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Last Updated on 17.08.10
The control of tripping the trigger represents the key to obtain good results in the polygon and when hunting. What I have intended here to explain is the fact that any hasten of the trigger, no matter how is done (sudden pull, downward, from the lateral, only on the tip of the trigger or on the top of it, or after tripping, the sudden release etc), damages the result we obtain when shooting at target. There is no equilibrium relation between the hastening of the trigger and a very good grouping at target shooting. What both the athlete shooters and the hunters need and want is a better control of the trigger, and the ability to tripp progressively the fire so that they shoot precisely what they want, without surprises and without being surprised by the result (positive or negative). A good control of the trigger is the result of a continuous “teamwork” – a correlation between the trigger, the finger that pulls the trigger, eye and brain. To be more explicit, it would mean the following: while the finger that pulls the trigger exerts a certain pressure on the trigger, this pressure is sent progressively to the brain that requests information from the eyes which are in close connection with the shoot and hit machines; when the eye aligned with the shoot and hit machines, in the vital point, sends to the brain the information that the shooting is done, the brain sends the “the tripping order” to the finger which pulls the trigger so that the blow would hit where we wanted to.
The training of the pulling finger: The best training for this would be hundreds of cold tripping in different situations, positions and conditions. The cold triggering of the weapon means the use of an armed weapon with a cartridge of bullets for taking the target and for triggering the weapon, so that it won’t move, and the target point would stay correlated with the shoot machines on the weapon (hindsight- spyglass). This type of practice, in my opinion, not only is the best, but is the only one for practicing the triggering and knowing the weapon. The practice of triggering the weapon, as well as the practice of shooting, is also the first remedy for improving the shooting skills. The practice of the cold triggering can be done blindfolded also, with the weapon seated, after it has been taken the line of shooting, this fact increasing the adaptation to the sensitivity of the gunlock. After the triggering is checked again the alignment of the shoot and hit machines. Most of gunlocks have a certain “personality”, something that differentiates it from the others and that once understood and well known, will help at obtaining the best results when triggering. The best gunlocks have a certain course until they reach the triggering threshold, others don’t have such a course, but have a certain resistance to pulling that once surpassed, it triggers. There are other gunlocks that have both a course and resistence to pulling/ touching. With some practice, the trigger finger will get used to each triggering and its “personality” will trigger in the right moment in order to have the best result when shooting – in different field conditions, weather or positions of the animal.
The position of the finger in the trigger guard. An essential component of controlling the trigger is a better placement of the hand on the butt neck of the weapon and the position of the trigger finger on the trigger.
In order your trigger finger to act independently and not to be bothered by anything it must not be in contact with the gunlock. Most of the times, the hunters place the finger depply in the trigger guard, touching also the butt of the weapon and the trigger guard, in a very cumbersome way in order to have a clean triggering. In the triggering moment, the course of the trigger must be smooth, on a parallel line with the axis of the barrel and not to be hastened on the left or right. The trigger finger must pe placed in a normal position, so that it touches only the gunlock, and the triggering should be done only from the front to the back, by touching the hollow of the gunlock, only in straight line and in any angle that would cause needless hastens. A bigger or smaller palm, long or short fingers, the position, the shape and the size of the gunlock, the shape or the build of the box of mechanisms connected with the butt neck (is related to the weapon geometry), all these can influence a relaxed position of the trigger finger on the gunlock, this having to be touched by the first pad of the phalange on the trigger moment. A gunlock positioned too high in the box of mechanisms causes the rubbing of the trigger finger off the inferior side of the box causing a heavy trigger. If you check the position of the trigger finger on your weapon, and it doesn’t fit the things I have mentioned above, probably you encounter one of the problems mentioned previously and the solution is….not to sell the weapon. You need a little practice in holding the weapon by its butt neck, the positioning of the hand and trigger finger on the gunlock (you don’t have to strain to have your finger in the best position – sometimes is impossible), so that at the triggering it won’t make the front-back course, in the same parallel plan with the axis of the barell, avoiding the triggering to be made under any angle, no matter how small. If still you’re not happy with the result of the shooting with a weapon (after all the conditions of adjusting and shooting have been fulfilled) you must consult a gun-smith. In the end we should take into account two more details:
Try to identify on the field, the space and time the hunt offers you, for observing, shooting and triggering. Use the field and the movement of the animal and do not rush with the shooting and triggering.
If you wait too long with the trigger finger in the continuation of the trigger guard, it will be under pressure because of the tensed position and it may be possible not to act smooth in the moment of trigger.
And be aware! Not to hasten the gunlock, push smoothly, knowing its “personality”.
Filled in by Violiv on 09.04.2009:
"Is very good that the matter is brought again in discussion - it was mentioned one time but soon was forgotten. The part with “the hastening” is very well explained and also the one with the direction on which the gunlock must be pulled.
Some additional information
What part of the finger pulls the trigger?
The weapons with a very smooth gunlock, with a triggering threshold under 1000 g or, under 500 g, the first half of the first phalange is the one that comes in contact with the gunlock (at the hunting weapons, the situation is met at those equipped with an accelerator). At some hunting weapons with “classic” or “army” gunlock, the force needed to pull the trigger is bigger than 1500 g, this being the minimum threshold accepted by the manufacturers (in some countries and by laws) to be safe enough to foresee the triggerings made by mistake but many of the gunlocks trigger even under 2000-2500 g. In this situation, the tip of the finger is not any longer enough and the triggering is done with the second part of the first phalange, the finger touching the gunlock exactly before the flexion crease between the distal phalange and the middle one. Placing the finger with the frexion crease exactly on the gunlock is a wrong method eliminating from the kinetics chain an important link and the most gently controlled by the brain.
By the way, concerning the kinetics chain, the muscles involved at the triggering are 3:
- the first and the least involved in the actual effort but responsible with the stability, is found in the palm of the hand and acts on the closest phalange pulling it inward (is the move that you do when you hold you fingers perfectly straight and bend them toward the palm). The moment you hold the butt of the weapon, these would be the muscles to contract first, establishing the contact of the fingers with the butt of the weapon, and after, theoretically speaking, would have to remain in a constant tension. This cannot be achieved if the assumed force is big, but only at reasonable constrictions.
The muscles are strong enough to support the butt of the weapon and the weapon in the shoulder even without bending the fingers completely, but this job it must not be left in their care.
Together with this muscles, there is another one still in the palm of the hand that brings closer the fingers between them in their plane (is the one that closes “the scissors” when you imitate it with your fingers).
- the second muscle involved is the flexor of the middle phalange, called also the superficial flexor – situated on the front of the forearm from the palm, ends as muscle before it gets to the joint of the fist and continues with a long tendon that gets to the middle phalange passing through a series of pulleys, forks at the end and clings at the sideways of the phalange. There is a fascicle for each finger that controls them but the maximum control is on the index finger, the other 3 tending to act all together. Is a powerful muscle, for power and less precision – is the one that “carries heavy bags”.
- the third muscle involved is the flexor of the distal phalange, called deep flexor, situated under the superficial flexor, closer to the bone than the skin and has the same configuration – its tendons, pass in a deeper plane and remain unique until their end, passing through the fork of the superficial flexor tendon and up to the internal face of the distal phalange, right after the joint. This is a muscle that combines a big force of traction with an amazing control precision. Just as the previous muscle, every finger has its own little muscle but the one of the index finger has the best control. Phalanges 2 and 3 don’t have any muscle at all near them, only skin, fat and tendons. The flexor of phalange no 2 can contrict itself really easy, voluntarily. The flexor of the distal phalange is impossible to constrict itself and the voluntary flexion only of the first phalange on the rest is really hard to do, implying the extensors of the first phalanges that counterpart the natural tendency of the fingers to bend at the level of all joints.
Therefore, the moment of pulling the trigger, fingers 1, 3, 4, 5 squeeze the butt of the weapon and push the trigger. Unfortunately for us, the serious rebuff of the hunting weapons need a firm grasp of the butt and a healthy immobilization in the shoulder so that the muscles of fingers 3, 4, 5 are intensely constricted and this tension cannot be maintained forever without starting shaking. Moreover, finger no 1 must be relaxed and when it constricts, it does it really easy, in total discordance with the others. The natural tendency is to apply the same force of constriction the other fingers use and the hastening appears. There is an inverted ratio between the precision, force and the speed of constriction, so that a big force and a high speed of constriction determine a small precision of movement. As if these would not be enough, “the fear of weapon” appears, that is the natural reaction of the body to run from an unpleasant event (the rebuff) so that the triggering is left on the second place and the running from the weapon on the first.
As if the anatomic characteristics wouldn’t be enough, the build of the weapon comes into discussion. The more “British” is the butt of the weapon, and the more backwards is placed the dumping axis of the trigger, the more inappropriate are for a perfect controlled shot. The classical weapons can have the trigger axis placed more backwards, i.e. the trigger is a long “tail” prolonged toward the butt of the weapon, so there would be an angle as small as possible between the axis of the butt and the moving direction of the trigger. At riffles, the dumping axis is almost at the verticality of the trigger and the moving axis of the trigger makes an important angle with the butt of the weapon, implicitly with the axis of the index finger. The Steyer 1912 or Tokarev weapon, for example, have the butt almost in right angle in comparison with the axis of the weapon and the trigger moves exactly perpendicular on the butt, in perfect line with the finger. For Tokarev, it doesn’t basculate but moves in a linear way, improving a lot the drive. Unfortunately, the almost right angle between the axis of the weapon and the one of the butt makes the managing on the rebuff very difficult. The “firing” weapon or the ones used in the polygon have the butt as steep as possible and the position of the hand lowered a lot in comparison with the axis of the barrel so that the index finger could be more in line with the middle side of the trigger. The hunting weapons, the ones loved so much by the”traditionalists” have the butt placed at a small angle with the axis of the barrel, the index finger reaches the trigger inclined downwards and at a very difficult angle to its moving direction – instead of pulling in a linear way towards the posterior, the fingers rather pulls it upwards – in this way are obtained arms of force and angles that increase the force needed for pulling the trigger and implicitly decreasing the precision. The so loved Mauser is catastrophic from this point of view, especially, that adds a very long course of the trigger. An improvement of this matter appear at ARGO where the inferior part of the shell at the level of the trigger guard is inclined towards and posteriorly, the moving axis of the trigger is no longer parallel with the barrel but inclined exactly how much it needs in order to be as much as possible in line with the index finger without being needed of a very steep butt and to determine unusual positions when hunting (in this regards, Mekel has partially succeeded), but this as a result of the fact that the weapon was designed by a specialized center in ergonomic drawing and didn’t have prejudices concerning the traditional appearance of the weapons. H&K has straighten a lot the pistol, has brought the finger in line with the trigger but needs a less usual grip for hunters, due to the fact that this is not the first weapon they use to shoot and got used to long butts and less inclined. An adjustable trigger as much as possible in length and the strength of the course/ courses may improve a lot the problem.
Theoretically, the triggering should go like this:
- the hand that grips the butt with the opossum finger and the phalanges closest to the palm, continues the grip with the middle and distal phalanges and squeezes until it gets to the needed force, and stays like that, stuck (the most frequent error is a gentle grip at the beginning followed by a sudden strong grip during the triggering moment and on the second place appear the prolonging of shooting, implicitly of the gripping and shaking);
- the index finger is placed on the trigger in the “hunting” manner, that is with the tip of the finger surpassing a little the trigger but without involving the flexion crease between the phalanges.
- the constriction of the superficial flexor, that is the movement of the middle phalange does the hard work – the first course or 2/3 from the weight necessary to trigger and then it stops also in the position.
- the constriction of the deep flexor, that is only the movement of the first phalange causes the actual triggering.
If the triggering is done by the movement of the entire finger is much harder to hold the weapon on the target, and almost for sure causing the shift of the barrel downwards and on the lateral.
Before the “cold” shooting practice is useful a short physical practice, very easy to be done and that improves a lot the control: you hang from your second and third phalange of the index finger, fixed with tape, two “straps” of different lengths (the narrow ribbon is better) of which you suspend weights (bottles with water are perfect). With the palm facing up and at horizontal, you contract the muscles so that the two bottles would be lifted up independently, dwelling on the lifting as controlled as possible, the bottle tied to the distal phalange to the one tied to the middle phalange held firm in a position, lifted at a certain level. This simple method improves a lot both force and precision and the control of constrictions.
A further step would presume to interpose a thin string between the “strap” and the bottle. The bottle will be of 1,5 l, placed on the floor and the string to bear around 1 kg. The constriction of the distal phalange will “lift” partially the bottle until the string breaks which imitates the moment of triggering.
- to dwell on the control of the constriction which has to be as less redundant as possible, the control on the flexor muscle being as precise as possible and the constriction “to get blocked” as fast and smooth as possible after the breaking of the string, without continuing the movement towards the palm but also without straightening the finger. The idea is not to continue to pull the trigger after triggering and not to release it right away that is you don’t have to flip the trigger.
Let me give some examples related to the personal practice:
- UMC I in 22 lr made in the 60’s – military shape, long butt, but adjustable trigger, timing between strength and course, that can be adjusted to have a really small course and strength. The hand is placed correctly at its place, the finger leans on the trigger and a very fine motion on about 1 mm triggers it. The rebuff that doesn’t exist at a weapon of more than 4 kg, doesn’t presuppose such a tough force in the palm that grips the butt, moreover, is better to leave it as free as possible. Unfortunately, for a hunting weapon is almost impossible.
- Dragana II with a military trigger, two courses, but with adjusting of the length and strength of courses, reach the possibility to be suppressed almost entirely and to trigger when you activate the sear. I keep it with two courses, the first short and very obvious and the second one is very short and very fine. The first course is a kind of precaution against accidental triggerings on the field, but offers me a good control over the actual triggering. Unfortunately, the butt is too long, the trigger placed very low and the lever too long so that the direction of the finger is not by far superposable with that of moving the trigger and the necessary force is much higher that it should. Moreover, the helmet is very low and the spyglass is set pretty high, fact that determines a very discreet contact between the cheek and the butt of the weapon, with high lose of stability in real conditions. It is seriously needed another butt, with a more vertical butt and a tall and straight helmet. The 5,6x39 allows a less firm grip, less effort on the weapon and a better concentration on the trigger.
- Dragana I in 30-06 – Czech- Slovanian Mauser adapted to hunting. The butt of the weapon is horrible, long and it becomes steep too late and too thick at its end, fact that requires spider fingers in order to reach the trigger holding the hand with the axis of the finger in line with the movement axis of the trigger. The helmet is still too low to the optical axis of the spyglass, but in this case, it catches a less firm contact of the head with the weapon. The trigger is very army style, with two “tough” courses of which the first is extremely long. After multiple interventions I have reached to the second short course, clear and dry, but the needed force is still over 2000 g. When I practice in the polygon and I want the best results, I squeeze my teeth, easily place the weapon on my shoulder, grip the butt just so I can lean my hand, put the tip of the finger on the trigger and take action during the first course, and then I slightly move the finger so I could better reach the trigger keeping the same pressure and stay like that. I eye and correct the position until the weapon stays perfect stable on the target and trigger moving only the distal phalangy during the second course, exactly until it triggers and then I stay with the finger like that. The rebuff you feel with the weapon in the shouldet looser than fixed is pretty awfull and in this case it catches well the cheek in the air. I always try to follow the bullet toward the target before the rebuff movement of the weapon takes my target off the vision field of the spyglass.
The results are on the extent of the pain and any less painful way to practice shooting in the polygon didn’t give any results. I withstand to 20-30 such fires and with breaks, but there aren’t many persons that can bring the best out of Dragana.
During hunting I’m constrained to hold it tighter in the shoulder in order to keep it in the position but I don’t give up, as much as I can, at initial pushing of the first course and moving the finger on the trigger. Everytime the position is not stable enough in order to “fix” the weapon on the target I give a controlled movement to the weapon, preferable in the vertical plan and I shoot.
- Remington 7400 – straight synthetic perfect bed, it fits well the eye for shooting through the spyglass or hollow-sight, but a bit of soft helmet would br good; gunlock with two courses, the first short and soft, the second one really hard – originally with aleatory “hangings” but after a running-in period has recovered and now triggers clearly.
