Re: Single Action Trigger Preference?

3
I apologize: I got so wrapped up in finding the old posts and in finding the pics on my old machine that went with it that I forgot what precipitated the post in the first place, which was Wabatuckian's single action trigger post. My bad--they say the memory is the first thing to go, which is OK by my wife.

This post is in reference to a couple others, one about Wyatt Earp, and another about this grip. I bailed from photobucket because they wanted to hold my pics hostage, so posts about this grip in Bullseye 8 and 9 and 10 are missing the pics. I thought I'd post pics of the grips and have some small discussion about it below this quote, because in a couple of other scattered posts I was talking with Wabatuckian about this and referred to those posts. That would have forced him to wade through all the old Bullseye threads to find this, and then the pics would be missing.

--begin quote--

A few times in these Bullseye matches I've talked about my plow handle grip. This is my previous grip.
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This is the new grip.
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The first thing to read, though, is about my wrist. I'm taking this pic of my own hand, so the wrist is bent to the camera. If you imagine the hand is pretty close to how it is when I shoot and the wrist is straight, then we can focus on the rest of the grip. Check out my reflection in the gun itself to see the awkward thing of holding a right handed camera in my left hand while doing the grip with my right. So amusing. For me anyhow.

Let's start with the old grip. The little finger is under the plow handle. The Ruger logo is visible. The hammer spur does not touch the hand. This grip forces me to hold the revolver up a bit more to sight down the sights. Feels a bit like a Bisley style hold. The resulting recoil does flip the gun back, and the grip rotates in my hand. Now, the little finger placement puts the point of the plow handle between the ring and little finger. Can cause abrasion, I've found. Plus, I don't get to use my little finger, really, to squeeze the grip, as it's not configured to get max pressure this way. This results in a less stable platform from which to launch my 950 fps 250 grain projectiles. The resultant recoil does get used up in friction between my two fingers and my thumb and my palm, against the grip. But I don't think the little finger has as much skin in this game.

With the new grip, things are different in many ways. First, perhaps, is the sight picture. This is now not a Bisley style grip. My hand being higher up on the grip strap does several things. With respect to sight picture, my arm is lower and I'm looking more down on the sights than through them. I think this gives me a better target picture. Second, I get to use my little finger to steady the grip. I get to squeeze between those three fingers and my thumb in a very natural way. This, third, allows a more natural roll of the grips inside my hand. I do believe the gun rolls more this way than the earlier style of hold I used. I must say the recoil is very pleasant this way when compared to the pointy grip corner between the pinky and ring fingers.

Finally, on eta, there's the trigger. In the earlier grip, the trigger could be accessed on the pad of my index finger. The new grip shoves my hand forward, and the trigger rides in the crease between last and penultimate finger bones. I get a half millimeter or so of fiddle room there, so I can adjust the edge of the trigger to ride in the middle of that crease, so there's a sort of "positive stop" there, which I think will aid in my consistency with this hand gun.

--end quote--

In the Wyatt Earp quote post, he suggests to cock the hammer with the joint of the thumb as opposed to the ball of the thumb, so I discovered this should be the case. Without a transfer bar safety system, it is possible for an accidental discharge to take place if the thumb slips off the hammer spur during cocking. I've never had a slip when cocking with the thumb joint, but I have using the ball.

This higher up grip forces both the cocking with the joint and the use of the joint between the last and second last bones of the trigger finger. When I shoot my Ruger MKII using the joint, I think I hook the gun to the right, but that hook is reduced or even eliminated with I use the pad of the trigger finger. The higher up grip on the Vaquero selects against using the pad, but I think I'm more accurate that way--time and a few more Bullseye matches will tell. Now that the weather has cooled I can get back into my reloading shack for making .45's and .357's for the matches. I have a few .22's lying around so I can still compete with my MKII during the Hinges of Hades season up here.

What do you all think about your trigger style, and have you tried any others? Do you find different hand guns require different trigger styles? And why aren't there more folks shooting the Bullseye matches? I'm not that tough to beat, you know, so you're not in that much danger of being last. :wave:

(dang: how do I get rid of that second pic?)

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack
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