Trigger Technique

[dwl]

Howdy All;

I am still working on that fantastic snatch I managed to develope in the wind at Lander.  The targets were going past the dot so fast it looked likey looked like they were flushing so naturally my brain pulled the trigger once I had enough lead!  At least that's my excuse.

More seriously, I've been working for a while on my trigger technique, trying to avoid pulling the trigger with my whole arm (large aggresive middle aged dope).  I read one of David Tubbs articles on what part of the finger should be pressing on the trigger and I tried this.  Problem: using the near tip of the finger caused me to press the right front quater of the trigger.

An ex-bench rest shooter of my acquaintance told me that in bench rest any side load on the trigger was a no-no as it caused the gun to move off target.  In response I've tried pressing only the front of the trigger.  This requires my hand to move forward on the grip leaving me touching the grip with only my finger tips.

Does anyone have some advice on proper trigger technique?

DWL

[eeleater]

I would suggest dryfiring.  This will help seperate out any movement from pulling the trigger from the effects of recoil.  In doing this you can try different techniques and see how they work for you.  

I cannot tell from your post if you are talking about small bore of highpower-or hunter or standard gun.  This may make a difference in suggestions other have.

Somewhere I read that shooting a pistol 'bullseye" style helped with trigger control, as it is easier to have trigger pull "pull" the shot off.

[dwl]

Thanks, Eeleater, for the reply.  

I shoot smallbore silhouette, both Hunter and Standard Rifles.  My standard rifle is an Anschutz 1407 in a 54.18 stock.  The Hunter rifle is a Remington 541S in the original stock with a Pachmyer trap pad to lengthen the pull.

The problem seems more pronounced with the hunter rifle.  I suspect this is because the grip is smaller and more horizontal.  The 54.18 grip is more vertical and puts my hand in a different position.

I'll have to go do some dry firing.  I've been spending most of my practice time shooting targets down at the range.

DWL

[billdncn]

Speaking of dry firing.... In an article titled "Secrets of the Silo Masters" Cathy Winsted said she dry fires more then she does live fire.
Winstead said she doesn’t fire a lot of live rounds, but she does practice as much as possible—even when she has as little as 30 minutes. “I work on the basics,” she said, “position, hold, trigger.”
She estimates she works a ratio of eight to one dry firing to live rounds, and she picks up her rifle as often as possible. “You have to put the time in, even if it comes in little blocks,” she said. “I don’t have many marathon training sessions, but I do have a lot of productive smaller sessions. Everybody has 10 minutes, but not everybody has 2 hours. What makes the difference is the total time you spend in training, as long as you’re working on the basics.”

http://www.gun-tests.com/performance/aug96secrets.html

"eeleater" brought up two good points. One being during dry firing you will detect any movement in your cross hairs as the trigger breaks and, when shooting "Bullseye" pistol you learn very good trigger control (nothing moving but the trigger finger). I think this carries over to all types of shooting.

Good Luck

Bill

[dwl]

I went home and tried dry firing but the black dot on the black 10m silhouette targets gets lost.  Anyone have a line on 10m Outline Silhouette targets?

[Slowstdy]

dwl
Send me your email address and i will email you a PDF of all the animals scaled for 10 meters, out line only
Cheers Limey

[chunter]

Dave,

Here is another idea from Troy Lawton:

http://www.gun-tests.com/performance/aug96secrets.html
Look under 'How to Hold Better,'  I have done this exercise by dry firing at these circles before and used a plastic plate nailed to a fence post out the front window of my house.  As I progressed I would cut the plate in half each time I found that I could hold with in the circle.

Another article, more in depth approach:
http://www.zediker.com/articles/zcomlawt.pdf

Since you have the stature of a pro football player (and I mean you make your CZ452 look like a toy), it might be helpful to save up those pennies and have someone build you a fitted hunter rifle stock for your Rem. 541. That should help adjust how your trigger hand fits the stock. It will also help adust how your finger rests on the trigger.  In the mean time, try out the dry firing and get that airgun of yours fixed and start practicing. Maybe I will be able to shoot next year, and will give you some competition.

How is UT doing? Still planning to run some indoor leagues this winter?

Casey

[dwl]

Chunter;

Nice to hear from you!  Yeah, I need to save those pennies and get a Pharr stock.  That's going to run me about $600 to $650.  I talked to Mark once on the phone and again at Pheonix (feenicks?).  

Next question becomes, is it worth restocking the 541S or do I get yet another Annie and put a Pharr stock on that?  Of course I just finished paying off the 541 and the 1407 so it's a good time to think about what's next.

I'll be making big push to improve my practicing and dry firing.  I've come a long way since last winter, both up and down.  I've still got the goal of shooting a 30 this year.

We'll be having a winter league again but I'm waiting for Chris to come back.  He and I were discussing creating a "Rocky Mountain Silhouette" shoot where the targets are paper silhouettes of Rocky Mountain animals, maybe Moose, Elk, Mule Deer and Antelope.  We originally talked about putting it together for August/September to draw in the shooters who come down to the range to sight in their rifles.  It should be fun but I've yet to hear from Chris.

Roger Sebesta is alive and well in Lander.  He says hello.  Wind was Hell and the match was frustrating but Chuck did well.  

He took Match Winner in Hunter.  Tyler Kamp took Match Winner in Smallbore.  I spotted for Chuck and just kept telling him to focus on the target and read him the wind.  He'd drop and couple and then come back and clean the stand.  By the end of the match he had enough points to win.  The deal with Chuck is to get him to think only about a single target and nothing more.  He's got the skill.  Everything I tell him is only what I learned from his Lanny Bassham tapes.  He should know that stuff by heart by now.

Anyway, thanks for writing.  I have the articles you mentioned.  Merely looking for more suggestions on trigger techniques.  I'm beginning to see tmaybe the wisdom of two stage triggers but I'll keep working with the ones I've got for a while.

DWL

[bob259]

Is Robertson Composites (Rifle Stocks) still in business...  The URL I have isn't working.

www.robertsoncomposites.com

[nomad]

They're still in business AFAIK -- and that link worked perfectly for me.

[shootingpaul]

Is Robertson Composites (Rifle Stocks) still in business...  The URL I have isn't working.

www.robertsoncomposites.com

try .ca instead of .com
s-paul

[dwl]

Thanks for the link to Robertson's.  I've added the link and will price it out.  It appears to be the same Nesika stock that I've tried.  Only one complaint, the fore-end where I rest the stock between my thumb and index finger is squared off on the Nesika.  Is this the same on the Robertson?  That was one of the changes that Pharr made on his version.

[GeoNLR]

has a stock done by RC that as I understand it has either the flat forend or a more rounded on for "split finger" shooting.

I was told this AFTER I ordered and had mine built.

Give Markie a call shouldn't cost you much to chat about the options...LOL

[stsbuyer]

Here are a couple of picture of the stock that Marl Pharr has Robertson do. The maple stock is his new pattern that he will be building me a 40x rimfire with. The wood stock is his new split finger design that he will be having a mold done at Robertson Composites.









Hope this helps,

Later, Paul