Trigger Finger

[golfrj]

Hey Gang, any more of the Large Hands crowd fire the gun with the 1st joint/second pad area for comfort? I find that when using a smaller pistol it is Way more comfortable to position my trigger finger on the first joint, does not cause a problem as I am only keeping smaller pistols now.. I know that the Revolver Folks used to do this also.. Any Comments?

[jocko]

my comment is, if it works good for u, then indeed stick with it. don'tchange because of us..Sometimes I think these small ass guns have maybe even redefined proper finger placement etc.

[KoolBreeze]

Yup. After trying it both ways, I've settled on the first joint as well. It's just way more comfortable for me due to large hands.

[yqtszhj]

Do it all the time. works for me and generally I hit what I aim at

[phil413tx]

First joint for me as well

[golfrj]

Great, maybe I'm Not as Strange as I thought.. (Wait, what was the question again?)

[muggsy]

You can't beat success. If it work for you why change it? Why even question it?

[ESAFO]

same here that part of my finger is like a magnet to the trigger, i never even think about finger placement it just happens to land there so i go with it.

[Planedude]

You can't beat success. If it work for you why change it? Why even question it?

X2 for me, if it works for you.

Oddly enough I use the first joint shooting shotguns (Trap & Skeet) but I use the finger pad shooting pistols. I find pulling pistol triggers at the joint tends to make me shoot slightly low and right (think 3 o'clock).
That said, shooting at SD distance, if I trigger pulled at the joint in a rush, the bad guy is still going to have a very bad day...
Kind of like your Bowling forum, every succesful bowler has a way of rolling the ball that works for them and if I tried the same it would gutter every time on me.

Like Muggsy said "You can't beat success".

[Matthew L.]

I am about the same way. I have very large hands. I agree that whatever is comfortable for you to do is what you should stick with. Find what works and stick with it.

[KoolBreeze]

The main thing is that you pull the trigger straight back in such a way that doesn't cause the end of the muzzle to move off target. And even then, that isn't "that" critical in a self defense situation, as you aren't likely to be aiming at anything when you pull the trigger. Instead you'll be pointing the pistol at your attacker and won't be thinking about shot placement at all.

We all like to hit where we aim and pride ourselves on how tight of a group we can shoot with a particular pistol. But to me it's more important to practice point shooting with a SD pistol than it is to target shoot with it. Just be careful and don't shot yourself in the leg on a quick draw like a guy did a video I recently saw posted somewhere.

[getsome]

Using the first joint is the ONLY way I can shoot my PM40 and I have smallish to medium hands...The reason is just like a j frame revolver you have such a long trigger pull and a very small grip to hold onto that it's darn near impossible to try and use the first pad like on a larger pistol with a full grip and not move the muzzle off target, the mechanics of the hand just won't allow it for most people......

When I first started shooting my CW40 then later the PM40 I couldn't hit the side of a barn from inside....The range NRA instructor/curmudgeon kept after me to use the pad of the trigger finger like he had been taught but I kept having terrible groups that were low left with both the Kahr and j frame .38 until on my own I went back to what felt best which was the first joint and now I can shoot both pistols pretty good at self defense ranges so thats what works best for me and I'm sticking with it...

Now that being said, with my M&P .40 full size and the 1911 with their short light trigger pulls I go back to what the instructors all say and use the trigger finger pad and it works.....Best thing to do is find what really works best for you and use that....Like golf or bowling, if you keep trying to change your stance, grip or swing you might do ok one time and terrible the next so find something that works and practice practice practice that until it's second nature...

[TheTman]

Small hands here, usually the pad of my finger is on the trigger, I don't have long enough fingers to reach the trigger with the first joint of my finger. That has been working for me for many years now.

[Barth]

Sadly I have small girl sized hands.
I can shoot large pistols well.
Although I sometimes have to adjust my grip to hit the slide/mag release.
It's so automatic I really don't notice or think about it.
Trigger finger is usually just the outside pad or joint depending on the gun.
I shoot a variety of different size guns with varying controls and ergonomics.
So I naturally adjust without thinking about it.

When I read about trigger finger, grip, even shooting stance?
I have to think twice about how I do it.

[getsome]

There was a Pro Golfer in the 30's named Ralph Guldahl that was the Tiger Woods of his day....Guldahl won several of the top golf tournaments including the U.S. open...

Ralph had a sweet swing and was one of the best golfers of his day until a guy wanted to do a "How To" book on him complete with hundreds of photographs a reader would flip through to make a kind of video of Ralphs swing...The book was published after two months of work and Ralph returned to the Pro Golf Circuit but found he had lost his swing in the process of trying to tell readers how he did it...Ralph Guldahl was never again the same golfer and later gave up the sport to sell used cars.....

Moral of this story is, Do what works for you and don't over think the process...