What a Fucked Day at Work

[deanmine]

i found this...
As a general rule a serious use pistol should have a trigger no lighter than 4 pounds and ideally no more than 6 pounds. Average shooters will generally shoot a pistol with the same trigger pull weight from shot to shot better than a double action/single action pistol that has a long and relatively heavy first trigger pull followed by lighter and shorter trigger pull for each following shot. A perfect example would be a Glock 17 with a factory stock trigger that weighs approx 5 pounds and is the same for each shot vs a Beretta M9 with a double action first trigger pull of approx 13 lbs and a 5 lb single action trigger for each shot after. Although DA/SA guns can be mastered the average shooter will definately shoot a pistol like a Glock better than a Beretta.

In addition a trigger below 4 lbs can easily lead to accidental discharges under conditions of stress. Remember fine motor skills degrade rapidly and not only does the shooters ability to shoot accurately suffer but because of this a 4 lb trigger will feel like a 2 lb trigger when you are truly in fear for your life. Add into this sweaty hands, rain and/or cold, and possibly gloves and you begin to see why finely tuned match triggers of 3 lbs or less have no place on a serious fighting tool.

Another disturbing trend is for Law Enforcement agencies to put very heavy trigger on their issue service pistol for liability reasons. The most famous example is the Glock New York trigger that weighs approx 8 lbs and even worse is the New York plus that has a trigger pull weight of 12 lbs. Remember if your pistol weighs 2 lbs loaded and you have an 8 pound trigger pull it will take 4 times the loaded weight of the the handgun to make it fire. This means for the typical shooter it is virtually impossible to shoot the weapon accurately under stress. This leads to misses and an unintentional spray and pray approach when in a gunfight. The danger to innocent bystanders is increased dramatically and the very thing that was meant to make the pistol safer ( heavy trigger pull ) actually increases the danger to the public that LE officers are sworn to protect. This sad state of affairs started as a byproduct of LE agencies that issued revolvers and relied on the long heavy double action trigger pull as a safety device. This lead to the unsafe habit of allowing officers to have their finger on the trigger when they should not. Enter a stock Glock 17 with a 5 lb trigger and no manual safeties of any kind and you have a recipe for disaster. A much better approach is to train and if need be re-train officers to keep their finger off the trigger at all times except when presenting the weapon toward the target. Always keep in mind that a mechanical device is a poor substitute for safe gun handling.

Proper trigger manipulation is key to accurate pistol shooting – some like me argue it is the most important factor when learning to shoot a handgun. For this reason alone trigger characteristics and pull weight deserve careful consideration when selecting a weapon to bet your life on.

[deanmine]

that was interesting

[Illusion]

Someone did something to cause the gun to go off. It didn't just happen on it's own.

[deanmine]

well.. ofcourse

[OhJstFkOffAlrdy]

That's why I very much appreciate a good 1911 with a beavertail grip safety, deanmine. Not only do you have to have the slide safety disengaged -- and working it results in a very noticeable 'click' that is unmistakable -- to fire it or even so much as work the action, but the beavertail on the backstrap means that you have to have a full grip on the weapon to fully depress the trigger. Comine this with a single-action operation and it becomes that much harder to have an accidental discharge with one even if the weapon is in full battery.

I've never been a fan of DA/SA triggers for the exact reasons that were listed above in your post. The first shot fired is the one that makes everything "real," and any subsequent shots -- if needed -- should feel the same as the first. The last thing someone needs to be doing in a gunfight is playing guessing games with their own weapon. Plus the more time you spend pulling the trigger, the more time you have to fuck up your shot.

On a related note, one of the reasons I absolutely despise Glocks is that most of them -- if not all of them -- don't have external hammers, so it's impossible to tell just by looking at the weapon if it's cocked or not. Decockers are all fine and good, but it's much easier to work an external hammer with a spur if you're comfortable handling your weapon.

[deanmine]

i just hate when it has a loop around the trigger... i got fat fingers.

u know it may have been a situation where.. if the weight of the firearm is heaver than the pressure needed to pull the trigger.. it could have snagged itself in the gun to or.. she chick just grabbed it never thinkin of the destruction awaiting her

[OhJstFkOffAlrdy]

Originally Posted by deanmine

i just hate when it has a loop around the trigger... i got fat fingers

Get a gun with a bigger loop. They make 'em. That loop -- AKA the trigger guard -- is the first component of a "safe" firearm.