. This is more analogous to what you're actually going to do at the range (albeit only on close targets) and should reinforce that you really can't make a fast par time on the draw if you wait until you have a good sight picture to get your finger inside the trigger guard. IMO there really doesn't need to be any deliberate thought given to trigger prep on the draw, this is something that just happens when you try to go fast, just like it's basically impossible to pin the trigger if you're trying to shoot 0.16s splits.

  8. #8
    Member 98z28's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    South Mississippi
    Quote Originally Posted by Clusterfrack View Post
    Got it. Here’s my perspective. Obviously opinions differ on this, but I have some world champions on this side:

    Focus on pressing the trigger FAST, straight back without moving the gun.

    Prepping the trigger is a bad idea. You don’t need to do it for speed, and it’s a good way to fire a bullet at the wrong place and time.

    On the other hand, if you mean getting your finger on the trigger as the gun comes on target, pressing to the wall, and then firing at the time your sight picture is right, this is fine.

    You could try both types of trigger presses, with sights on target. At the beep, fire. Is a prepped trigger measurably faster? More accurate?
    This hints at a spot I got stuck for quite a while: Pressing the trigger FAST does NOT mean pressing the trigger HARD. Clusterfrack says that here: "Focus on pressing the trigger FAST, straight back without moving the gun." My monkey brain has a problem separating fast from hard, and it takes a little while to get the separation back if I take time off from the range. I can go slow and not drive the gun low and left just before the shot breaks (right-handed shooter), or I can go fast and watch the sight dip low and left. It took a while to realize that I was just pulling too hard. When people say "...without moving the gun", they mean to be fast, but not hard. I was squeezing my entire dominant hand and slamming the trigger to the rear in an effort to go fast. You can go fast and still deliver only enough force to break the shot, but you have to hold that idea in your head while you work the trigger quickly (I actually say to myself: [Press] just enough...watch the dot [lift]). That finesse can keep your dominant hand from disturbing the sights while you break the shot quickly, not forcibly. I am sure there are some folks who can hammer the trigger without disturbing the sights, but I have yet to figure that trick out.

    No clue of that's an issue the OP is dealing with (flinching/low and left when going fast), but I'd be willing to bet it's in the mix if we're talking about prepping the trigger to get the time to first shot down.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by HCountyGuy View Post
    I've noticed throughout my practice that one thing slowing me down getting my first shot off on target sooner is being reluctant to get my finger on the trigger before confirming sight alignment. I know it's recommended to begin prepping the trigger on the way out towards the target, but my mental insistence on being accountable for every round fired tends to hold me back. Essentially I worry about pulling through the trigger too soon.


    What recommendations are there to help me work through this reluctance?
    Dryfire is probably a good place to start.

    It sounds as if you are visualizing/preparing for street encounters versus competition and that your training has been as a reset shooter. If this is the case you should have a trigger that has some pre-travel (what I call it) and a noticeable wall. If that isn't the case I would get one.

    A simple laser cartridge, a target, a mirror and safe dry-fire protocols is all you need. First, IMO, you need to be using the press-out, which it sounds as if you are doing. Your finger should be coming onto the trigger as your pistol rotates level with the target - which would be you in the mirror. Make sure your muzzle is aligned vertically, horizontally and under your master eye on the draw stroke.

    Once that has been accomplished (probably already there) move on to acquiring the trigger and moving through the pre=travel as you press out - stopping at extension with the prepped trigger. Drill that in and then go to firing at extension with the laser.

    If you have someone who will help you out have them occasionally call out 'cover' mid-press out to ensure you have the ability to change gears. I also believe you should train with a visual cue, since most of us don't have turning targets - if you dim the lights and have your helper hit the target with a narrowly focused light, you can begin to train yourself to be cognizant of what the target is doing - if your helper turns off the light, you need to get off the trigger.

    You are the one that decides when to put your finger onto the trigger, if after practicing in this manner, and then doing some live fire drills, you still feel uneasy prepping the trigger - don't. Just be sure that your first shot is a good one.

  10. #10
    Part of my reluctance I would wager stems from my initial introduction to the "4 Rules", most particularly Jeff Cooper's version where Rule 3 is: Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. That tends to tie in to my mindset of wanting to maintain accountability for any rounds I fire. Fair to say I've let that particular variant of Rule 3 screw me up due to the wording.

    It's also worth noting my biggest initial goal when I started shooting was accuracy and from there introducing speed. That focus on accuracy has also held me back to a degree and I've been trying to recondition myself to work with more acceptable sight pictures versus strict bullseye-esque accuracy. One drill that has helped me is Tom Givens' "Quickly, Carefully, Precisely" drill.
    “Conspiracy theories are just spoiler alerts these days.”

User Tag List

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •