Trigger Press Test

The proper flow and extent of rearward pressure on the trigger, required by the shooter, remains a stumbling block to 99% of all handgunners. I do not mean to engage in hyperbole. It's 99%. Very few shooters control the trigger all the way through the available travel of the trigger. They think they are doing it, but in reality they are squeezing as hard as they can, as fast as they can, beginning at about the 4/10ths of the way home. This is done because the shooters, at least subconsciously believe that ending the pull will stop the wobbling and immediately dispatch the bullet. As I said in the book, we can quicken the trigger press, but we can't shorten the trigger process. The trigger is going all the way back whether the shooter controls it or not. What we don't control is left  to chance, and as marksmanship is a matter of fractions of an inch, most shooters will abandon marksmanship in the middle of the press, and never know why they miss. Since marksmanship is about sighting, it stands to reason that jerking the trigger faster than we can see it, makes us blind shooters.

Here's the trigger presss test:

Fire the best shot you can onto a target, using perfect sighting. Without looking where the round struck, call it. That is, do you know exactly where the round went without actually examing the target. If you don't know, you weren't focusing on the front sight tip at the instant the handgun was fired. Which means, despite what other problems you may need  to work on, you were unable to read the sights and stop the press because the press was quicker than you could see. It's that simple.

Good shooting.