Trigger
Squeeze
Consider this, "The Quick and Dirty Guide to a perfect trigger squeeze.
You’ve heard it all before, "the key to good shooting is squeezing and not pulling the trigger...
Well, that is very true. When you dry fire, please make sure that the firearm is unloaded and pointed in a safe direction. Physically unload the weapon and verify visually that the weapon is unloaded and the chamber is empty, and physically with the tip of the little finger inserted into the chamber.
Now, when dry firing, you can use a "Snap-Cap" to make sure you do not damage certain types of firearms. Use of the Snap-Cap, merely going through the motions of inserting it will also be safer. If the Snap-Cap is in the chamber, you know nothing else is.
With a Revolver, you will need 5 or 6 Snap-Caps, depending on the specific model, 7 if you are practicing with newer Smith & Wesson .357 Magnums.
If you are practicing for Defensive purposes, practice on Double Action Only with the revolver.
Semi-Automatics are something else entirely. A Glock will have to have the slide manually operated every time the trigger is depressed.
A Single Action Semi-Automatic like 1911s and variants as well as the Browning Hi-Power will have to be thumb-cocked every time.
Double Action Semi-Automatics like the Sig-Sauer in this picture, you can practice the Double Action Stroke which is harder to master than the Single Action. You can also practice the Single Action on pistols like these by thumb-cocking them, but in general, if you can shoot them well on Double Action, that will carry over to Single Action. It has for me personally.
Again, make sure the firearm is unloaded and use a Snap-Cap if you can to
take it easy on the firearm and for safety reasons.
Raise the firearm up to chest level with the barrel parallel to the floor and place a dime right behind the front sight, center it.
Now, bring the firearm up to eye level.
Now, squeeze slow, even and steady. Watch what happens.
If the dime immediately falls off, you have your work cut out for you. If you can dry fire about six rounds, that’s good. Get to where you can do a minimum of twelve rounds in a row. Then you can speed up the squeeze.
After this, move to a nickel or a quarter. This becomes even more tricky and the coin will be very sensitive to your movement. There is more metal [in the coin] hanging over the flattened balance point, therefore, it is easier to drop one of these coins.
Repeat the whole procedure just like you did with the dime.
Move up to half dollars and then the full size "silver" dollar [most are not silver anymore after 1965, but...]
These will be the hardest because you have even more metal hanging over the edges of the slide/barrel.
I’m sort of waffling on this point, the dime is hard as well because they are very thin. I’ve lost track a long, long time ago as to which is the hardest. I just use both now.
You might find if you are locked in, rock solid that you can dry fire with a Double Action trigger up to 30 times in a row. Maybe you are better than I am and you can do more than that.
Eventually, because of the natural vibration of the firearm being dry fired, sooner or later, the coin will teeter and fall. That’s just natural. Not your fault.
You can practice strong hand, weak hand and both hands obviously, and you should. I use a slight [Cirillo] cant when I shoot weak handed and obviously, you cannot practice that with a coin balanced on the slide/barrel. Just get your weak hand’s trigger finger trained and then when you actually shoot, if you use this technique like I do, practice it live fire on the range.
I should not have to say this, but I have to nowadays. The Internet is a HUGE world. DO NOT practice unless you follow the safety rules, step by step. If you’re a kid and some family member owns firearms, etc., that’s fine. Don’t do this, OK? If you think it is neat, then show it to the Adult who owns the firearms and then follow the safety rules and then give it a spin if you like to shoot. I am not responsible for anything unsafe [STUPID] that you do with this material.
And that concludes The Quick & Dirty Guide to trigger squeeze!