Using the middle finger as the trigger finger

[mgmorden]

I don't see any reason to do this if you don't have to. My dad fell through a window when he was 11 and cut out his bicep which paralyzed several fingers on his right (dominant) hand. He can't move his trigger finger or middle finger so he learned to shoot long guns pulling the trigger with his ring finger. He has trouble with semi-auto shotguns though as occasionally his trigger finger will get hit by the charging handle. He can't feel it but he's still gotten some nasty cuts that way so he mostly shoots pumps.

Obviously this doesn't work with a handgun so on the rare occasion that he shoots a handgun he just does so left handed.

 

[ATLDave]

On an aside, I can see that method for point-shooting a pistol, but it just seems like it would be terribly awkward with a rifle. Even worse with a shotgun. It's not even how people would naturally grip it the first time before thinking about it.

That precisely backwards. A shooter does not depend upon grip strength to manage the recoil of a long gun - that's what shoulder stocks are for. With handguns, though, it all has to come from the connection between the hands and the gun. Anything that gives up what is most people's single strongest finger for gripping is very, very unlikely to be beneficial. I posted some measurements above about the fraction of grip strength that is lost with this approach... it is substantial.

The middle-finger-on-trigger had some benefits in the days of bolt-action service rifles when absolute volume of fire was desired. A prone rifleman with an SMLE (for example) could keep the bolt handle between his thumb and forefinger, and dangle the middle finger just enough to reach the trigger. The bolt could be run very fast this way and rates of fire briefly approaching semi-automatic rates could be achieved. When a whole squad or platoon did this, they could crank out an impressive volume of fire, even if few of the shots were very well aimed.

But there's really very little practical use for such a technique today. And it never made any sense as to handguns.

 

[Schwing]

I have tried this before just for giggles and noticed a couple of things. First, my middle finger seemed to wander further through the trigger guard as I shot. Basically, to get enough grip to hold steady, I found myself using the pad of my middle finger between the first and second knuckle. Even concentrating on keeping the trigger on the center of the first pad was nearly impossible for me to do and still have a steady grip I do have very small hands though. The second thing was that I was pulling very far to the left because of this. The last issue is that I found it really hard to exercise good trigger discipline while trying to use my middle finger. It was pretty hard for me to hold that finger parallel to the barrel without feeling like I was going to drop the gun.

 

[tark]

I have better uses for my middle finger than pulling triggers.

Most notably in the area of "non-verbal communications"

 

[GBExpat]

I have better uses for my middle finger than pulling triggers.

Most notably in the area of "non-verbal communications"

Which is why I think of it as my "driving finger".