Consistent finger position on trigger - a quest

I’ve been working on having more consistent trigger finger position on the trigger and I’ve been struggling a bit to really know where I am on the trigger. I've noticed a left/right variance in my positioning, which has led to horizontal zero shifts. I only shoot a Hammerli 215 at the moment in an effort to get more rimfire EIC points.  How do you ensure your finger position is consistent?


I’ve thought of adding something to the trigger as a tactile cue, such as gluing a single very small metal ball on the trigger blade, but was watching this Heinz Reinkemeier video and noticed the moveable rubber bands on the trigger. He has a few new videos that show this, and yes I know it's rifle shooting, but I figured if there's something to learn from it why not. My concern is the band moving in the middle of a match; it seems these rifle triggers has slots for the bands to fall into. Also the band would not help with my left/rifle positioning variance. 

Has anyone tried anything like this on a pistol? Or is there a better way to skin this cat? Appreciate any advice. 

Trigger position is one thing.  And there is an ideal.  But no matter, you still need a sense of that straight back press.  Feel it in your finger.  See it in your sights.  You can adapt different gimmicks to you gun.  The final adaptation is you.

After your shot breaks, when you reset your trigger, do you feel you finger coming off the trigger before you take up your first stage of the trigger? If so, this may cause your finger to move in undesired ways. I see many shooters finger come off the trigger completely. Not good. You should always be able to feel your finger on the trigger.

Being an old skeet shooter, I've always been in the habit of holding the trigger back after the shot (in case you have to prove that you did indeed have a misfire).

Having said that, I still have problems with horizontal stringing.

mhayford45 wrote:After your shot breaks, when you reset your trigger, do you feel you finger coming off the trigger before you take up your first stage of the trigger? If so, this may cause your finger to move in undesired ways. I see many shooters finger come off the trigger completely. Not good. You should always be able to feel your finger on the trigger.

Other than live fire, is there any way to train your finger to stay on the trigger? I noticed my finger coming off at my league shoot this past Saturday.

From what I recall, zins would recommend placing the trigger farther in toward the joint so there is less padding / more firmness between the trigger and finger; gives better responsiveness.
A mental trick I picked up for straight back pull is to imagine a string between the trigger and your nose, and pull the finger tip straight back along the string. Helps me to compress the finger instead of swiping it.

I have used a couple o-rings on triggers to promote consistency of finger placement.

I just relax my trigger finger and let the spring return the trigger with my finger. This does require a very small amount of assisting the spring to return my finger but you have to feel this.

I use the first joint. Very easy to repeat. I've never paid any mind to this sort of minute thing. I can pull the trigger with my pinky upside down and hit the target as long as my sights are aligned and I know what a solid trigger pull/break feels like. If it gives you more confidence then integrate it into your shot process. I found that when I got into this rigid mindset of I MUST have X Y Z be in the exact right spot in the exact right order before I can make my perfect shot, if, for whatever reason, I have to abridge or rush through that part of my process, it tanks my confidence.

jareds06 wrote:I use the first joint. Very easy to repeat. I've never paid any mind to this sort of minute thing. I can pull the trigger with my pinky upside down and hit the target as long as my sights are aligned and I know what a solid trigger pull/break feels like. If it gives you more confidence then integrate it into your shot process. I found that when I got into this rigid mindset of I MUST have X Y Z be in the exact right spot in the exact right order before I can make my perfect shot, if, for whatever reason, I have to abridge or rush through that part of my process, it tanks my confidence.

Thanks Jared, makes sense. Unfortunately I have short fingers and cannot easily reach that first joint to the trigger of my Hammerli.

Blazin wrote:

jareds06 wrote:I use the first joint. Very easy to repeat. I've never paid any mind to this sort of minute thing. I can pull the trigger with my pinky upside down and hit the target as long as my sights are aligned and I know what a solid trigger pull/break feels like. If it gives you more confidence then integrate it into your shot process. I found that when I got into this rigid mindset of I MUST have X Y Z be in the exact right spot in the exact right order before I can make my perfect shot, if, for whatever reason, I have to abridge or rush through that part of my process, it tanks my confidence.

Thanks Jared, makes sense. Unfortunately I have short fingers and cannot easily reach that first joint to the trigger of my Hammerli.

I think the "straight back" aspect is less important than the "nothing moves in my sight picture as the shot breaks aspect." when I pull with the first joint, it desrcibes an arc, but the most important thing is that the sight picture is not disturbed through the trigger pull.

jareds06 wrote:

Blazin wrote:

jareds06 wrote:I use the first joint. Very easy to repeat. I've never paid any mind to this sort of minute thing. I can pull the trigger with my pinky upside down and hit the target as long as my sights are aligned and I know what a solid trigger pull/break feels like. If it gives you more confidence then integrate it into your shot process. I found that when I got into this rigid mindset of I MUST have X Y Z be in the exact right spot in the exact right order before I can make my perfect shot, if, for whatever reason, I have to abridge or rush through that part of my process, it tanks my confidence.

Thanks Jared, makes sense. Unfortunately I have short fingers and cannot easily reach that first joint to the trigger of my Hammerli.

I think the "straight back" aspect is less important than the "nothing moves in my sight picture as the shot breaks aspect." when I pull with the first joint, it desrcibes an arc, but the most important thing is that the sight picture is not disturbed through the trigger pull.

Doesn’t “straight back” ensure “nothing moves…?”

I've never consciously thought about pulling "straight back" because I learned how to shoot on an M16A4. What I was taught was what a good trigger pull feels like, ie nothing moves through the shot. Once I had a few of those it became a process of replicating that feeling. The "straight back" trigger pull is probably a chicken and egg thing, or maybe a way of describing trigger pull to someone that helps them get to a certain point of competency. It may work as a visual in your head to think of it as "straight back," but I've never found a use for it and only learned about it after I was already shooting in the mid 90s at 50 yards. As an experiment, try pulling the trigger with different parts of your finger or even different fingers and try to produce a shot to where the sights don't move. In fact I've experimented with loading up the side of a 1911 trigger on purpose to see if I can produce a shot where the sights don't move. I'm almost certain there is some amount of side load on the trigger when I pull it normally. Also my trigger finger placement varies wildly from gun to gun though I try to make it end up with the right edge of the trigger in my first joint at the very least.

Blazin wrote:

jareds06 wrote:I use the first joint. Very easy to repeat. I've never paid any mind to this sort of minute thing. I can pull the trigger with my pinky upside down and hit the target as long as my sights are aligned and I know what a solid trigger pull/break feels like. If it gives you more confidence then integrate it into your shot process. I found that when I got into this rigid mindset of I MUST have X Y Z be in the exact right spot in the exact right order before I can make my perfect shot, if, for whatever reason, I have to abridge or rush through that part of my process, it tanks my confidence.

Thanks Jared, makes sense. Unfortunately I have short fingers and cannot easily reach that first joint to the trigger of my Hammerli.

Check to determine if your Hammerli is of type where this is adjustable.

See the following: