Smith & Wesson frame-mounted decocker deep dive…

[Tamara]

The following was represented by an advanced S&W collector as an internal memo from a S&W engineer to management. It discussed some of the issues being had by the FBI with their Model 1076, along with potential engineering changes. Note the mention of the special FBI spec trigger.

Didn’t the FBI also still teach some “get on the trigger as soon as the gun clears leather” 1930s holdover doctrine at the time?

I seem to recollect that the FBI’s methodology combined with that modified trigger to cause some bad juju.

[Daniel Watters]

Didn’t the FBI also still teach some “get on the trigger as soon as the gun clears leather” 1930s holdover doctrine at the time?

I seem to recollect that the FBI’s methodology combined with that modified trigger to cause some bad juju.

The FTU's "Prepping the Trigger" methodology was mentioned in Glock's GAO Bid Protest.

https://www.gao.gov/products/b-236614

The agency contends that the purpose of the double-action first shot/single-action subsequent shots requirement is to prevent the inadvertent discharge of the weapon. The FBI states that its agents are trained to keep their finger on the trigger when their handgun is drawn and that the relatively long and heavy trigger pull for the first shot provides a margin of safety to prevent the unintentional firing of the weapon. In this regard, the agency points out that all of its agents received extensive training on .38 caliber revolvers which have a consistently heavy and long trigger pull.

The protester argues that the requirement will not only not satisfy the agency's safety concerns but is itself inherently unsafe. In support of its arguments, Glock has provided us with an affidavit and resume of an independent firearms consultant. Glock's "expert witness" contends that the double-action/single-action nature of the pistol could result in the unintentional discharge of second and subsequent shots and that the heavy and long first trigger pull will result in slower and less accurate first shots. Finally, Glock contends that if the FBI were to train its agents to keep their finger off the trigger until they were ready to shoot, there would be no danger of inadvertent discharge with the continuous double- action design of its pistol. Glock argues that the FBI's finger-on-the- trigger training policy has been "generally discredited by instructors and progressive police agencies alike."

[Tamara]

This is the sort of shit that results from viewing the DA trigger as an evil that must be overcome in order to allow undertrained shooters to qualify rather than a feature that allows trained shooters to have a cushion against woobie-checking and a bit of a safety margin for threat management.