No such thing as jerking the trigger?????

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halfmoonclip

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A guy styling himself as Shrek McPhee has had big articles in the last two issues of the NRA publications.
In the first, he maintains that there is no such thing as trigger jerk. He uses some convoluted system of electronic recording to justify his contention, and it is apparently part of a gun training program he is promoting.
The basics of marksmanship say 'line up the sights, and keep them on target while you fire the shot', easy-peasy, right? Well, not so much; squeezing the trigger so as not to disturb the aim is a real problem.
The most enlightening thing to do with a shooter who is missing is the 'ball and dummy' drill, letting them see what happens after the trigger breaks, with no recoil to hide their sins. Jerking the trigger? Watch the muzzle dip when the gun goes click instead of bang.
Anyway, suggest everyone read the article; this month's dismissal of the old pie chart thing deserves some discussion too.
I think the guy is full of hay that's been thru' the horse, and is trying to sell his training.
Moon
 
Just learn how to pull the trigger fast (jerk) without moving the gun, or so says Rob Leatham.
Absolutely something to this, especially with striker triggers or double action anything. It's a distinction between the old Bullseye press with the pad, vs using the distal joint and putting in the squeeze all at once, while correcting the sights as you do.
But jerking the trigger is a real problem (we'll leave range jerks for another day... :) ), yes?
Please have a look at the article before commenting?
Moon
 
I got a few paragraphs into the article and gave up. Aside from the general writing style - the American Handgunner "Gun Crank Diaries" schtick of John Connor that I have always found a bit annoying - it seems to me that there is a definite trend toward redefining "accuracy" as "hitting big things fast". When we are shooting, as an example, IPSC targets at three yards, it is possible to hit well even with what traditionally is considered bad technique - and I suspect that even some fairly decent run-n-gun scores can be posted by people who don't necessarily even know they are doing things like jerking the trigger.
 
.... If it's controlled it can work.

If the trigger press is controlled it's not a jerk. The goal is to learn to press the trigger to make the gun fire without disturbing the index of the gun on the target. My instructor group teaches regular NRA Basic Handgun classes, primarily to folks having no prior experience with guns. We have had a good deal of success helping our students learn to press the trigger to make the gun fire without disturbing the index of the gun on the target applying the following:

  1. One essentially presses the trigger to make the gun fire without disturbing its index on the target by applying a smooth press straight back on the trigger with only the trigger finger moving. Maintain your focus on the front sight (or the reticle if using a scope) as you press the trigger, increasing pressure on the trigger until the shot breaks. Don't try to predict exactly when the gun will go off nor try to cause the shot to break at a particular moment. This is what Jeff Cooper called the "surprise break."

  2. One wants to place his finger on the trigger in a manner that facilitates that. Usually, the best place for the finger to contact the trigger will be the middle of the portion of the finger between the first knuckle and the fingertip, and that part of the finger should be perpendicular to the direction in which the trigger moves.

    • With some triggers, e. g., heavy double action triggers with a long travel, that placement might not provide enough leverage to work the trigger smoothly. In such cases, the trigger may be placed at the first joint.

    • In either case, the trigger finger needs to be curved away from the gun sufficiently to allow it to press the trigger straight back without the trigger finger binding or applying lateral pressure to the gun. If one has to reach too far to get his finger properly on the trigger (or turn the gun to the point that the axis of the barrel is significantly misaligned with the forearm), the gun is too big. (For example, I have a short trigger reach and can't properly shoot some handguns, like N frame Smith & Wesson revolvers double action.)

  3. By keeping focus on the front sight (or reticle) and increasing pressure on the trigger until the gun essentially shoots itself, you don’t anticipate the shot breaking. But if you try to make the shot break at that one instant in time when everything seem steady and aligned, you usually wind up jerking the trigger.

  4. Of course the gun will wobble a bit on the target. It is just not possible to hold the gun absolutely steady. Because you are alive, there will always be a slight movement caused by all the tiny movement associated with being alive: your heart beating; tiny muscular movements necessary to maintain your balance, etc. Try not to worry about the wobble and don’t worry about trying to keep the sight aligned on a single point. Just let the front sight be somewhere in a small, imaginary box in the center of the target. And of course, properly using some form of rest will also help minimize wobble.

  5. In our teaching we avoid using the words "squeeze" or "pull" to describe the actuation of the trigger. We prefer to refer to "pressing" the trigger. The word "press" seems to better describe the process of smoothly pressing the trigger straight back, with only the trigger finger moving, to a surprise break.

  6. You'll want to be able to perform the fundamentals reflexively, on demand without conscious thought. You do that by practicing them slowly to develop smoothness. Then smooth becomes fast.

    • Again, remember that practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

    • Practice also makes permanent. If you keep practicing doing something poorly, you will become an expert at doing it poorly.

  7. Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of the gun firing "by surprise." They feel that when using the gun for practical applications, e. g., hunting or self defense, they need to be able to make the gun fire right now. But if you try to make the gun fire right now, you will almost certainly jerk the trigger thus jerking the gun off target and missing your shot. That's where the "compressed surprise break" comes in.

    • As you practice (perfectly) and develop the facility to reflexively (without conscious thought) apply a smooth, continuously increasing pressure to the trigger the time interval between beginning to press and the shot breaking gets progressively shorter until it become indistinguishable from being instantaneous. In other words, that period of uncertainty during which the shot might break, but you don't know exactly when, becomes vanishingly short. And that is the compressed surprise break.

    • Jeff Cooper explains the compressed surprise break in this video beginning at 36:04. This article by Jeff Campbell and this article by Jim Wilson might also be helpful.

    • It may help to understand the way humans learn a physical skill.

      • In learning a physical skill, we all go through a four step process:

        • unconscious incompetence, we can't do something and we don't even know how to do it;

        • conscious incompetence, we can't physically do something even though we know in our mind how to do it;

        • conscious competence, we know how to do something but can only do it right if we concentrate on doing it properly; and

        • unconscious competence, at this final stage we know how to do something and can do it reflexively (as second nature) on demand without having to think about it.

      • To get to the third stage, you need to think through the physical task consciously in order to do it perfectly. You need to start slow; one must walk before he can run. The key here is going slow so that you can perform each repetition properly and smoothly. Don't try to be fast. Try to be smooth. Now here's the kicker: slow is smooth and smooth is fast. You are trying to program your body to perform each of the components of the task properly and efficiently. As the programing takes, you get smoother; and as you get smoother you get more efficient and more sure, and therefore, faster.

      • I have in fact seen this over and over, both in the classes I've been in and with students that I've helped train. Start slow, consciously doing the physical act smoothly. You start to get smooth, and as you get smooth your pace will start to pick up. And about now, you will have reached the stage of conscious competence. You can do something properly and well as long as you think about it.

      • To go from conscious competence to the final stage, unconscious competence, is usually thought to take around 5,000 good repetitions. The good news is that dry practice will count. The bad news is that poor repetitions don't count and can set you back. You need to work at this to get good.

      • If one has reached the stage of unconscious competence as far as trigger control is concerned, he will be able to consistently execute a proper, controlled trigger press quickly and without conscious thought. Of course one needs to practice regularly and properly to maintain proficiency, but it's easier to maintain it once achieved than it was to first achieve it.
 
I find it ironic that at the bottom of the lengthy article on the subject of trigger jerk being a myth… are two article links about correcting trigger jerk. :rofl:

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I get what the gist of the article is, it just needs a follow up on the proper grip(s) he espouses to cancel out trigger jerk.

Stay safe.
 
See how far you get "jerking" the trigger whilst competing in a Bullseye/Precision Pistol match or when drawing down on a whitetail 75 yards away. There are situations, times and events when a judicious squeeze or "press" of the trigger is the only way to get a good score at the range or bring the venison to the table.
 
Same here.

A lot of folks seem to really love it, but I've always found it kind of pretentious. It's fine for storytelling, I guess, but the style has crept into all sorts of facets of the shooting world, and when the topic is direct instruction of the reader, it just irritates me.
 
Some of yall are missing the context of the article. McPhee doesn't teach bullseye or that type of shooting sport. He teaches fighting with a handgun.

When teaching new officers to shoot we teach several things that are contrary to target style shoot. One such thing is grip strength is far more important that trigger pull. Also we teach to NOT pin the trigger.
 
In combat pistol context, as C-grunt says above, it's not bullseye shooting. You wait that long, you're the one on the ground. Grip strength and recoil control are much more important; if you can shoot instinctively (fire accurately without the having the sights lined up in front of your eyes) on top of those, so much the better. Such engagements are not long distance, they are in bad breath range.
 
I’m a very accurate handgun shooter.

I’m of the old school where accuracy was everything.

Compared to the top shooters today, I am glacially slow. It is really hard for me to accept slapping the trigger is OK. I’m getting better at it. But, old habits are had to break.

My friend Ronin explains why we shot the way we did. It was compressed bullseye shooting.

https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/trigger-habits-martin-colman-leatham/
 
I've known John for a while and spent some time on the range with him. He's legit, and he can make anyone a better shooter.
 
I've known John for a while and spent some time on the range with him. He's legit, and he can make anyone a better shooter.

A better gunfighter. That's what he does. I think the OP was thinking of basic 'semi-bullseye' average-shooter-at-the-range informal target practice. There is certainly a time and place for this, and I make sure to start practice sessions with it, briefly. But the type of shooting Shrek teaches is what saves lives in combat, and makes a CCW holder far more likely to come out of a gunfight unscathed. I'll bet he's a great instructor.
 
Agreed 100% with the OP about the guy's articles, but ....

I couldn't hit consistently until I learned how to keep the sight picture all the way through the trigger pull until the gun itself recoiled. Once I learned how important the smooth, straight back trigger pull was, and how important finger placement is to this process, and furthermore that it's not the same for every gun, then shooting good groups became so much easier, regardless of pistol and caliber. The only way to learn this is dry-fire practice. Period.

The big thing about making all this into an irrelevant controversy is that it's not inconsistent with "point and shoot". They're all just part of the process ....
 
I think the guy is full of hay that's been thru' the horse, and is trying to sell his training.
Sorry, but no. Hard no on this. He's one of a very few whose experience doesn't come solely from the square range, shooting at one's leisure toward paper targets.

McPhee is one of maybe a couple guys out there in YouTube land who I take seriously. His dissection of the ol' "pie chart" is not recent; he's talked about that for years. And he's right. (In my opinion and I don't care what anyone else thinks)

And dunno who many of y'all have seen Rob Leatham shoot in person, but he believes in "trigger-slap" and I have witnessed his results.
 
I think the guy is full of hay that's been thru' the horse, and is trying to sell his training.
In Bill Jordan's seminal book on gunfighting, he puts forth that if a shootr can jerk a trigger consistently, he doesn't need to learn a slow trigger press...just goes to show that there really isn't much new under the sun.

A very good USPSA shooter, JJ Racazza, teaches prepping the trigger on every shot...he just does it very quickly.

...this month's dismissal of the old pie chart thing deserves some discussion too.
Please not on this thread. If you really must, start another thread to bring this up.

I'll be happy to pop in and explain why that pie chart is obsolete and more an encumbrance to good technique than anything else
 
The author can call it what he wants, but as others here alluded to, especially with the references to grip, grip strength, and sight alignment,
it’s still just the basics.
Grip, sight alignment, and trigger squeeze.
The shot has to break when the sights are aligned with the intended point of impact.
And MUST BE FOLLOWED THROUGH!
I date back to the time when we were still hip- point shooting at the 1 and three yard line! With double action revolvers.
At the 1yd line, you would reach out with your off hand and place against the forehead of the silhouette and draw and fire with the revolver at the point of your hip. At 3yds you balled your off hand fist and held it over the center of your chest. (Mostly to keep someone from shooting themselves in the off hand....).
It takes a controlled trigger manipulation (however you want to describe it) while holding the firearm trained on the target. However, whatever, it takes to achieve that...

Having trained and taught everything from basic recruits to coaching PPC team mates, most firearms training has more to do with herding cattle, and operating a daycare facility for immature adolescents (20 something yr old recruits) than coaching marksmanship!

Main reason I got away from firearms training, and won’t have anything to do with being a range officer.
And I won’t take on a flight student who isn’t paying for the training him/or herself...
No high school or college students. Their heads are in a totally different places...
 
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