Riding the Link; A training scar....

[C4IGrant]

This past weekend, I got to attend a Vickers Pistol class. On a couple speed oriented drills, I witnessed at least two Glock shooters doing what is called "riding the link." For those of you that don't know what that means, they are basically feeling for the triggers reset point.

By doing this, it is easy for the shooter to get out of "rhythm" or cadence while attempting to shoot fast. When this happens, the chances of rounds being thrown out go up dramatically. As we all know, the human body likes rhythm and having a good one allows you to shoot faster and get better hits. Not doing so will produce poor hits at a slower speed.

Most new shooters are taught to look for where the trigger resets in an effort to get them to NOT let all of the slack out of the trigger OR take their finger off the trigger between shots. The down side of this is that once learned, it is hard to stop "looking or feeling" for it every time you pull the trigger. The other negative (that seems to happen) is that the shooter will keep the trigger pulled to the rear as the slide is moving forward in an effort to hear or feel the reset better. To me, this is almost like some kind of safety blanket that the shooter desires in order to get good hits (or so they think). Where the rubber hits the road is when the shooter is required to shoot long strings (5-10rds or more) for group under a time constraint. The same guy that has been getting good hits on low round count drills (not timed) will start to fall apart.


I learned how to shoot (properly) on a 1911. Then I moved off of this gun and spent the bulk of my time shooting the S&W M&P. By most, the M&P trigger is considered crap when compared to say the Glock trigger. Reason why? Reset. The older M&P's had ZERO felt or heard reset in them. So how did I learn to find the reset point on the trigger and not over extend my finger past the reset point? Easy. Hours and hours logged on the range practicing reset.

Mr. Vickers and I spoke for a while about this "theory" and I made the case that the Glock trigger actually CAN set up new shooters for failure because they become so dependent on that hard reset that they look for it (subconsciously) every time they shoot. This in turn causes them to shoot slower and not produce quality hits.

For the record, I am NOT telling everyone to sell their Glock and get a gun with no reset. The point to all this is that you need to realize the down sides to guns with a hard reset and don't let it be a crutch to your trigger manipulation.


YMMV.



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[skatz11]

Great post Grant. I've felt myself do exactly what you are describing. I have caught myself flinching when I misjudge the reset or get out of sync. I think its due to over thinking and fear of throwing bad shots

I have also shot great strings quickly with no attention to reset. Gotta find a way to stay in the just do it mode.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

[mkmckinley]

You bring up some good points and I appreciate the post. In the third paragraph you mention holding the trigger to the rear until the weapon has returned to battery as one of the potfalls of a trigger with strong reset. I do that myself and I'd imagine most shooters do too.

Are there any drills, live or dry, that will help me learn to manipulate the trigger the way you describe? Is there a Glock trigger setup (springs, Connector etc) that lends itself to shootint the way you describe?

[Zhurdan]

Great post.

I think there's an "in between" when it comes to riding the link and trigger snatching though. Not that you implied that, but it's the other end of the spectrum.

My finger never leaves the trigger, but I can't say I'm feeling for the reset.

[pilotguyo540]

Excellent point.

I will second Zhurdan's question.

[C4IGrant]

You bring up some good points and I appreciate the post. In the third paragraph you mention holding the trigger to the rear until the weapon has returned to battery as one of the potfalls of a trigger with strong reset. I do that myself and I'd imagine most shooters do too.

Are there any drills, live or dry, that will help me learn to manipulate the trigger the way you describe? Is there a Glock trigger setup (springs, Connector etc) that lends itself to shootint the way you describe?

There are two drills (that I know of) that Vickers teaches to address this problem. So yes, there are drills to help with it.



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[Failure2Stop]

Are there any drills, live or dry, that will help me learn to manipulate the trigger the way you describe? Is there a Glock trigger setup (springs, Connector etc) that lends itself to shootint the way you describe?

Basically just learning to reset on recoil instead of pinning the trigger through recoil. Whole lots of drills to practice it, but what it really boils down to is: get the trigger reset as soon as you break the shot.

Initially this will cause most shooters to rush the subsequent shot (as they are usually waiting on the trigger to break the next shot), but once the shooter learns that the trigger is waiting on the sights, and not the other way around, they can perform at a higher level of precision in the same time constraint, which is usually a good thing.

[C4IGrant]

Great post.

I think there's an "in between" when it comes to riding the link and trigger snatching though. Not that you implied that, but it's the other end of the spectrum.

My finger never leaves the trigger, but I can't say I'm feeling for the reset.

When shooters (that have this problem) are pressed to meet a time requirement (while firing a string of rounds), they tend to feel "slow" or are being left behind so in an effort to shoot faster, they snatch the trigger as soon as it reaches its reset point. When this happens, they throw rounds everywhere.

The best way I know of to tell if you are riding the link is to have someone listen to you shoot a string of 5 or more rounds moderately fast. Can they hear your gun reset? If so, then that is what you are doing. To get past this, you will need to reset the trigger WHILE the slide is moving forward (not after it is already back in battery).



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[C4IGrant]

Great post Grant. I've felt myself do exactly what you are describing. I have caught myself flinching when I misjudge the reset or get out of sync. I think its due to over thinking and fear of throwing bad shots

I have also shot great strings quickly with no attention to reset. Gotta find a way to stay in the just do it mode.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

Right. I have even seen people miss the reset point and had a dead trigger as they attempted to "game" the reset point.


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[Ironman8]

Is there any merit to holding the trigger back when slow-firing for groups at 25+ yds?

I don't feel that I have the problem described above...I probably try to shoot TOO fast in most cases. But with slow fire, I hold the trigger back after the shot breaks to keep consistent, good follow-thru as I would with an AR shooting for groups.

Any thoughts?