Trigger technique? "yank and pray" or....

[hereinaz]

What's your trigger discipline/practice and why? I haven't done any big research, the options I listed are just ones that seem common. Besides the technique, maybe share a little about the typical rifle you shoot, like total rifle weight, trigger weight, rifle type, cartridge type, etc.

Personally, I follow the "press, break, and freeze" technique I saw on the internet. Before adopting it, I had terrible trigger discipline, and I wasn't really paying attention at all to what I was doing. I was yanking and had a flinch, so when I was learning a lot of things at once.

I'm just wondering if this is the "best" method or whether I got huge gains in precision because I started from terrible, that anything was significantly better. I haven't revisited trigger control or seen many other opinions out there for practicing a purposeful trigger control.

 

[KenLee]

Gotta release that trigger and shuck the bolt...just in case

 

[Formidilosus]

What's your trigger discipline/practice and why? I haven't done any big research, the options I listed are just ones that seem common. Besides the technique, maybe share a little about the typical rifle you shoot, like total rifle weight, trigger weight, rifle type, cartridge type, etc.

Personally, I follow the "press, break, and freeze" technique I saw on the internet. Before adopting it, I had terrible trigger discipline, and I wasn't really paying attention at all to what I was doing. I was yanking and had a flinch, so when I was learning a lot of things at once.

I'm just wondering if this is the "best" method or whether I got huge gains in precision because I started from terrible, that anything was significantly better. I haven't revisited trigger control or seen many other opinions out there for practicing a purposeful trigger control.

None of those.

Think of the shot process as 4 parts in sequence.

1). Body position

2). Breath control

3). Trigger control

4). Reset and prep


How much “attention” is paid to each of those parts depends on the target size and consequence of missing. What you are asking involves two parts- “trigger” control and “reset and prep”.



3). Trigger control: “smooth consistent pressure to the rear, break at 90°”

For small targets or high consequence for missing targets- from touching trigger until shot breaks might be 4 seconds. For “right now” large targets at close range, it can be at the speed of your electrical impulses, but the actual movement is the same- “smooth consistent pressure to the rear, break at 90°”.


4). Reset and prep- (for a manually operated rifle).

Rifle fires, see impact, run action immediately, prep for next shot- aim on target, start breath control, take slack out of trigger, shoot or not depending on target behavior.

 

[hereinaz]

I am on board with you guys, trigger technique I am describing is a small part of the shot process.

If you see someone "yank and pray" what is your instruction?

I will preface that I am asking about a very small portion of the shot process, so I didn't get into the before and after, but I do set up with 90 degree and press straight back, break and freeze. I freeze so that I am 100% focused on spotting the impact/recoil management. Then I get on that bolt faster than a starving dog on hambone and run it.


I know I can press faster or slower, depending on the target size relative to my wobble. Close shots don't require as much effort to build the position or break the trigger, because of the relative target size. Having trigger discipline set up for 90 degree and straight back press, I don't disturb the sight picture like I used to.

That is just how I broke the shot process down. I have a small brain, so I gotta break things down to the nth degree and then practice the tiny things. And, I always implement them to the greater system to make them smooth. Its the only way I learned sports. I practiced shooting free throws and jump shots for hours. I broke the process into drills, for things as small as hand placement on the ball, feet placement, knee bend, etc. If I couldn't break it down and practice, I couldn't repeat it.

I don't know, but maybe you guys learn more like my brother who has incredible hand eye coordination and dexterity. That's definitely not me. Nothing comes naturally, but eventually I can catch up to competency.

As part of my build and break dry fire practice, I would follow Form's 4 steps. Sometimes, I would pause and repeat a series of break and freeze so I could repeat it until I could "feel" the process, i.e. muscle memory. If I did a series like that, for muscle memory, I would continue the rest of the process you described. And, I always finished practice with the complete action a few times to make sure I built the process in.

After a while, my build and break dry fire practice was the whole shot process without stopping. Then, the trick was getting out to the flat range with live fire, and then out in the field in actual field positions.

And, to your point of learning to run the bolt, you are both 100% right. Based on the same things you are constantly preaching, I practiced bolt manipulation. I figured out what It is an amazing feeling to confidently put a second shot into the vitals of an elk when you can press the trigger the second time when you see the impact, see it "hump up", hear the thump, and send another knowing that it isn't preparing to take a step.

I think there a lots of other shooters out there who can benefit from breaking it down like I do. As I have shot with friends and shown them, it helps to be able to break it down for them. What pisses me off is that some friends can start doing it right off without all the practice I had to put into it.

 

[Stu]

break at 90°

What does this portion of trigger control refer to?

 

[Formidilosus]

What does this portion of trigger control refer to?

At the exact moment the trigger breaks, the pressure must be absolutely perpendicular to the travel- 90° to trigger travel. No pressure laterally or angled.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Need another option for “other”.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

My thought process, which happens very quickly… It’s the “S’s”.

.Shoulder (rifle properly into the shoulder and body position square as possible).
.Sight (index and pre-aim taking into account a moving target as needed. The animal should be in your sight picture as soon as you bring your eye in).
.Steady (breathe and hold while making final adjustment onto target).
.Shot (steady pressure on the trigger until it breaks).
.Secondary (stay on target, run the action, repeat the last 3 S’s, “shot” may not need to be repeated.

Easy to remember and practice the 5 S’s.

 

[sierracharlie338]

Spray and pray for me all day errrday…..

 

[TaperPin]

There’s a training technique for active trigger control that isn’t talked about much, but some shooters are seeing benefits with. It’s called active trigger control, because the idea is to get better at knowing when to squeeze the shot off, and not just weave around on target any more than necessary.

The drill is to have a steel target sized so as the crosshairs cross the boundary of the circle you can take the shot and can make 10 out of ten shots in the circle. Then the circle is shrunk by 25% or so, making it harder. The idea continues to be squeezing the trigger as you just cross into the circle, so it requires the gun be ready to shoot as you bring the target into view, with light trigger contact. As the target shrinks it shows the shooter how small of an aiming area he needs to stay within to make the shot and to condition the ol’ gray matter to fire the first time, rather than weaving back and forth over the target multiple times.

The electronic Scatt trigger control trainer has really caught my eye this year - it attaches to any rifle or pistol and is activated by movement and “fired” by firing pin fall. It doesn’t tell experienced shooters a whole lot, we already are quite aware of the stages of movement, but seems like a great training aid for anyone trying to improve trigger control.

The green shows barrel movement as you’re getting on target and the yellow is the second or so just before you’re brain tells the finger to move. The blue is the fraction of a second between when your brain says fire and the shot actually breaks - this is the most interesting part to me. Finally, red is the follow through.

 

[hereinaz]

My thought process, which happens very quickly… It’s the “S’s”.

.Shoulder (rifle properly into the shoulder and body position square as possible).
.Sight (index and pre-aim taking into account a moving target as needed. The animal should be in your sight picture as soon as you bring your eye in).
.Steady (breathe and hold while making final adjustment onto target).
.Shot (steady pressure on the trigger until it breaks).
.Secondary (stay on target, run the action, repeat the last 3 S’s, “shot” may not need to be repeated.

Easy to remember and practice the 5 S’s.

I like the 5 SS

 

[The Fish Box]

personally I like to yank and pray but only if I am shooting free-hand at 1000 yards.

 

[northernalpine]

“Yank and pray” sounds like my general thought process as a teenager.

I like the “reset and prep” verbiage, I’ve always focused on follow through post shot to reacquire and assess, but haven’t drilled auto-prep. Good comments on this thread

 

[hereinaz]

There’s a training technique for active trigger control that isn’t talked about much, but some shooters are seeing benefits with. It’s called active trigger control, because the idea is to get better at knowing when to squeeze the shot off, and not just weave around on target any more than necessary.

The drill is to have a steel target sized so as the crosshairs cross the boundary of the circle you can take the shot and can make 10 out of ten shots in the circle. Then the circle is shrunk by 25% or so, making it harder. The idea continues to be squeezing the trigger as you just cross into the circle, so it requires the gun be ready to shoot as you bring the target into view, with light trigger contact. As the target shrinks it shows the shooter how small of an aiming area he needs to stay within to make the shot and to condition the ol’ gray matter to fire the first time, rather than weaving back and forth over the target multiple times.

The electronic Scatt trigger control trainer has really caught my eye this year - it attaches to any rifle or pistol and is activated by movement and “fired” by firing pin fall. It doesn’t tell experienced shooters a whole lot, we already are quite aware of the stages of movement, but seems like a great training aid for anyone trying to improve trigger control.

The green shows barrel movement as you’re getting on target and the yellow is the second or so just before you’re brain tells the finger to move. The blue is the fraction of a second between when your brain says fire and the shot actually breaks - this is the most interesting part to me. Finally, red is the follow through.


View attachment 656236

I think this is the coolest thing! I have seen it before too. If it weren’t a ton of money I would buy one to play with and train up.

I even thought about a bore sight laser and this glow in the dark paper that you can draw on with a laser pointer my daughter had. Would be fun to watch and get feedback.

 

[TaperPin]

I think this is the coolest thing! I have seen it before too. If it weren’t a ton of money I would buy one to play with and train up.

I even thought about a bore sight laser and this glow in the dark paper that you can draw on with a laser pointer my daughter had. Would be fun to watch and get feedback.

I wish a friend would get one so I don’t have to! *chuckle*

There’s a number of 3-position Olympic style Scatt videos and it’s interesting just watching someone use it, especially the 2/10th of second blue trace. Some highly ranked shooters have a relatively straight blue trace before the shot that just transitions directly into a long fairly straight follow through, while others actually show rifle corrections in the blue trace back toward the center. I did not expect to see that, and it was equally surprising that both styles produce top shooters.

I had to pick up a gun to see which style I am - as soon as the trigger breaks I’m automatically just letting the rifle float where it wants to go into follow through.

One olympic shooter has a trigger pull timed so the barrel is changing direction horizontally at every shot - he purposely starts from the right, swings left and shoots like cracking a whip in slow motion. His blue trace is consistently about half movement left and half right. I don’t know how well that translates into field shooting, but it was interesting.

 

[hereinaz]

I wish a friend would get one so I don’t have to! *chuckle*

There’s a number of 3-position Olympic style Scatt videos and it’s interesting just watching someone use it, especially the 2/10th of second blue trace. Some highly ranked shooters have a relatively straight blue trace before the shot that just transitions directly into a long fairly straight follow through, while others actually show rifle corrections in the blue trace back toward the center. I did not expect to see that, and it was equally surprising that both styles produce top shooters.

I had to pick up a gun to see which style I am - as soon as the trigger breaks I’m automatically just letting the rifle float where it wants to go into follow through.

One olympic shooter has a trigger pull timed so the barrel is changing direction horizontally at every shot - he purposely starts from the right, swings left and shoots like cracking a whip in slow motion. His blue trace is consistently about half movement left and half right. I don’t know how well that translates into field shooting, but it was interesting.

I wonder how much the shooters could describe what they are doing before the SCATT. For precision shooting, which long range requires, knowing the process is part of good shooting IMO, unless you are a natural.

I think just focusing on that moment in time during build and break with dry fire so you understand what a wobble is and then to test through different things. I am no pro, but I made huge initial gains cause I sucked. I am still trying to learn.

Hence the question.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Follow-through is referred to as the forgotten fundamental by a lot of instructors. I definitely need to get better at it, among many other fundamentals since I've been away from shooting for years. So I'm in the freeze camp right now trying to get to the pin to the rear crowd. I've sold off all of my lightweight guns for now and all of mine are heavy.

Rifle details (Both in 6.5CM so I mix and match their attachments to tailor them how I want for specific hunts):

Chambered in 6.5CM with either 16.5" steel or 22" carbon barrel
The type of rifles would be precision rifle for both and both have KRG chassis (Whiskey-3/X-Ray) on them
Weight is anywhere between 11# to 16# depending on which chassis/scope I have on the one I'm hunting with
Both of them have Huber two-stage triggers set at 2#

 

[TaperPin]

I wonder how much the shooters could describe what they are doing before the SCATT. For precision shooting, which long range requires, knowing the process is part of good shooting IMO, unless you are a natural.

I think just focusing on that moment in time during build and break with dry fire so you understand what a wobble is and then to test through different things. I am no pro, but I made huge initial gains cause I sucked. I am still trying to learn.

Hence the question.

That is a good question.

As a teenager I can remember offhand shooting 22 silhouette gun using brute force and just trying to hover over the center of target long enough to feel confident of the shot. Eventually it just seemed natural to come onto the target from 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock and take the shot, but I had no idea then if it was “correct”, it just worked.

I was never a natural, but I was lucky enough to be able to shoot a lot from the front porch growing up any time I felt like it. I‘ve wondered how kids today who want to shoot well can find enough trigger time. Maybe PCP air guns, laser trainers, dry firing and 22 lr trainers?

In our family there’s a noticeable decline in shooting for fun, and I’m starting a collection of loaner equipment to encourage whoever wants to use it.

 

[JohnJohnson]

22 lr trainers?

That's the route I've gone. Within a few days I'll have my .22lr trainer re-assembled and good to go. I went overboard as I do with everything shooting related but it'll be a carbon copy of my centerfires in basically every way.

 

[TaperPin]

That's the route I've gone. Within a few days I'll have my .22lr trainer re-assembled and good to go. I went overboard as I do with everything shooting related but it'll be a carbon copy of my centerfires in basically every way.

Cool - what did you get?