Trigger Break

I've tried to shoot with a surprise break: which always startles me, so I steadily squeeze the trigger till it goes bang; however this isn't as consistent as I would like, the reason I know it is not consistent is because of the results, some in the black and some in the white.
With my Pardini 22 & 32 I can pretty much keep it in the black. (two stage trigger)

My question is what does everyone else do as far as squeezing the trigger?

Neil in the Pacific Northwest

You are certainly going to hear a lot of opinions on this subject and those that went to a Zins Moody clinic are going to be echoing their way.

I think most of us suffer from similar situations to what you described. However, squeezing the trigger till it goes bang is only half the battle. You also have to maintain sight alignment and sight picture. In other words, you have to maintain the point of aim till the gun goes bang. This is much harder than it sounds and it is difficult to fight our instincts.

Our instincts make us grab the perfect shot and as most of us know by now, you can't really do that as it doesn't work very well. We always move the gun in that moment of grabbing the shot. So, we are told to trust our hold and squeeze the trigger - it is that simple but it is very hard to accept.

The surprise shot concept is confusing for many shooters. There is more to it than the literal meaning of the words. My interpretation of "Surprise shot" is as such...

I continue to squeeze the trigger while maintaining sight alignment/picture/hold. I try to ignore when the dot is on the X and continue my squeeze till the gun goes bang. The "surprise" aspect has more to do with not forcing the shot when the dot hits the X.

Many shooters say they know exactly when the hammer should fall and I don't doubt them. Myself, I don't know exactly when, just approximately when. I have been shooting about 2000 rounds a month for the last 10 months and spent only about 10 minutes doing dry fire which might explain my inability to know exactly when the hammer will fall.

Now, back to what might help you as it helped me (keep in mind I shoot a red dot). I printed out slow fire targets with only the 10 ring being black. I train for slow fire with these targets and it has helped me a lot. At first you won't see what the difference is but the more you do it, the more you will understand it. First and foremost, you will quickly learn what your hold is (what area you are aiming in). I used to think my shake and wobble covered the entire black, however, it really is about the size of the 10 ring. Now, knowing that my hold is about the 10 ring, I would focus on squeezing the trigger. With only a 10 ring black area, you will quickly see the change in the point of aim while squeezing that trigger. The red dot shows brightly on the white paper and you will get instant feedback. Now that you have feedback you can see, and you know your hold is about the 10 ring, you focus on squeezing the trigger and adjusting to the feedback during that process. As time goes on, you start to see what is happening during the squeeze and you adjust your muscles to accommodate. Finally, the last "odd thing" about shooting the 10 ring black target is that you take score out of the equation. You are only focusing on shooting properly, no score, no time limit, nothing other than focusing on that shot.

This has helped me with both 22 and 45. My 22 scores are low 290s for NMC whereas 6 months ago I was at low 280s. My 45 has seen about the same improvement.

Now there are two things to consider with this...

1) After you shoot the 10 ring black targets for a few thousand rounds, you have to re-adapt to shooting larger black of a normal target. At first it is difficult, but once you get over the initial hump, it isn't too tough.

2) You have to keep training to maintain the improvements and your techniques. For me, I have to shoot about 400 to 500 rounds a week to keep fresh.

Hope this helps you a bit.

Chris

Chris,
That is a lot of great info, I will print out 10 ring only targets and will TRY not grab for the "PERFECT" shot.

Neil

Interesting ....how do you print out 10 ring only targets....

If you give me your email address I will attach a ten ring only blank 3 1/4 Inch dot for you to print out.
If you have a printshop type program you should be able to do this.
Some word document programs can do this look for adding shapes.

I'll get back to you on Monday ...from my desk at work...I have commercial printer there....Ive thought about using the 50ft taregt@ 25yds before ......just havent done it yet......

To create and print out customized targets, go to Target Express:

http://www.mcw-tech.com/targetexpress/

As for my experience in shooting bullesye:

I have my IZH-46 airpistol and Ruger MK II set up for two-stage triggers. This seems to work well for low recoil guns. Taking up the slack mentally gets me ready for the crisp break that follows.

For my 1911 wad gun and S&W K38 I have single stage triggers with very crisp 4 lb pulls. I find this works well for these guns that have some recoil, but not a lot due to the gun setup and light BE loads.

I also do a lot of dry-fire practice to try and maintain my sight picture and lift weights to maintain arm strength for a full day of 2700 shooting. This contibutes to muscle memory as I take the same stance and go through the same motions each time. At one point I found that if I lifted my chin about two inches my accuracy improved.

I keep written notes when I shoot and have found that when I send a round outside the black it is usually because I was wandering mentally and not focused on shooting.

I've been shooting BE since 08 chasing leg pts. I use a crisp single stage trigger on my hardball gun and my DR gun. I have a whole shot process that I go through when I shoot but basically, for slowfire, the front sight is in focus, the target is a little blurry, and I count in my head as I slowly pull the trigger. I do my best to make the shot a suprise. My wobble usually settles by the count of 8 and if I dont break the shot by 15 I stop and reset. By then oxygen in my body is depleted to the point where the acuity in my eyesight suffers.

For timed and rapid fire my trigger finger never stops, that keeps me from jerking the trigger. Even if the front sight isnt where I would like it I go with it anyways, I loose more points jerking the trigger than anything.

To answer your question I use a crisp one stage trigger but I continuously add weight until it goes off.