After my recent trip to Gunsite with Ken Hackathorn, I was telling him about how I and my favorite gunsmith (cousin) ruined a hammer while trying to get my 1911, 80 series trigger lighter and lighter. Ken told me that “good is good enough…most of us are too picky about our triggers”. When the legend was done humbling me in front of “Shooting USA”, I realized that I was fine with a stock trigger for training. Maybe a little polishing to remove some tool marks, but leave the custom trigger jobs to the custom shop that will replace your hammer if they screw it up.
If your trigger is below 4lbs of pressure you are fine. I never had a pistol below that number while in the Military due to liability and I assume that our States, Counties and Cities are the same.
Stop complaining about your hard trigger and work on your hand strength.
Respectfully, Daryl Holland
Daryl Holland is a retired U.S. Army Sergeant Major with over 20 years of active duty experience, 17 of those years in Special Operations. Five years with the 1st Special Forces Group (SFG) and 12 years in the 1st SFOD-Delta serving as an Assaulter, Sniper, Team Leader, and OTC Instructor.
He has conducted several hundred combat missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Philippines, and the Mexican Border. He has conducted combat missions in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush Mountains as a Sniper and experienced Mountaineer to the streets of Baghdad as an Assault Team Leader.
He has a strong instructor background started as an OTC instructor and since retiring training law abiding civilians, Law Enforcement, U.S. Military, and foreign U.S. allied Special Operations personnel from around the world.
Gunfighter Moment is a weekly feature brought to you by Alias Training & Security Services. Each week Alias brings us a different Trainer and in turn, they offer some words of wisdom.
Use the trigger as a metaphor for all issued gear. Quit complaining about your equipment and master it so you can kill the enemy.
Excellent post.
When people ask me about finding the perfect gear setup I have one response. If you’re picky about gear, you probably won’t find it, instead find that 80-90% solution, and compensate the extra 10-20% with training. Gear is a given, skillsets and the will to use them are what win the fight.
The only trigger job I had worked was on an M&P 9. For my taste is was horrible so I put in an APEX. “Yuge” improvement but ended up selling it cause it was not very accurate and got a Glock19. Great trigger and very accurate without any work.
Thank you for the article.
I’ve never messed with my Gen 4 G19 trigger, but I noticed a dramatic improvement in my trigger after I put ~1000 rounds through it. It was the same pull, but smoother. A friend who has a Gen 3 thought I put an aftermarket trigger.
“Stop complaining about your hard trigger and work on your hand strength”
TRANSLATION: Stop making excuses for your shitty pistol skills and go to the gym you fucking pussy. 🙂
Not all of us are content to settle.
Not all of us need fancy triggers to be effective.