Ballseye's Gun Snots Shots 59 - The Science Of Picking Boogers Squeezing A Trigger

There I was, at quarterly qualification for my job, for about the 122nd time, and once again, for about the thousandth time, I was listening to a range officer telling us how to squeeze the trigger on a pistol to help assure that the bullet would go to the same point at which we would be aiming. Not only was he describing how to squeeze the trigger but he was also telling us that squeezing the trigger did not mean that we should also be squeezing the grip of the pistol. Some argue that use of the word squeeze it a terrible thing to do regarding pulling the trigger on a handgun. Why? Well, because when some people are told to squeeze the trigger they also do what the instructor was telling us not to do, they start to squeeze the grip simultaneously. This can cause a shot to go just about anywhere on the target or in the vicinity of the target other than where you want to hit it. What is strange about this is that the instructors on my job have, for the most part, only been telling people this for the past year or so although shooters, those who have a problem with trigger control, have been doing it a long time, probably since shooting began.

When I was a firearms' instructor, many moons ago, one of the problems that I encountered most frequently was that shooters seemed to be trying to choke their spouses a chicken they were squeezing the grip that hard. It was hard enough, that after a few to several seconds, their arms would begin to tremble from fatigue. This was especially evident with one handed shooting but happens both when using a one or two handed grip, it just takes longer to fatigue both arms in the two handed grip. Now, I should point out that gripping a pistol with too much force is not necessarily caused by anything to do with squeezing the trigger but when it happens, it always happens in conjunction with it if you are taking a shot. Quite often a shooter starts squeezing the grip harder and harder in hopes of holding better on the aiming point without yet starting trigger squeeze, thus the hard squeeze on the grip is often if not usually caused by a shooter trying to hold aim on target. This is counter-productive because if the shot is not taken quickly the arm or arms will start to become fatigued and possibly will also tremble enough to throw of any shot that is then fired. On some otheroccasions though, it is obvious that as soon as a shooter starts to squeeze the trigger they also start squeezing harder on the grip as if the whole action of trigger squeeze actually causes them to squeeze the grip harder. There is a reason for it to seem so and that reason is because it is in fact so.

As is the case with just about anything that you can be told, one person can interpret it one way, another person another way and yet another maybe another way. Thus it is with the action known as trigger squeeze. When a firearms instructor tells a student shooter to firmly, steadily, slowly, and continuously begin to squeeze the trigger until the shot goes off - well some shooters immediately understand that the instructor meant to squeeze the trigger with the booger picking finger (this nomenclature is important, do not forget it, you will see why later) and that the instructor did not mean to also start to squeeze the grips with the rest of the hand including the other fingers, after all the instructor already described how to grip the pistol and it had notjing to do with squeezing the trigger. Some new shooters though do not understand it that way and start to squeeze the whole trigger and grip areas as if they were hanging onto to something for dear life and if they let it go it would cost them dearly. They are wrong about that (this too is imporant to remember as you will soon see).

Truth be told, the whole operation of squeezing the trigger of a pistol is actually very much like the action involved in picking one's nose. When you pick your nose (yes you do, you didn't think anyone driving by on the highway at 65mph noticed but you forgot that you don't have tinted windows on your car and I saw you) you place your booger picking finger (same as the trigger finger) inside your nostril (like inside the trigger guard) then find the spot on which to place it on the booger that needs removal (like placing it on the trigger that needs squeezing) then begin to curl the finger down (like the backward squeezing motion of the finger on the trigger) as if you were summoning someone (or a booger) to come to you with your index finger (as if you were curling your finger with squeezing pressure on a trigger to fire a gun).

Now remember I said that some people not only squeeze the trigger but also start to squeeze the grips too as if holding onto something for dear life. Well, you wouldn't do that when picking your nose would you? And why not? Because if you did that you would likely wind up with a bloody nose because you gripped down on it with your booger picking finger implanted inside of it. I mean squeezing down on the nose too hard while the finger is on a booger would just ruin everything (just as squeezing down extra hard on the grips would rruin a shot). What you want to do instead is to firmly, steadily, slowly and continuously make a picking or backward curling motions with your booger picking finger on the booger (backward curling and squeezing motion with your trigger finger on the trigger) until your objective is complete.

In the case of nose picking the objective is to have your finger come out of your nose with a prize snot stuck to the end of it and with shooting the objective is to completely depress the trigger to the rear to fire a shot having a bullet come out of the gun. Get that and do not forget it, snot out of nose, shot out of gun. While those were the objectives the job is not yet finished. While the booger is out of the nose and on your finger the job is not yet done because, as you well know, you do not want to hold onto a booger for dear life. What you want to do is follow through and allow the booger picking finger to uncurl in a smooth but rapid motion thus sending the booger flying off of your finger so you can, if necessary, start the process all over again to dig out another snot. This is pretty much the same in shooting as after the shot, you follow through with the action of the trigger finger and allow it to move smoothly and rapidly forward allowing the trigger to reset in case another shot needs be fired.

Remember as you carry out either of these fine motor skills, you do not want to jerk the finger performing the operation because both actions, jerking a booger out of your nose or jerking the trigger on a pistol you are firing, could have unwanted consequences. In one case it could be a scratched or bloody nose, in the other it could be a missed shot resulting in a ragged and bloody hole in you because the bad guy had better trigger finger control than you. I could go on with further in depth analysis comparing jerking the trigger with jerking a booger but one lesson like this should be enough for anyone's day.

All the best,
Glenn B