TargetTalk

Hello all. I am a completely new shooter (four months) with air pistol and have currently reached the 530's....I use a morini CM 162 MI long barrel AP.......My question is: what is the correct distribution of the the total trigger weight (500 gms) between the first and the second stage travel. Also what is the correct ratio of the excursions of the two parts of travel.

Dr. Rajat Dhesi

awadhnavab wrote:Hello all. I am a completely new shooter (four months) with air pistol and have currently reached the 530's....I use a morini CM 162 MI long barrel AP.......My question is: what is the correct distribution of the the total trigger weight (500 gms) between the first and the second stage travel. Also what is the correct ratio of the excursions of the two parts of travel.

Dr. Rajat Dhesi

The only correct thing about trigger weight is that it must be at least 500 grams. Different people like triggers set-up differently there is not magic numbers. Mine is about 470-480 first stage and about 50-60 on the second stage which gives me 520-540 total. I also have a short short first stage travel and a little after travel. It works for me. I didn't mess with my trigger for a few years after I got it (other than weight to assure it was legal), by this time I knew what I laked what I and what I wanted to acheive and why. Personally people spend way too much time messing with stuff in the hopes of finding that screw that will take you from 520 to 580 (that screw doesn't exist). I highly doubt your trigger is stopping you from shooting above 530 (unless it is so grossly out of adjustment from the factory).

With all that being said I was at a major competition and an athlete from another countries national team fail trigger check and needed to adjust it, the athlete didn't have a clue, its a good thing to learn how and what to adjust.

In the end all you can do is experiment and see what you like the best and what works for you. Thats whya its adjust able if one set-up worked for everyone the manufactures would make every pistol that way and save the cost and complexity of an adjustable trigger.

Good luck and have fun.

Thanks Richard,

I'm not saying that I feel the trigger adjustment is slowing my progress....I should have put things differently. I mean I've been playing around with my trigger settings and experimenting....and what I meant to ask was whether there are any strong recommendations for the weight and excursion distribution to help make anybodys shooting more predictable?

awadhnavab wrote:Thanks Richard,

I'm not saying that I feel the trigger adjustment is slowing my progress....I should have put things differently. I mean I've been playing around with my trigger settings and experimenting....and what I meant to ask was whether there are any strong recommendations for the weight and excursion distribution to help make anybodys shooting more predictable?

I don't know of any recommendations that really mean anything I've seen references to 50/50, 75/25 but I wouldn't put much value into a value that someone gives you (unless they know and have seen exactly how you shoot ie a good coach). I've done some coaching with juniour and senior shooters and I've never given them a trigger set-up directly, I've let them try various trigger settings and discover what they like and what works best for them. Through talking with the athlete I've helped them adjust their triggers to achieve what they want. It just IMHO you really cant give someone trigger settings, you can help them acheive what they are looking for in a trigger though. If you can try other shooters triggers and from there you will discover what you like and don't like and go from there. Trigger, sight, weight and balance adjustments are really personal and it really is impossible to give a shooter one value or setting that will work for everyone.

My feeling is that you should be able to comfortably (and safely) sit on the start of the second stage. I would therefore suggest 200g is about right to achieve that or even a 50:50 split. I would also advise keeping the overall weight high - 550g+. The last thing you want at weapons control is to have to fiddle with your trigger settings because it know won't lift the test weight, so give yourself a fair amount of leeway.

Rob.

Thanks Rob.....What would you say to a weight distribution of 400/150... do you think it is safe enough to have such a feather touch second stage??Or is inadvertent release more likely to happen in such a situation.

awadhnavab wrote:Thanks Rob.....What would you say to a weight distribution of 400/150... do you think it is safe enough to have such a feather touch second stage??Or is inadvertent release more likely to happen in such a situation.

If you do not feel comfortable and in control of your 150 gm trigger (you say 150 gm is a feather touch), then you should increase the weight. Stay with that for a month or two. As you gain experience, try less weight until you find a setting that feels right to you.

I can understand Rob suggesting a 200 gm 2nd stage for a new shooter, but the fact is that most shooters, as they gain experience, tend to move toward a lighter 2nd stage. Richard mentioned that his is set at 50-60 gm and most of my friends have theirs set at 50-100 gm.

Congratulations on your your excellent progress after four months.

Fred