Too much or too little trigger finger

Ok, i've been shooting for about 2 years and I've done pretty well. I've got a Clark custom Ruger Mark III and it's a great gun. I was shooting indoors yesterday and all of a sudden everything was going left. I reviewed my fundamentals for my grip and could not fix the problem. The targets I use have a handy target analysis guide that said I was using too much or too little trigger finger.

I worked on my grip placement and I did not have any luck. Does anyone have any suggestions

Thanks

Mark Trulock

As long as you finger isn't rubbing on the frame and you can get enough leverage on the trigger with your trigger finger, you should be good to go. Just focus on bringing the trigger straight to the rear.

I had the same thing happen to me....and fought it for quite awhile...I to thought it was trigger finger placement......it is but not the way you think...Make sure your trigger finger makes no contact with the gun except for the trigger...you may need to adjust your grip to do this..next make sure you are pulling striaght back ...and make sure you are not jerking the trigger......Myself I find it makes little difference how much finger is on the trigger as long as I get a clean straight back pull I'm good....Ive cured my shooting left trouble by adjusting my grip to allow for the trigger pull Ive mentioned....also at least for me I have to think about what I'm doing thru-out the entire shot process or string of shots.....I find that I have to think about keeping my grip consistent and always have to remind myself to squeeze the trigger if not I to will pull a shot left.....good luck....I hope for you it clicks quicker than it did for me....

Thanks for the advice guys. I will do some dry firing practice and try to put your advice to use.

Thanks again

Mark

Are you using a dot? If so ive had the dots just up and go, mostly on the 45 because of recoil they get jarred out of adjustment, sometimes just adjusting the E or W screws all the way one way then all the way the other then put it back to its original position and its ok again. On open sights especially on a ruger Ive had the front sight screw get a little loose and cause this and the rear can get loose too check both

Wide shots sometimes mean you need to move your back foot a bit to eliminate body/shoulder torque.

But the first question is - Are you calling the shots left?

Jack H wrote:Wide shots sometimes mean you need to move your back foot a bit to eliminate body/shoulder torque.

But the first question is - Are you calling the shots left?

Jack...thats a very good point ....I found this to be true myself when I first started shooting...I would be standing in what I thought was a good postion but I had to move my arm to put the gun on target...once I started my trigger squeeze and was concentrating on that the gun would drift right or left depending on the way I had my position set....

Thanks for all the info. I was calling the shots in the center but they were going left. I did some dry firing and still had a problem. I took Gunny Zins advice and moved my trigger finger contact area.

I was pulling from the middle of the first pad. i changed to pulling with the first crease of the finger. The results were dramatic. I shot very well for the last outdoor match of the year.

I'm going to remember moving the back foot the next time I can't understand why I'm not shooting well.

Thanks again

Have a good turkey day!

Mark_Trulock wrote:Thanks for all the info. I was calling the shots in the center but they were going left. I did some dry firing and still had a problem. I took Gunny Zins advice and moved my trigger finger contact area.

I was pulling from the middle of the first pad. i changed to pulling with the first crease of the finger. The results were dramatic. I shot very well for the last outdoor match of the year.

I had a similar problem but the shots were going right (landing about 8 ring at 3 O' clock). After a lot of dry fire, I noticed that the problem was when the hammer fell. It wasn't a jerk, but seemed to be the additional travel of my finger until the trigger bottomed out on the set screw. It's not a lot of over travel, but enough that it was causing the sight to shift slightly to the right. I moved my finger to the very tip (or close to it) and that fixed it. Now, when the hammer drops the sights stay put.

Never ceases to amaze me how seemingly small details like this can have such a big effect on your shots.

Grunt

There's no one right finger placement for everyone.

I started off shooting reading gunny zins advice and used "his" trigger finger position. Then I tried using the tip area of the finger. Then i went to the middle of the pad. Now I've settled on "near" the crease of the first knuckle but, not as deep as Zins.

Trigger finger placement is very important and it would serve new shooters well to experiment a bit after getting some experience in (so one is knowledgeable enough to diagnose the cause and effects). Although some people are lucky to find the "right" spot immediately, it took me a long time.

Trigger finger placement is not an exact science. Long finger short finger. Its gonna be different. It is how you pull that counts. Straight pull, no bad moves on sights.