Single action trigger control in a high stress situation?

bernie,

All the others hit it on the head... trigger out of the trigger guard.

There are ways to develop this skill until you do it reflexively. I never pick up a gun, any gun, and put my finger on the trigger until the gun is on target, even when doing dry-firing practice. Whether unholstering, picking a gun up from the safe, or off the workbench etc, my finger is ALWAYS out of the guard. It takes a few hundred repetitions to develop habit and muscle memory. Work on holster presentations with finger out, over and over. It will come. Soon, you'll never handle a gun with finger on the trigger until you're on target. That's the first step to eliminating AD's/ND's. Imho. Good luck.

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The person formerly known as Covert Mission.

[This message has been edited by Mall Ninja (edited 03-23-2001).]

Bernie,

Everyone so far has hit the nail right on the head. The answer is RULE THREE: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET.

The way to train yourself to do this without thinking, is has already been stated, repetition. The dry practice drill for this is as follows:

Preparation for Dry Practice:
1. Remove the magazine
2. Rack the slide to rear, ejecting any cartridge from chamber.
3. Lock slide to rear, visually inspect the chamber to be sure it's empty.
4. Stick your little finger through the ejection port into the chamber to double check that the chamber is empty
5. Make sure that all live ammo is in another room.
6. Place a target up in a safe direction
(the definition of a safe direction is any direction which,if a negligent discharge should occur, only minimal property damage and NO personal injury will result)

Sorry for the above, but on the Internet, I have no control over who knows this, and who doesn't.

Now, the RULE THREE DRILL:

A. Assume your preferred stance Weaver or Isosceles) ready position with the muzzle depressed, finger off trigger and on the locator. For many of us, the locator is the end of the slide stop pin on the starboard side of the frame.

1. Raise the pistol until the front sight interrupts your vision of the target, place your finger on trigger, and take the slack from trigger as your focus shifts to the front sight.

2. Lower the pistol to the ready, remove your finger from the trigger guard, find the locator.

Repeat 1,2,1,2,1,2....

For initial training, as many as needed to make the move reflexive. DON'T OVERDO IT! Limit this exercise to no more than 10 minutes.

For daily dry practice, 10 reps recommended.

Hope this helps.

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Roger Shambaugh
Ottawa, Kansas

[This message has been edited by KSLawman (edited 03-22-2001).]

Aside from keeping your finger off the trigger, you may try to develop some shoot/no shoot drills. I don't know what constructive talents you have or materials access, but you can create a variety of kinetic targets that move in and out of concealment. Some should be no shoot targets and some should be villians to be shot.

People shoot under high stress situation when the don't intend to sometimes, hence keeping your finger off the trigger, but sometimes they shoot when they meant to shoot and hit their target, but shoot an one of the good people. Of course, they didn't mean to shoot a good person.

Under high stress, many people will end up shooting at movement from the area where they perceive the villain to be. This may mean you win quickly or you kill the wrong person. The value of the drills will help with one aspect of the high stress unintended shooting aspect and that is to help you develop your abilities to learn to identify what targets should be shot and what targets should not be shot. Most LEO training will involve some of this. The classic scenario is pulling up to a liquor store where a robbery is reported to be in progress and a guy comes running out with a gun. He is obviously stressed and is not responding well to commands by you. Do you shoot him or not? There is an inclination to shoot him because you know there was a robbery going on, the guy appears hyped up on something and he isn't functioning normally. So is it the robber or is it the onwer or manager who was trying to give chase after being scared to death and now suffering from an extreme adrenaline rush?