Trigger work

Yep, not the first time this has come up. I have a little different perspective on this and need some help. The bullseye game is new to me in the last 6 months or so. Honing my grip and stance and working pretty hard on a deliberate trigger press. There are times when I nail that press and boy does it feel good but most times my subconscious falls back on what it knows best.....running an air stapler...easily 50,000 staples a yr. That's a lot of the wrong kinda trigger pressin' when it comes to target shooting. Decades of it. Basically slapping the trigger as well as applying force or pushing forward. It's ugly when my concentration slips just a little and those habits take over. 
 
 So, I've been trying to think of a way to separate the two type of trigger actions. Simple conditioning? Like snapping a rubber band on my wrist, pinching my earlobe? Can't quite be snapping or pinching myself constantly. Incorporate some type of ritual in my dryfire sessions that could be carried over to live fire practice? 

 It's been a long while since something has grabbed hold of me like this and I really want to do well at it.

 Jedi mind tricks welcome. 

 Thanks

You've got the right idea - you need to switch mind set - but rather than a physical action try saying a word to yourself as you raise your arm - how about "Bullseye"?

Its easy, does not change the subject, can be repeated with each trigger press while maintaining front sight or red dot concentration and will not interfere with your standard procedure. Just be sure its used as reminder, not a command.

From my long ago education, you need a physical cue that is separate from the action.  Something that you don't ever do when stapling.  Like purse your lips and press your tongue to your teeth to cue your concentration

Two really solid suggestions. Thank you both very much.

I would spend time daily or as several times a week dry firing. Get to know the trigger well. When you go to the range, dry fire before you begin live fire. Also, if you feel yourself reverting to slapping the trigger, unload the gun and dry fire until you get a good feel for the pistol trigger.

30cal,
 I will be incorporating the cues in my dry fire practice. Thanks for the suggestion!

A word that I have been working with lately is "curl".

"Curl" that trigger finger straight back.

Might sound weird, might help, might not. It's yours for the low low price of every penny you paid for it.

"Curl" has definite power and it's from a credible source. I was thinking of something simple minded like "press, press, press". Now I'm torn. I'll have to try both to see which is the most effective.

I use “pull”  as in pull straight to rear. Not very original I know but seems to help me

This discussion has really been very useful for me. Dry fire practice carried over to live fire much better than usual. Every time I slipped out of concentration I paused and mentally pictured myself locking my staple gun in a box. A little wacky but that got me back on track with the above suggestions from every one, thanks.

You could think of it as a precise staple placement with soft pine that you do not want to split.

Obviously I'm not a master, but I've been counting lately. It lets me time out my first shot on sustained stings, and creates a cue for the trigger pull. I count on every slow fire shot as well, to make sure my shot process is identical for all three stages.

Basically, I hear "ready on the firing line", count "1, 2", then start my trigger pull.

I've found the word itself sometimes is irrelevant. It's just a cue that triggers your subconscious to take over and pull that trigger.

As John said, worth what you paid for it!

Dave

Slipped out of practice over the holidays but a couple of new suggestions to get me going again is welcome. 
 
Thanks

I don’t know quite how it happened, but for a few months I found myself saying this on the raise through hammer fall.  It worked very well and insured I was getting on the trigger and target with minimal hesitation.

“One potato, two potato, three potato, Fooooouuurrr..”

If you have read the Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey, then you might understand why this or code words or repetitive rituals work.

It prevents you from thinking while you shoot.  More specifically, distracts the part of your mind that is telling your arm, hand, eye, shoulder, body, where to go, how to fix errors, how to squeeze, and gets it to shut up.

Then the the part of your mind that knows how to lift your hand and point it at the middle of the target with no instructions needed to do the work without all the noise of self-judgement.