Best drill for establishing proper trigger technique?


Numenor

New member
I've been having issues with pulling my shots well down on the target and I'm fairly sure it's from my trigger pull. Right now I'm working with snap-caps to try to eliminate any movement of my firearm when I pull the trigger, but it's just constant repetition. Any drill suggestions to assist with this?
 

If you are using an auto pistol, balance a dime on edge perpendicular to the front sight blade. Squeeze the trigger and don't let the dime fall.
 
Sure thing. Focus on the fundamentals.

Grip: Not too tight with the shooting hand. No tighter than if you're holding a bird. Support hand should have a little more pressure (squeeze) than shooting hand. Instead of tight grip, gently press your shooting hand into your support hand while gently pulling back on the support hand. Sort of like an isometric exercise. Gently. This helps with control. Grip the gun as high on the tang as possible. Support hand should wrap around shooting hand and touch the base of the trigger guard. No gaps between fingers.

Trigger Control (target): The trigger should contact your finger directly in the middle of the first pad (tip to joint). Do not "hook" the trigger. Take up any slack until you feel pressure as you don't want to jerk or slap the trigger. The trigger pull should be more of a "press," directly rearward with an evenly applied pressure. DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE RECOIL - DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE RECOIL - DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE RECOIL

Anticipating Recoil: Did I say DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE RECOIL? I think this may be where the problem lies. When the shot breaks it should almost be a surprise. You can't "hold" recoil back. Instead, learn to ride the recoil. Anticipation of recoil causes you to "dip" the muzzle just before the shot breaks, thus the low target hits. Dry fire / snapcap practice (no ammo in the room and always shoot at a hard wall) is good training for trigger pull but doesn't help much with anticipating the recoil because you know the shot won't break. Thus there's no issue. When you're at the range have a friend stand behind you on an angle and line your muzzle up with a twig or some other mark. He should look to see if you're dipping the muzzle a split-second before the shot breaks. To correct this have a friend load your mags. Have him slip two snapcaps in at random. Then he watches you again. When you encounter a snapcap and no shot breaks, dipping the muzzle will be easy to see. This is a common issue even in experienced shooters who take time off. They find themselves trying to hold the recoil back.

Follow Through: After the shot breaks return to everything you were doing before it fired. Go back on target, finger OFF the trigger, return to proper grip, sight alignment and sight picture. Then you can relax and see where your shot went. Follow though actually helps minimize movement before the shot breaks.

Laser / Snapcap Training: Students always tell me they don't need to be a good shot or be anal about the fundamentals because they have a laser. That's about the biggest fallacy in shooting. Without good trigger fundamentals or if the recoil is rushed, no laser will matter. The best use for lasers is dry fire training. By focusing the beam on your safe-wall you can develop an even, smooth press while actually seeing how much movement occurs. Although i have lasers on all my PP guns, they're useless without sound fundamentals and thousands of rounds of dry practice. I recommend to my beginner shooters that for every round fired at the range they fire 20-30 at home with snap caps.

Hope this helps.
 
DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE RECOIL?

Low on the target, isn't that from pushing anticipating the recoil ?

Anyone have a copy of the target that is segmented showing what causes being off target ?
 
that would be a great refresher read for me....bottom left for right handed is thinking about the recoil
to high or low not looking at the sights right
and sideways from not lining your wrist straignt with yo arm bone connected to da shoulder bone
heheh
don't damage your shoulders being too stiff
 
Agreed, very good tips there. Thanks. =)

Hopefully I can get to the range tomorrow to continue working on this. As far as lasers/etc... I don't use them. I am an old-fashioned iron sights type person. Even went and got my AR-15 w/ the old style integrated carry handle instead of the Picatinny rail.
 
that would be a great refresher read for me....bottom left for right handed is thinking about the recoil
to high or low not looking at the sights right or ??
and sideways from not lining your wrist straight with yo arm bone connected to da shoulder bone
or something like that
i thought i kept a copy of it when i saw it but it would take time to find it i really need to organize my pictures so i can find stuff easier
it was kinda like the one you just posted
 
Big thanks for this refresher. Got to the range today and for once wasn't pulling south on the targets, and even managed 7/10 on target at 50ft (I normally shoot at 21ft). Such a big improvement from just repeating over and over the fundamentals... it's rather amusing. =D
 

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