Sight jumps when trigger breaks

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Khurrle

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I got my Shield 9 on the 6th and I absolutely love it. Actually sold my full sized Taurus 24/7 to get this as my new carry gun.

My question, however is I have done a fair amount of dry firing and, though I love how clean and crisp the trigger breaks the front sight seems to almost always jump to the right when the trigger breaks.

I can get it to calm way down and sometimes stop completely with a very concentrated and focused effort but it just seems like I am doing something wrong.

I've tried adjusting my finger position on the trigger and it seems that if I rest it almost on the crease of the first knuckle it is the best for comfort and for amount of jerk.

Can anyone make suggestions on what I can do to further decrease this?

Oh and though I dont have a trigger pull scale I did some homework and by way of using water and a milk jug I have determined that the pull is somewhere between 6.5 and 7 lbs so Im not too worried about it being over heavy.

Thanks
 
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I don't have any suggestion other than more practice. I put an apex trigger in mine, so I'm even less help. I have spent quite a bit of time practicing with my M&P340 since it's so light and the trigger is quite heavy. Everything else seems light after a bit of time on a heavy revolver trigger.

I had to like your post because of the fact that you jerry-rigged a trigger scale using water.
 
Not sure how your trigger finger is placed but try not to get too much finger on the trigger, half the first joint should be good. I also learned a lot by dry firing with a laser on my wife's pistols. The laser really shows the difference in techniques.
 
At first I was trying to do right in the middle of the pad on my index finger but it was out of control and it seemed I couldnt do anything to make it stop.

Now I slide the pad all the way over until the crease of the first joint is just nestled against the trigger and it is much better but still happens (though much less.)
 
Work on your follow through. Some times we ease up on our grip just as the trigger breaks and this will let the front sight "jump". Keep your grip as tight on the pistol after the trigger breaks as it was at the start of the trigger pull. Focus on your front sight through out the whole process. With some practice you should see good improvement. Bill
 
It is my belief that this is due to the over travel. I have noticed this same thing on my .40 full size. However, on my .45 which has the Apex Forward Set Sear kit in it and no over travel, the sight doesn't move.

Now, the real question is, does it matter? You obviously have some idea of the proper trigger control. What does the gun do when you actually shoot it? If you're hitting the intended target, who cares if the sights jump 1/16" after the sear falls?

So, before you start changing things and worrying about that tiny movement, fire it first. Then work on the fix.
 
Rastoff said:
Now, the real question is, does it matter? You obviously have some idea of the proper trigger control. What does the gun do when you actually shoot it? If you're hitting the intended target, who cares if the sights jump 1/16" after the sear falls?

So, before you start changing things and worrying about that tiny movement, fire it first. Then work on the fix.
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking, take it out and shoot it, then worry about it.
 
That's a really good point. I hadn't thought of this before. I will be going out tomorrow to run some lead through it. Ill follow up once I have done this and will let you all know how it shoots.

Thanks again!
 
Llando88 said:
Interesting.

How exactly did you do this?
Click to expand...
Easy. A gallon of water weighs about 8.34lbs. Therefore, it is enough to pull most triggers. Tie a string around the handle of the water jug and the other end around the trigger. Hold the pistol up in the air and keep adding water until the trigger is pulled. Take the resultant jug of water and weigh it on a scale or balance. Do this a few times and you can get pretty close to the real pull weight.

The real question is, does it really matter what the trigger pull weight is? As long as you can control it enough to hit the intended target, who cares what the actual weight is?
 
If your finger is pulling straight back, not a slightly angled pull from the left to right (right handed shooter), the barrel should not move. This is referring to one handed shooting. Two handed shooting should eliminate the pulling effect. However I am a accurate shooter, I know trigger control, and shoot tight groups, but I also had the same issue (one handed dry firing). The fix is a trigger over-travel stop. I have posted a link to my Shield's trigger pull below. I have formed an OT stop, into the lower rear of the trigger, and file fit it to produce about .008 to .010 of OT, after the break. This eliminated that slight barrel movement to the right, after the trigger break, when dry firing. With such a small amount of OT, except for the sound or feel of the sear/hammer drop, I really can not tell when the trigger hits the break point, it is that smooth. You would not notice the slight barrel movement, when actually firing, due to the recoil.

I have a M&P 22A and put a similar OT stop, molded into the back of the plastic trigger. That gun has a 2.0 pound pull, and even with only a 2 pound pull, I would slightly pull the barrel, after the break (one handed dry firing), before I put in the OT stop. Same thing for my Browning Buckmark 22 pistol (also a 2 pound pull), however it has an aluminum trigger and I was able to drill and tap the trigger for an OT set screw.

There is absolutely no barrel movement when dry firing, with the OT stops on the guns. I stress that if your getting the barrel pull at the break, using two handed shooting, you are pulling too hard. Pull slow, easy, and straight back, and make the exact break point a "surprise point". You know it's about to break, but that exact point is a guess, is it the next ounce of pull, or maybe a little more.

Practice your trigger pull without the gun. Hold your hand like you would actually hold the gun. Then your trigger finger moves straight back and forward. Nothing else in you hand moves, except the trigger finger. At first you will likely find other parts of your hand move, as you make the pulling motion. You want to eliminate these outside movements. Now take that feeling to the gun.


Bob


Link to video of my Shield 40, which has a 3 pound 10-12 ounce pull:

Shield with Apex Trigger and Over Travel Stop - YouTube


.
 
Last edited:
Rastoff said:
Easy. A gallon of water weighs about 8.34lbs. Therefore, it is enough to pull most triggers. Tie a string around the handle of the water jug and the other end around the trigger. Hold the pistol up in the air and keep adding water until the trigger is pulled. Take the resultant jug of water and weigh it on a scale or balance. Do this a few times and you can get pretty close to the real pull weight.

The real question is, does it really matter what the trigger pull weight is? As long as you can control it enough to hit the intended target, who cares what the actual weight is?
Click to expand...


Thanks. Yes I was working that all out in my mind at the same time I asked the question, from my Scuba diving rule of thumb, "a pint's a pound the world around" lol.

You are right of course, it doesn't matter, but I'm curious what my trigger pull is, relative to what you see in the specs.

Short of buying a gauge for one time use, or borrowing one, it seemed like this water jug method was a decent way to get an estimate of trigger pull.
 
Rastoff said:
The real question is, does it really matter what the trigger pull weight is? As long as you can control it enough to hit the intended target, who cares what the actual weight is?
Click to expand...

It really doesn't matter what the pull weight is. I actually shoot DA revolvers better double action than single action because of 40+ years of shooting DA. I find I concentrate much more on my sight picture when I have a 9-12lb. trigger pull.
 
I've got the same problem when dry firing my Shield 9. No matter what,that sight is going to jump when the trigger breaks. I believe it is caused by the trigger hitting the over travel stop in the trigger guard. It is a combination of the heavy-ish trigger pull and quick trigger break. By then, the bullet has already left the barrel, so it shouldn't affect the POI.

That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

At the range, with slow, deliberate, concentrated trigger pull, I do pretty well.
 
All I can say is that you are in the right path. You trying different amounts of trigger finger which is the first thing to try when the front sight is moving. Keep dry firing and get some rounds down range before worrying too much about it. With some practice the shield is easily a 25 yards and under defensive pistol. The pistol can hit much further out, but many shooters do have problems with small guns....practice is probably all that is needed.

One other suggestion is to focus on applying more grip with your support hand, and relax your strong hand just a bit. This will allow you to work your trigger finger more accurately and deliberately.

Good luck, and stay safe.
 
I have the same problem with all my plastic pistols. Glocks, M&Ps, etc. The problem seems to go away when I shoot steel framed guns, and as a practical matter, it doesn't seem to bother me at the range. If you think it may be the overtravel that's causing it, you can get those self adhesive bumber pads like for drawers and cabinets, and cut one down to eliminate the overtravel. I wouldn't do this on a carry pistol except as an experiment, but it may tell you if the overtravel is the problem.

Ingenious trigger pull gauge, by the way.
 
Last night I did some more dry firing specifically concentrating on the direction of pull and it seems that's one of the main issues. If I concentrate on just bending the second knuckle this makes the rest of my finger travel almost straight back and the sight jumps little to not at all. I'll burn some gunpowder today and check back in after.
 
Khurrle said:
I put around 100 rounds through it today and couldn't be more pleased. I wouldn't say I was an expert marksman but I was able to tag clay pigeons pretty reliably at 50+ feet.

I'm very happy with it!
Click to expand...
See? Didn't we tell you not to worry about it?

Great report! Now go put some more through it.
 
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