[getting old]

Two of the many factors that should go into your diagnosis of trigger pull reguest are weight of the gun and travel of the trigger. Why is this ??

[Dillinger]

I don't believe weight of the gun is the weight, but actually the pull weight you wish to exert on the trigger. Greater pull weight, safer trigger, like a double action - really long first pull. Lighter weight, quicker fire time.

Example:

Hunting Rifle, one you are carrying through the woods, possibly shouldering with gloves on before taking a shot. In excess of 4# for safety.

Benchrest rifle that will be locked in place and you want the minimal disturbance prior to the shot as possible. 2 to 4 OUNCES of pressure to set it off.

As for travel of the trigger. You are talking about dwell time. The longer the trigger travel, the greater chance the barrell will wander off target prior to the round leaving the barrel.

If you have a REALLY LONG lead travel before the trigger goes bang, then you have a REALLY good chance of missing because there is a lot going on. If you have minimal travel before the trigger engages, you have less time to mess it up.

JD

[cpttango30]

Originally Posted by Dillinger

I don't believe weight of the gun is the weight, but actually the pull weight you wish to exert on the trigger. Greater pull weight, safer trigger, like a double action - really long first pull. Lighter weight, quicker fire time.

Example:

Hunting Rifle, one you are carrying through the woods, possibly shouldering with gloves on before taking a shot. In excess of 4# for safety.

Benchrest rifle that will be locked in place and you want the minimal disturbance prior to the shot as possible. 2 to 4 OUNCES of pressure to set it off.

As for travel of the trigger. You are talking about dwell time. The longer the trigger travel, the greater chance the barrell will wander off target prior to the round leaving the barrel.

If you have a REALLY LONG lead travel before the trigger goes bang, then you have a REALLY good chance of missing because there is a lot going on. If you have minimal travel before the trigger engages, you have less time to mess it up.

JD

JD has a good answer. I like a really light trigger but I suffer for safety. You don't want a 2oz trigger with no take up and zero over travel on a field rifle. Meaning that once you touch it with 2oz of weight it goes bang. For a field rifle the lightest I will go is 1.5# and to me that is pushing the safety envelope to the max. I would say go for at least 2 to 3# of trigger pull with a slight bit of take up.

[matt g]

This is my safety.



My take on trigger pull is a little different. On a semi-auto gun, too light a trigger can cause unwanted follow up shots via trigger bounce. That's why you don't usually see semi-autos tuned into the ounce range. They rarely get down below 3(ish) pounds.

JD is dead on about trigger travel and over travel though. Longer take up and longer travel result in longer time between the brain telling the finger to squeeze and the bullet leaving the barrel. This allows more time for the muzzle to wander off target.

[cpttango30]

I shot an AR with a trigger that was 1# it was the worst thing to shoot. I was double tapping or triple tapping everything in sight. No fun at all