In the world of gun enthusiasts, a lot of people conflate “good trigger pull” with “light trigger pull.” On disciplined firing lines in matches where you may be shooting at tiny bulls-eyes a long distance away, the two may go together. However, in defensive firearms a too-light trigger pull can be a recipe for disaster.
I’ve been preaching for decades that the vasoconstriction which accompanies fight-or-flight response (blood flow being redirected from extremities into internal organs to “fuel the furnace” for extreme survival exertion) robs the fingers of dexterity at the same time it is greatly increasing physical strength, including in those same fingers. “I’ll keep my booger hooker off the bang switch” doesn’t always work when our brain thinks we’re going to possibly have to fire RIGHT NOW to save our life. Put it all together, and you get a premature shot that could have tragic results.
If you don’t want to take my word for it, hear from 1911 pistol master and Delta Force combat veteran Larry Vickers on that topic.
I’m a fan of the 1911 pistol. One of mine, a Jim Clark Custom long-slide, has a 2.5 pound trigger and won a lot of matches for me back in the day. I’d never think of carrying it on the street. I agree with Vickers on the 4.0 pound minimum for a street 1911, and the only reason it has become acceptable at that weight is because the 1911 design incorporates both thumb safety and grip safety. With a striker fired “point gun, pull trigger”pistol, Glock set the standard: 5.5 pounds minimum for anything but a target pistol. When I went through Glock Armorer’s School I was told that if I put a 3.5 or 4.5 pound connector into a Glock that was meant for self-defense instead of target shooting, I could expect my certification to be revoked. Accordingly, none of the Glocks I carry are less than 5.5 pounds trigger pull weight. Getting back to the 1911s, when Ed Brown Custom did the Massad Ayoob Signature Model .45 defense pistol fifteen years ago, I specified a minimum of 4.5 pounds trigger pull and asked for my own to have a five pound pull.
Yes, there are reasons…
AMEN, Brother.!!!!
As I got formal training and experience in defensive firearms applications my attitude on trigger weight changed. The first involved double action revolvers and I discovered that one can, in fact, do good work with stock-if somewhat worn-triggers. You neither need nor want light triggers for real world work. A good trigger moves smoothly, not necessarily lightly.
The way I’ve expressed this to some folks is that your attitude on triggers changes the first time you stack on a door for a dynamic entry. Unless maybe you’re the last person in the stack. It presents a perspective a lot of folks have never considered.
Now then, I got that training with my employer picking up the ammo bills. You can-in accordance with the owner instruction manual-dry fire at considerably less expense. Snap caps are a good idea. Think of it as a physical fitness program for your hands/digits. Work both hands.
Regardless of trigger weight or what you’re doing, muzzle awareness is right up there with trigger digit placement as job #1 all the time.
BTW, cold and/or gloved hands have pretty much the same loss of touch affect. Isotoner or capeskin gloves can help, but sometimes that’s not enough protection.
Having experimented (with a Glock), I have found that I get a point of impact difference with gloves. This makes training difficult. Thus I avoided gloves in all but extreme conditions.
How do you describe the difference between a stock Glock 5.5 trigger, versus the combination of New York Trigger (original, not NYT PLUS) with 3.5 pound connector. Do you still like that combination?
Yes. It 3.5 connector plus NY-1 spring unit brings a Glock pull into the six-pound range and is very smooth. Glock has approved the combination for many years.
And remember, that the NY 1 spring, and minus connector will only work on Gen 1, 2, and 3 Glocks. At a GSSF match, Glock master armorer Chris Lamm tried that (at my request) in a Gen 4 G41. It worked, but felt worse than the orange NY2 plus spring, with a plus connector. After one stage I we reverted back to the standard trigger spring, and changed the minus connector to a standard 5.5# connector.
Agreed. The slight dimensional changes inside the Gen4 Glocks to allow for the interchangeable backstraps makes the Gen4 and the NY-1 a terrible combination in my opinion. The Gen5 in my opinion has the best street trigger Glock has ever put in a pistol and doesn’t need the NY-1.
The 4.5 lb to 6 lb range for semi-auto handguns generally makes very good sense from safety and accuracy standpoints. Howdy Doody might have preferred the lower limb bullet strike and found that aiming at center of mass with a heavy trigger gave a higher percentage of hits below the knee. Trigger resistance in a side-by-side 12 gauge fired in the air for intimidation effect by Howdy might have a wider safety range. Except for Arizona legal prohibitions vs. firing in the air, and associated penalties. For my bolt-action high powered rifles I have always preferred 3.5 lbs. Standardizing all the triggers to 4.5 lbs might be a good idea? Then there is the idea that any modification away from stock level trigger pressure creates liability issues. And the heavier resistance of my double-action-only stacking revolver trigger doesn’t bother me. Just feels safer to carry, especially at the appendix.
Well said
Mas, thank you for emphasizing in a recent MAG-20 class the importance of trigger weight on a carry pistol. If anyone doesnt believe the physiological dangers of a too-light trigger, watch “Fruitvale Station” a true story in which 22 year old Oscar Grant was negligently shot in the back by a clearly agitated and inexperienced SFPD officer during a chaotic situation in a BART train station on New Year’s Eve, and lost his life. Mas, after our discussion, my new carry gun is a drop-safe CZ-P01 with a 6 lb DA trigger, carried hammer down.
Lessons learned in MAG40/80. None of my pistols have less than a 4 1/2 lb pull and my hammer fired models are 8 lb on DA. I keep them (Beretta/SIG) on decock when I carry any of them.
I like 6 lbs, just because I like the ‘I can back out of this’ option, if need be. I grew on revolvers, so I’m used to that weight pull. And with proper training, it’s no big deal. In fact, because of being a revolver guy, I became very fond of the DAK system on Sigs. I know a lot of folks love to hate it, but if you’re a wheelgunner, it’s basically a ‘same revolver pull every time’ except on a 13 pistol (at least in .40 or .357 Sig).
no “aftermarket” customization, outta the box, into the holster…
epstein didn’t kill himself…
I have found that consistent and smooth triggers on defensive handguns and rifles are more important than a light break. The only firearms where I prefer a light and crisp trigger are on rifles used for long shots on game.
Mas, you saw what I did today, with my competition G45. (swapped the Glock OEM Performance trigger for the original stock trigger) Now I have 2 identical pistols with excellent Gen 5 standard stock triggers. They are both useful for competition AND self defense. Now I can add a striker control device to the second gun as well. (they don’t work with the OEM Performance trigger) That performance trigger averaged right at 2# on my Lyman trigger pull gauge. (Glocks says it should be 4.5#) It was fun using it for competition, but what if it was the only gun available when needed for self defense. That is no longer a problem.
What do you think of the current trend to have most of the weight of the trigger limited to the very last bit of motion before the striker is released (“hitting the wall”)? Many people seem to want the trigger to be like that so they can adjust their aim just before the shot breaks. And maybe also it’s related to having a short and distinct reset for more rapid firing.
I suppose it’s no more a safety issue than having a single-action trigger of that weight, albeit one with a long take-up and maybe an inner trigger-blade instead of a thumb-safety.
I always assumed that the biggest danger of grossly missing in a gunfight was due to flinching, and that flinching was most easily avoided with either a trigger that was pure single-action and crisp (“breaks like a glass rod”), or one that had a smooth and steady increase in resistance across the entire motion (like a tuned Smith & Wesson revolver). But maybe I’m just an old fogey.
ON 1911’S, I WANT 5-5.5#. MY LARGER ISSUE WITH THE 1911 IS SLOP IN THE TRIGGER. I WANT IT TO MOVE ONLY IN TWO DIRECTIONS, PRESS AND RESET. NO UP AND DOWN OR SIDE TO SIDE. I HAVE FIRED ONLY ONE 1911 PATTERN PISTOL WITH SUCH A TRIGGER AND IT WAS GREAT. RIGHT AT 4.25# IIRC. NEVER OWNED THIS TYPE PISTOL WITH A TRIGGER LIKE THAT. ON STRIKER FIRED GUNS, 5-6# IS FINE, MAYBE EVEN A BIT MORE. GOOD NIGHT SIGHTS HELP. BASICALLY LEAVE THE GUN ALONE AFTER THAT AND SPEND THE MONEY ON AMMO, TO, AS EVAN MARSHALL USED TO SAY, TRY TO WEAR THE GUN OUT, LOL !
Nobody has mentioned it, so I’ll just put my head in the noose:
How can you have a trigger pull when there’s no trigger?
I’m looking at that picture of the Ed Brown Ayoob Signature 1911A1, and I’ll be durned if I can see a trigger. What’s up? Was it airbrushed (digitally) out to provide a nice background?
Enquiring minds (well, at least me) want to know.
Esteemed Frank Silberman, in pure target shooting one at a time I have learned not to try to keep the sights straight steady, but to relax and describe the tightest possible circle with the front sight within the center of the target, and let steady pressure increase decide when to finally trip the trigger. Reason being that controlling a circle is helps avoid being at the mercy of any trembling hands or jumping heartbeat. When shooting a charging bear, especially at short range, all I have had to do is make sure to relax and not jerk the trigger while keeping the front sight aligned with the rear sight. The issue of controlling sighting within target circles has never seemed to obtain while lining up on a hostile bear, and the bullets always seem to fly where they are aimed. Shooting double-tap with a pistol involves a certain amount of judgement on how to correct from the recoil from the first shot. I believe that relaxation is still paramount, though.
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