Using middle finger as trigger finger?

[Moondoggie]

I use my middle finger on my KelTec P-32.

Even with my medium sized hands, the really small pistol just fits my grip better with my index finger alongside the frame below the slide. Otherwize it feels like it's gonna "squirt" out of my grip with my little finger having no contact with the pistol.

It's the only gun I've ever handled that I'd consider using this technique.

 

[AechKay]

Ok, question.

Do all guns have to be fired right handed? Do they even have left handed guns? If they do, it would be a nice idea to find a universal weapon for left and right handers that way you could practice both sides and if you got your trigger finger blown off, you could switch to your left?

 

[wasrjoe]

Many pistols have ambidextrous controls. Even those without them can be shot by left-handers, but with some difficulty in manipulating the mag release/slide stop/safety etc.

 

[foghornl]

Tried it ONCE and it didn't work for me...not to mention the grossly bleeding 'slide bite'

 

[Shorts]

Shooting single handed, it is easier to hold the gun steady and draw a good sight on the target by pointing the index finger and working the trigger with the middle. I do not know how it would be to shoot. I was goofin' at the range with my husband and I sighted and got ready to shoot, but decided against it. Murphy's law says something would go wrong. It sure was nice to get my gun super steady as if I was gripping with two hands...sure do miss ol left.

Anyhow, next time out at the range I'm going to try it with better preparation.

 

[jmilliron]

Never tried this. However, I can shoot pretty damn well with my left hand so I'm not sure how useful this would be...

 

[c_yeager]

Just be real carefull of where your index finger ends up. I *almost* tried this with a snubby (i.e. Jack Ruby) and fortunatly noticed that the fingertip of my index finger was looking to get burned off by the b/c gap before i actually tried to fire.

 

[mrhuckins]

Ok, here's my input, take it for what it's worth. My little brother had an Atari "Duck Hunter" game years ago, and I could never shoot the cans witht the darn thing, until my father told me to use the index finger along the slide to point at the cans, and then pull the trigger with the middle finger. I instantly improved a lot. I got so good, I could make one can bounce around on the scren all day. When I actually got a handgun out where I could do some shooting. I could hit a 8" target at probably 35-45 yards firing the handgun as rapidly as possible. I can't say for sure what my grouping was, as we were firing at metal plates. It worked for me. I havn't used the technique in over 15, as I just started getting back into handguns about two months ago, and have only been to the range twice in the last two months. My accuracy sucks using tradtional trigger finger pulls. I'll have to "dust off this old chestnut" next time at the range, and give a report back, to let you know if I still "got it" or not.

 

[1911 guy]

Ol' Grandad

taught me to shoot like this with his browning H.P., said that's how he shot a 1911 in WW II. I never did well with it, but it worked for him. Maybe it's a personal preference thing.

 

[Elmer]

Interesting topic!

I do know of a couple guys that were shot because of their middle finger.....

 

[Cosmoline]

Inspired by this thread, I just tried some dry fire speed drills with my big M-39 Mosin. I know it's not a pistol, but by ginger if I didn't shave a few seconds off my rapid fire! As near as I can figure, my middle finger actually reaches the trigger faster than my index, and when I keep my index straight it speeds up the return stroke and helps cycle the bolt faster!

I'll try it live the next trip to the range.

 

[KONY]

Website mentioned earlier is up. I came across this before but never tried the middle finger trigger pull. However, I do believe in the importance of point shooting ... it reminds me that I need to practice it more.

http://www.pointshooting.com/

 

[ksnecktieman]

Try it....... Does it work for you? If it works, no one else has an opinion that matters,,, I can do rapid fire with my second finger fast and accurate enough for belly dance distances,, anything beyond there may or may not be defensive..... will I try to shoot bullseye with it? NO,,, but I have a lifetime of using my pointing finger behind me. Can I hold more tightly to a small pistol with my pointing finger beside the barrel? I think so. All things have their place.

 

[trickyasafox]

anyone seen sniper where they do this? in paintball its a very accepted technique, and virtually a necessity for the high rate of fire needed in a lot of tourny style play, but thats all with double finger triggers or mainly with em anyway. .

 

[W Turner]

I actually had to use this once in an IDPA match. The last stage called for firing a string weak-hand only and I had smashed my left index finger in a car door 5 days before this.

No malfunctions, accuracy sucked big-time(but I had never shot that way before), my index finger still throbbed when the stage was over, and I wasn't having the greatest of days either, so YMMV.
BTW- I was using a CZ75B


W

 

[tuna]

Be careful trying this with small pistols! I thought I found a perfect way to shoot a derringer using this since the trigger pull was so awful. Trying to pull the trigger with the middle finger worked awesome in dry fire until I noticed that the barrel was so short that my index finger was curling around the muzzle! That would have left a mark!

 

[fastbolt]

Old idea. Been around a long time, and it resurfaces now and again.

I still don't care for the idea. Lot of potential disadvantages.

My middle finger is part of my primary grip stabilization, so removing it isn't something that interests me.

 

[sm]

I have shot targets ( clay and paper ) that I have pointed my middle finger at to represent my attitude at the time.

Being a member of the "Remington 1100 Sliced Index Finger" Club ( naturally the trigger "index finger" on strong hand) I have used the middle finger to pull a trigger. I have an excuse...

...Being also a member of the "Garand Thumb Club" ....and "Renewing" membership of Both clubs on same day...

...Good day to work on weak-handed shooting, weak-hand drills with revos, and 1911s.

At least my lunch was bought for me that day...nothing else was going right.

 

[B.FRANKlin]

What it is.

It's like this. However you do it, if it works for you and it don't hurt, use it. All the training in the world doesn't take the place of doing it the way it works best for you. And with practice, there should be no reason why you should do it anybody else's way. There is no standard for what way works best for everybody. There is the recommended way, and there is the way you do it best.
There is the government way, then there is what really works.


"If I were to start a revolution, the first thing I would do is kill all of the lawyers."--Benjamin Franklin
He was a very wise man.

 

[7677]

Point shooting is not the use of the middle finger on the trigger. The operator of the mentioned site (pointshooting.com) advocates the use of the middle finger and call this technique "pointshooting" because the index finger points at the intended target while the middle finger pulls the trigger. For those who are interested in what point shooting really is read the articles on that site by Matthew Temkin or Robin Brown (Brownie) .

 

[Johnny Guest]

Old member ID, and a chance to nit pick

Correia and Jim Keenan - - -
The big proponent of middle finger trigger manipulation and his-own-version-of-Point-and-Shoot -- was that OK Joe, or some variant of the name?

B.FRANKlin (welcome to THR, Sir) wrote:

"If I were to start a revolution, the first thing I would do is kill all of the lawyers."--Benjamin Franklin
He was a very wise man.

Brother Franklin was indeed very wise - - Author, publisher, printer, statesman, scientist, inventor, who knows what else? And, at some point, he may very well have written exactly those words. If so, I'm certain he was consciously drawing from the Bard, William Shakespeare - - Henry VI (Part 2) Act IV, Scene II. Here, Dick the Butcher said, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

Interesting little article on the quote, and the context in which 'twas spake:
http://firms.findlaw.com/UWLAlawreview/memo21.htm

Best,
Johnny

 

[Ron_Miami]

How do you keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire with this technique?

 

[benEzra]

I didn't put much faith in the man's advice because he also promoted the use of Oven Cleaner as an alternative to OC spray.

He is definitely off-base (no pun intended) for suggesting that. Not only is it probably less immediately incapacitating, but the probability of causing permanent eye damage to whoever you spray is very high (oven cleaner is a concentrated solution of sodium hydroxide). AND, since attempting to blind someone puts them in danger of "serious bodily harm" by any reasonable criteria, congratulations, you've just escalated the fight to the lethal-force level. He can then pull a gun and shoot you and possibly claim self-defense (just as if you were trying to poke out his eyes with a stick)...and if he doesn't, you've just committed aggravated assault. Stellar.

Regarding Jack Ruby using this technique--I understand he shot that way only because he was missing part of his index finger. Which also solved the problem of burning the end of your index finger when shooting a revolver this way, since he had a truncated index finger.

 

[Henry Bowman]

Regarding Jack Ruby using this technique--I understand he shot that way only because he was missing part of his index finger. Which also solved the problem of burning the end of your index finger when shooting a revolver this way, since he had a truncated index finger.

I've never heard that before. I don't doubt that it could be true, but do you have any reference to this fact?