What is trigger finger discipline? Well, it comes up quite a bit on semi-automatic weapons that have the hammer cocked (typically done automatically), a round chambered, and the safety off. In this state, the amount of pressure needed to depress the trigger and fire the weapon is very low. If you are not ready to fire, your trigger finger should be straight, outside the trigger guard, and typically on the receiver (above the trigger guard). This behavior allows you to be safer in what is essentially called Condition 0 (round in chamber, hammer cocked, safety off).
Unfortunately, pistols and revolvers have many different operation types, complicating trigger finger discipline in various ways. Let’s cover revolvers first.
Revolvers
- Single-Action Only (SAO) Revolver: An external hammer must be manually cocked, and the trigger squeezed for the gun to fire.
- Double-Action Revolver: The gun can be fired by pulling the trigger, which in turn rotates the cylinder and releases the hammer at the appropriate time.
The first two are often combined in modern-day revolvers. I’ll denote them as an SA/DA revolver.
- Double Action Only Revolver (DAO): In this case, there is no external hammer (or a minimally visible one – typically done for concealability reasons), and the revolver only fires via the trigger pull.
The revolver summary: 1. SAO, 2. SA/DA, 3. DAO.
Firing a revolver smoothly and accurately in DA/DAO mode takes a great deal of practice. In my experience, SA/DA revolver owners almost always fire in SA mode if the external hammer is of any decent size. They may occasionally fire in DA mode but certainly do not put in the practice time to do so for self-defense or hunting situations. In most cases, owners of DAO revolvers need substantial practice.
SAO revolvers are the simplest, so it is interesting that they bring us to our first uncomfortable truth:
When one fires a revolver in SA mode, one typically does not practice trigger finger discipline. One practices hammer discipline.
I’ll explain. Let’s cover one-handed shooting first. If your SAO or SA/DA revolver is in your hand, your trigger finger will be in the trigger guard. The reason is for proper grip on your firearm. You are not going to easily cock the hammer back in SA mode when your finger is not inside the trigger guard. Effectively, if you did so, you would only have three fingers gripping your gun, which would be awkward. You may end up dropping it. At the very least, you won’t have a proper shooting grip.
Two-handed shooting is a bit different, but at least for me, the result is the same. With two-handed shooting, I always use my off-hand to manually cock back the hammer. Not everyone does. This allows me to have a proper grip on my revolver (with my shooting hand) that does not move. In this instance, my trigger finger is inside the trigger guard. If I cock the hammer with my off-hand and do not fire immediately, then the trigger finger goes outside the trigger guard. However, I am always manually cocking the hammer with the intention of firing immediately. Otherwise, the hammer remains down.
What about DAO revolvers or shooting an SA/DA revolver in DA mode? I’ve found that on the revolvers I shoot (usually 44 calibers or larger), the trigger travel (the amount needed to revolve the cylinder) and the pressure required are sufficient safety mechanisms. Furthermore, at least for me, shooting smoothly and accurately is extremely sensitive to trigger finger placement on the trigger with DA/DAO firearms. Moving your trigger finger back and forth and putting it in the wrong location is disastrous for a first shot, so much so that I’ve never quite been comfortable with shooting DA first and then shooting SA afterward in an SA/DA firearm.
These observations form the basis of our uncomfortable truth: When shooting a DAO revolver or an SA/DA revolver in DA mode, trigger finger discipline is usually not followed due to the inherent safety mechanisms associated with a long trigger throw and heavier trigger pressure.
And, as a preview for our next section, here is our third uncomfortable truth: Do not believe that training on a simpler weapon (such as a revolver) will allow you to learn to operate a semi-automatic firearm more easily. In fact, it may mean an increased chance of a negligent discharge due to the inherent differences in trigger finger discipline.
Semi-automatic Pistols (SAPs)
Glock re-invented the SAP market many years ago with a polymer striker-fired offering. Things have not been the same since. I suspect the goal was to have the simplicity of a DAO revolver with the capacity and reloading speed advantages of a SAP. They succeeded admirably as most of the SAP market is Glock or similar to the Glock design.
Unfortunately, one of the first things people do with a Glock is drop in a better trigger. They feel they are justified because Glock has a trigger safety. While this trigger safety protects the user from drops, they should not be equivocated with a manual safety. In short, the combination of a lighter trigger and no manual safety means the Glock user must practice strict trigger discipline. Any failure to do so will eventually result in a negligent discharge.
Interestingly, the various combinations associated with revolvers are also associated with SAPs. Let’s go through them, but to make things easier, assume the chamber is loaded.
- SAO. If the SAP has an external hammer, the hammer must be cocked for the SAP to be ready to fire. After the initial firing, the operation of the SAP automatically cocks the hammer for the next shot.
- SA/DA (more commonly listed as DA/SA). The SAP can be initially fired by either pulling the trigger or by cocking the hammer. After the initial firing, the operation of the SAP automatically cocks the hammer for the next shot. These pistols should include a de-cocker that lowers the hammer, transitioning the SAP from SA to DA mode. However, some DA/SA SAPs have a manual safety and may be carried “Cocked and Locked” (also called Condition 1). The incredible downside is that if you want the first shot to be DA, you’ll need to lower the hammer on a live round since there is no de-cocker. Yikes.
- DAO. In certain rare SAPs, the operation is constantly via the trigger pull, which cocks the hammer (usually an internal hammer), and the operation of the SAP does not automatically cock the hammer.
For SAPs, there is an additional type:
- Striker-Fired. In this mode, there is no hammer but a spring-loaded striker that discharges the round on a trigger pull. The SAP automatically spring-loads the striker for the next round.
For this post, I’ll skip over the complicated considerations of SAPs, such as the various condition levels and other considerations like a magazine disconnect safety or a de-cocker. Instead, I’ll focus on trigger finger discipline for an SAP with a manual safety.
Firstly, drawing an SAP from a holster always requires discipline with the trigger finger until you have a target in sight. In short, your trigger finger will be outside and above the trigger guard.
However, a variation comes in when you decide not to fire but to remain at a ready or low-ready condition. Some shooters engage the manual safety and keep their trigger finger on the trigger. To shoot, they disengage the manual safety. Other shooters do not engage the manual safety and use trigger finger discipline.
This leads us to our last uncomfortable truth: Variations in SAPs can impact trigger finger discipline. If you have multiple types of SAPs in your collection, these differences could increase the chance of a negligent discharge. For ordinary civilians, carrying in Condition 3 and practicing trigger finger discipline will be the safest way to handle the multiple variations of SAPs.