Lets talk about trigger jobs

[351322]

I have limited experience with other pistols other than my FS MP9. I have not shot anything that has had trigger work done. Next weekend I will be attending a steel plate challenge and then at the end of the month my regular USPSA match. I plan at both matches asking around to see if anyone has an MP with trigger work I can try out. In the mean time I am curious about the reasons for trigger work and how it effects shooting.

[Jesse Tischauser]

I have limited experience with other pistols other than my FS MP9. I have not shot anything that has had trigger work done. Next weekend I will be attending a steel plate challenge and then at the end of the month my regular USPSA match. I plan at both matches asking around to see if anyone has an MP with trigger work I can try out. In the mean time I am curious about the reasons for trigger work and how it effects shooting.

I shot a buddy's MP with an Apex trigger and it was really nice. A light short trigger is always easier to be accurate and faster with. Of course you can train to be accurate and fast with a stock trigger it just takes more time and skill.

[glocktogo]

The shorter the overall trigger travel, the faster your split times between shots, particularly for those that "ride the reset". A smooth pull is key for consistent accuracy. It doesn't matter how fast it resets if you can't get hits with it.

[TomMcC]

I dropped an APEX sear in my MP, and lightly polished the striker interface. Made a big difference in pull and smoothness. Dropped the pull to about 4lbs. This is about as easy and cheap as it gets, and the results are quite good.

[351322]

Thanks for the input guys. After doing some more reading and thinking about it, the trigger job does seem to be very beneficial. I purchased a kit from Apex over the weekend and will have it in hand this week.

[Ty_B]

I only installed the Apex sear and not the other FCG parts, and I'm very happy with the trigger. I'm far from a master level shooter, but I am pretty sure that my issues now are completely unrelated to the trigger and I don't think I would see any further improvement by doing anything else.

Before that, the trigger was heavy, gritty, and inconsistent. For me, inconsistent triggers are the worst, and with pistols, the ratio of the weight of the trigger pull to the weight of the gun and the lack of a point of contact (your shoulder) means that lightening the trigger is more important than on a rifle or carbine.

I agree that you can probably train your way though this, but for the cost of an Apex sear, why?

[okie john]

In the mean time I am curious about the reasons for trigger work and how it effects shooting.

The ideal trigger releases with no movement and with no application of weight to disturb your sight picture. That's clearly impossible, but you still want to get as close to it as you can. A good trigger job takes a heavy, spongy, gritty trigger and makes it as closer to the ideal. The less your sight picture is less disturbed as the striker (or hammer) falls, the smaller your groups will be. One benefit of shooting a 1911 is that you can tune the trigger to be very close to the ideal. Naturally, a trigger like that in untrained hands can be dangerous under stress, so the triggers on most combat handguns today are a good deal heavier and have more travel.

If you want to experience something very close to perfection, try an old S&W revolver in the single-action mode.


Okie John

[theblackknight]

I waited until a certain point before triggering up. about 8000r thru my M&P.I waited until there where no rounds that surprised me in matches. Once I started calling all my bad shots as soon as I holstered, I then started looking at triggers.


The sear/ram is all it needed for a everyday gun. I have a 9mm Pro and a comp kit waiting on me. Apex dose great things.

[OldState]

The basic concept of marksmanship is being able to align the sights and break the shot without disturbing that alignment.

A good trigger makes its easier to do that. You will also be able to call shots much easier since your brain will be more focused on the front sight and target than overcoming a long heavy trigger pull.

A trigger job is not a replacement for lack of fundamentals, but it will help a good shooter make accurate shots easier and faster.

However, the benefits will not be as apparent in action shooting as in say, Bullseye, where even the best shooters would have a hard time breaking out of the Sharpshooter class with a M&P like trigger.

[TomMcC]

I dropped an APEX sear in my MP, and lightly polished the striker interface. Made a big difference in pull and smoothness. Dropped the pull to about 4lbs. This is about as easy and cheap as it gets, and the results are quite good.

As an update, I was doing a bit of dry firing today so I decided to measure the pull on my MP. It has probably 3k on the sear now. It actually measured 3.62 lbs.