Owen
Moderator Emeritus
About a month ago I went to Gunsite and picked up some interesting training techniques.
In all cases the purpose of the technique is to prove to the shooter that they have an issue with trigger control. We all know that there are two things that have to happen to hit a target: Point the gun at the right place on the target and pull the trigger without moving the gun.
WARNING! All of these techniques involve two people operating the same gun at the same time! BE CAREFUL!!
The first technique I have seen before, but I don't recall ever seeing it posted here. At 5 yards or so, have the shooter aim at the target with their finger in register. Put one hand on their shoulder to steady them, and carefully place your finger on the trigger. When the shooter gives the word, pull the trigger to the rear to fire the gun. Push against their shoulder with equal presure so you don't push them too much. If the shooter is a big guy, you can probably do without the hand on the shoulder. The woman I was working with at Gunsite was tiny, and the 6 pounds or so of force i put on the trigger was enough to move the gun significantly. Repeat several times. If you did your job with a smooth trigger pull, the shooter will likely be amazed at that tiny little group on the paper. OK, not tiny, but probably one of the better groups they shot all day. You may see a slight gleaming of understanding in their eye. A seed that maybe something is wrong with the way they pull the trigger has been planted.
The next drill is the similar to the first, but make sure you stand on the shooters support side, as opposed to the gun side. Set up the same way as above, but rather than pulling the trigger for the shooter, place your finger on the trigger, and have the shooter place their finger on top of your finger. Have them press on your finger to fire the gun. Oddly the shooter isn't as likely to slap the trigger in this condition. In addition, if they do slap the trigger you'll know about it, and can criticise right away! I don't understand exactly why this works but it does. Once again, they will find they shoot a small group. If you have very good trigger technique (my technique is pretty good due to years of bullseye and airpistol), having the trainee run this drill with you (trainer is shooting, and trainee is placing finger between trigger and trigger finger) can be very educational for them. At gunskul, the woman I was working with was fairly green, and this is the point when it really struck her that she was brutally mistreating that trigger! When I had my finger on the trigger and she was pulling it, she was actually hurting me she was snatching it so hard!
The third drill is more of a mindgame than anything else. For me it seemed to point out how badly you were moving the gun with poor trigger technique and how ,hmmm, forgiving the location of the aligned sights on the target really is. That is, if the sights are aligned with each other, the location of the aiming point on the target is not that important. Maybe there is another lesson to be learned, but I thought that was what the point was. Ed Stock, the rangemaster said there would be folks in the class that wouldn't believe what had happened, and sure enough there were. In fact, one guy was adamant that the the instructor was doing something that wasn't obvious to make the shots good and essentially refused to believe what had just happened. Here is what you do. Tt 3 or 5 yards (yeah close, but we are talking about gunfighting here!) have the shooter draw and point at the target. Grab one of their arms and wiggle it, oh 2 or 3 inches or so. Up-down, left-right, circles, squares, dodecahedrons, it doesn't really matter. The shooter's job is to keep the sights aligned with each other and pull the trigger carefully. You should find that all of the shots are good hits. It really is pretty amazing!
As a final caveat, please remember that there are two people handling the same gun in all of these exercises, so please, please, please be careful.
In all cases the purpose of the technique is to prove to the shooter that they have an issue with trigger control. We all know that there are two things that have to happen to hit a target: Point the gun at the right place on the target and pull the trigger without moving the gun.
WARNING! All of these techniques involve two people operating the same gun at the same time! BE CAREFUL!!
The first technique I have seen before, but I don't recall ever seeing it posted here. At 5 yards or so, have the shooter aim at the target with their finger in register. Put one hand on their shoulder to steady them, and carefully place your finger on the trigger. When the shooter gives the word, pull the trigger to the rear to fire the gun. Push against their shoulder with equal presure so you don't push them too much. If the shooter is a big guy, you can probably do without the hand on the shoulder. The woman I was working with at Gunsite was tiny, and the 6 pounds or so of force i put on the trigger was enough to move the gun significantly. Repeat several times. If you did your job with a smooth trigger pull, the shooter will likely be amazed at that tiny little group on the paper. OK, not tiny, but probably one of the better groups they shot all day. You may see a slight gleaming of understanding in their eye. A seed that maybe something is wrong with the way they pull the trigger has been planted.
The next drill is the similar to the first, but make sure you stand on the shooters support side, as opposed to the gun side. Set up the same way as above, but rather than pulling the trigger for the shooter, place your finger on the trigger, and have the shooter place their finger on top of your finger. Have them press on your finger to fire the gun. Oddly the shooter isn't as likely to slap the trigger in this condition. In addition, if they do slap the trigger you'll know about it, and can criticise right away! I don't understand exactly why this works but it does. Once again, they will find they shoot a small group. If you have very good trigger technique (my technique is pretty good due to years of bullseye and airpistol), having the trainee run this drill with you (trainer is shooting, and trainee is placing finger between trigger and trigger finger) can be very educational for them. At gunskul, the woman I was working with was fairly green, and this is the point when it really struck her that she was brutally mistreating that trigger! When I had my finger on the trigger and she was pulling it, she was actually hurting me she was snatching it so hard!
The third drill is more of a mindgame than anything else. For me it seemed to point out how badly you were moving the gun with poor trigger technique and how ,hmmm, forgiving the location of the aligned sights on the target really is. That is, if the sights are aligned with each other, the location of the aiming point on the target is not that important. Maybe there is another lesson to be learned, but I thought that was what the point was. Ed Stock, the rangemaster said there would be folks in the class that wouldn't believe what had happened, and sure enough there were. In fact, one guy was adamant that the the instructor was doing something that wasn't obvious to make the shots good and essentially refused to believe what had just happened. Here is what you do. Tt 3 or 5 yards (yeah close, but we are talking about gunfighting here!) have the shooter draw and point at the target. Grab one of their arms and wiggle it, oh 2 or 3 inches or so. Up-down, left-right, circles, squares, dodecahedrons, it doesn't really matter. The shooter's job is to keep the sights aligned with each other and pull the trigger carefully. You should find that all of the shots are good hits. It really is pretty amazing!
As a final caveat, please remember that there are two people handling the same gun in all of these exercises, so please, please, please be careful.
