Toughts about the trigger, its shape and use.

Anschutz trigger shoe

At the last match of the year we took some time shooting different rifles to get some relative comparisons.  One such rifle I shot I found it hard to work the trigger.  Try as I might to squeeze the trigger I could not make it work for me.  Each "snap" of the trigger resulted in a downed animal.  Odd I thought to myself.

At the time the issue bothered me.  The entire pad of my finger engaged in the wide, curved trigger shoe is what felt different.  I am not going to suggest I understand the physiological make up the of the human finger pad, but for me, I like to feel the trigger pushing through all the "flesh" right to the bone.  Not sure that makes sense to anyone but I will expand.

When I shoot my gun I actually put the very tip of my finger pad on the bottom of the trigger.  Effectively I am pushing on the bottom "point" of the crescent shaped trigger shoe.  Sure, sounds odd, but it works for me.  Not only does it give me a different point of leverage, but it gives me a very certain engagement of the pad of my trigger finger.  I don't like to have 160 degrees of my finger engaged in the trigger.  I want just 5 degrees of my finger pad engaged so I can really feel what is going on.

As I think back to various exposures I had, this preference does make sense to me.  For those fortunate enough to have the 5018 Anschutz trigger, you can fit all sorts of trigger shoes to it because it has a "rail" on which the trigger staff and shoe can be fitted.  This enables adjustment forward and back as well as cant.  In short, you can hang just about anything off the trigger due to the handy rail which might be a reason so many people fit this trigger to other actions.  The caption picture came from the Anschutz website and I recall one gentleman raving about this trigger.  At the time I was a novice and I did not even try it, but I filed it away in the memory banks for this blog entry 10 years later.  Back then I was still trying to figure out how to sight in my rifle let alone the arcane world of changing out your trigger shoe!

You don't have to have an Anschutz to try this concept.  Put your finger on the very end of the trigger.  See what it feels like.  See if you can get a non "fleshy" 5 degree engagement of the trigger and whether it feels better for you.  To me it is crisper.

Tubb trigger, see article

For more on trigger technique your can read the article below.  See that they too get away from the crescent shape and strive for a smaller "contact" patch of your trigger finger.

This entry is getting a tad obscure but I am running out of new material.  If you have something you want discussed shoot me a comment.  Of course you can always use a bent nail.  :)

Enjoy!

Tubb article on trigger technique.