Trigger control and the "surprise" break

[UrHero]

This topic came us in another thread but rather than take over that post with this discussion I thought it would be a good idea to start it up here.

I'm sure we've all heard the idea of the surprise break. It seems to be something that is pretty consistently taught to new shooters. I understand that the idea behind it is to produce smooth consistent trigger pull and that by being "surprised" the shooter hopefully won't flinch.

I can remember being told about the surprise break when i was in basic training but a few years later when i attened designated marksman school they were adamantly against the idea, and for good reason. Why would you ever want to be surprised when your weapon fires?

If the idea is to get smooth trigger pull then why not teach it that way? I firmly believe that you'll end up with a much more competent and accurate shooter if they know exactly when that shot is going to break and they are able to make that happen when they want so that the round goes where they want it. This should develop into a shooter that is able to call their shots and better troubleshoot any shortcomings.

I can remember it once being put to me this way. "If you were to ever find yourself in a situation where you were counting on a good guy with a gun to come to the aid of either you or your family, would you really want them to be surprised when their weapon went off?"

Like I said, I understand the idea behind it, but I think the practice is far from what's intended.

[Sticks]

I read this in the other thread.

I'm going to wait until a verified SME weighs in on this, presuming the thread does not get closed.

[ucrt]

Many years ago, I taught myself to shoot a revolver playing "Russian roulette". I still teach people to shoot that way to not anticipate.
When and if, they keep shooting and practicing, they will learn to not anticipate.

Last year at the NRA Show, I asked the Glock shooting team that question about basic instruction and they told me "they should be applying trigger pressure when on target and be "surprised" when the gun fires. After time it will be natural."

But maybe it's just me...

.

[T2C]

When a weapons instructor mentions the "surprise" trigger break, I believe they are telling people not to force the shot. It is the way they were taught to instruct to large groups of personnel and perhaps the way to properly manipulate the trigger could have been worded differently.

I use the analogy of the second hand on the clock when teaching. Once your sights are on target and the sight wobble has diminished as much as your physical condition and shooting position will allow, apply pressure with the trigger finger with the speed and smoothness of the second hand on a clock. Don't fight the movement, just maintain a smooth trigger press, and you will get your share of 10's and X's.

This is just one aspect of firing an accurate shot, so I won't comment on follow through, etc. Shooting at speed is altogether a different concept.

[ST911]

apply pressure with the trigger finger with the speed and smoothness of the second hand on a clock.

I like that...

[Caduceus]

I like that...
Problem is, quartz watches are jerky. Most people haven't seen a smooth automatic watch.

[MistWolf]

It's about interpretation. The the shooter should not be surprised that the shot went off, the shooter should be so focused on the shot that the body has no involuntary reaction to the noise and recoil. This was driven home to me one day with an unintended discharge. I have a hunting rifle that is light for the caliber and has a reputation as being a hard kicker. During an elk hunt, I would unload the rifle and dry fire it following all four safety rules before getting back into the Jeep. Once, I made a mistake and left a round in the chamber. Of course I felt very foolish for the UD, but upon reflection I noted a few things. First, I hardly noticed the recoil and report. Second, the shot broke cleanly. Third, while I was surprised the rifle fired, the shot broke precisely when I intended and on target. In that moment, I knew exactly what a "surprise break" really meant

[Surf]

People confuse the concept and it is quite apparent when you hear someone make a comment that we should always know when we are attempting to make a gun go bang. Well of course we are making that conscious decision or at least we should be, when we have intent to fire the weapon. The problem, as eluded to above is that people don't understand a good consistent trigger pull and that once the conscious decision is made to fire a round we need to be smooth on our trigger pull. Instead you will see people "make" the gun fire. Meaning that they will make the conscious effort to fire the weapon when they think the sights are in perfect alignment or make the weapon fire at the exact moment so that they can apply counter pressure (flinch) to counter the nasty effects of recoil. This is more problematic in new shooters and as skill increases the problem here decreases. Getting new shooters to the next level is the key.

The conscious mind can really only do one thing at a time well. The subconscious can do many tasks "behind the scenes" so to speak very well. We need to teach shooters that once the conscious decision is made to pull the trigger, that they should avert or occupy the conscious mind with another task and remove it from thinking about the trigger pull and the nanosecond in which the brain may want to make the gun go bang. Our conscious mind, especially for a new shooter can be your enemy here. For a new shooter, this nanosecond and making the gun go bang leads to all types of issues. So once the conscious decision is made to fire the weapon, we should get the conscious mind to start thinking about our sight picture and let our sub-conscious mind go through the trigger pull process until the weapon fires.

This moment when the weapon fires is a bit of a "surprise" to the conscious mind that is thinking of another task, like focusing on the front sight it's alignment and on our sight picture. It truly is not a surprise as we made the conscious decision to fire the weapon, but we are not forcing it to fire from that point on. Steady and consistent trigger manipulation without staging it, etc and focusing on the sight alignment / sight picture while at the same time attempting to keep the "wobble zone" minimized until the weapon fires.

This is easier in concept as a shooters skill increases, but for newer shooters, occupying the conscious mind to focus on the sights, instead of focusing on the nanosecond the gun fires is a much better thing. As skills increase, this becomes more second nature or a subconscious act. As far as calling our shots, it should become second nature in a good shooter and it does not matter if it is a handgun or a long gun. We should be so focused on our sight alignment and sight picture (depending on what we need to see) that we are easily able to recognize where our sights were in relation to our target to be able to make a highly accurate "call" on our shot. When one starts talking about "calling" shots too early with a new shooter, they more often don't grasp the concept and they attempt to do all kinds of things like staging triggers and attempting to "make" the weapon fire, when they think they have "the perfect" sight alignment. Unfortunately by the time the brain recognizes this "moment" until the signal is sent from the brain to the trigger finger, until the weapon fires, that sight alignment is usually gone. This leads to more frustration and more of an attempt to rush things, so that they can fire the gun at that "perfect moment".

So in essence, yes we have made the conscious decision to make the weapon fire, of course we did, but we need to train the correct mental process and mechanical process into ourselves and make certain mechanics happen at the subconscious level. Our conscious mind is not always our friend. Trying to time ignition to the nanosecond is not a good thing. This I believe is why people label the term "surprise" or "compressed surprise" break. Others seem to misinterpret the intent or definition that is intended and take it the term in far too literal of context.

So the bottom line, of course we know the gun is going bang via a conscious decision to pull the trigger. However we need to learn to train ourselves to not let the conscious mind screw things up. We need to train ourselves to the point where we can perform things at the subconscious level with high degrees of proficiency. This comes through properly trained and practiced skills via repetition. Of course time and resources may be a limiting factor, but that is the same for any skill. The conscious mind can be a huge micro-manager and this is not a good thing.

[MistWolf]

We should get the conscious mind to start thinking about our sight picture and let our sub-conscious mind go through the trigger pull

Thank you

[3 AE]

Thanks Surf for the explanation.

"The conscious mind can really only do one thing at a time well. The subconscious can do many tasks "behind the scenes" so to speak very well."

Remember when we started to learn to drive a car in Driver's Ed.? We had to consciously focus on each step of way for a simple maneuver as turning. Turn on the turning signal, apply pressure to the brakes, turn the wheel so much, make corrections as you entered and exited the turn, accelerate, etc. Now after many repetitions, you can approach any turn at just about any speed and just focus keeping you eyes looking down the road as you subconsciously complete all of the adjustments needed to safely make the turn with hardly a conscious thought. You don't even realize that your arms and legs are moving to complete the task.

Now if I can just get beyond the "Driver's Ed." stage! :)

[urbantactic]

This is easier in concept as a shooters skill increases, but for newer shooters, occupying the conscious mind to focus on the sights, instead of focusing on the nanosecond the gun fires is a much better thing. As skills increase, this becomes more second nature or a subconscious act.

This is a very good observation. I took my first serious training course this past September from Randy Cain at Cumberland Tactics. As a newer shooter, the surprise break concept has really helped me improve my fundamentals.

[T2C]

1) Our conscious mind, especially for a new shooter can be your enemy here. So once the conscious decision is made to fire the weapon, we should get the conscious mind to start thinking about our sight picture and let our sub-conscious mind go through the trigger pull process until the weapon fires.

2) However we need to learn to train ourselves to not let the conscious mind screw things up.

Your comment about the first concept is on target and very well said.

The second concept is the toughest thing for a firearms instructor to teach and for an experienced shooter to remember.

Well said Surf.

[UrHero]

That's more what I was getting at. It seems that too many people take the idea of the surprise break literally and don't seem to have any concept of what they're really doing. As I mentioned originally, I get the idea behind it, I just think it's used too literally.

[BufordTJustice]

I don't have anything add to what Surf said. Just an awesome post.

I always pulled on my sports background when thinking about trigger pull. You concentrate on the big things while your body, based upon extensive training, autonomously handles the myriad small things. Like throwing a baseball or a football......Or swinging a golf club.

If my fundamentals were so shaky that I had to consciously think about all of the little things regarding my swing or my throwing motion, then i had no business playing in the game.

Without bragging, I don't think about my trigger squeeze/pull in the same way I don't think about throwing the pigskin. As Surf said, the decision to fire is necessarily conscious. The mechanical action should not occupy much, if any, of one's conscious mind.

[echo5whiskey]

When I used to explain this to my first-time/new shooters, I would tell them that you are surprised WHEN the shot breaks, not THAT the shot breaks. And as Surf said, (not that I need to validate it) once you get this programmed into your subconscious, it becomes second nature. This is why repetetive training with YOUR weapon(s) is so important. Once you get this downpat, you pretty much DO know when your shot will break even though you're applying that subconscious, smooth squeeze. Perhaps it is my lack of experiance with a vast array of weapons, but I can definitely see it when I shoot one that I'm not familiar with, and it has a lighter or heavier trigger than mine does.