TargetTalk

Was pondering a question regarding trigger weight, and thought to ask the question here due to the diversity on this forum of competitive shooters.

Are triggers weighed prior to a major competition, or after, or is it at the descretion of the event venue? Feel free to fill in the voids to enlighten about competition trigger weight.

At Canadian events, in accordance with the rules, triggers are weighed during guncheck, a random selection (about 1 in 10 competitors) at the end of qualification rounds, and every finalist pistol is weighed again before the finals start. For NRA conventional pistol weighing triggers is only done at guncheck. Other folk may vary but that has been our procedure for at least the last few years.

Cheers. Dr Jim

In my country (Argentina) trigger weight (if mandated) is checked before sanctioned matches, along with any other equipment that has to meet any regulation standards (in the case of pistol shooters that includes shoes), and you have to grip the weapon as to show the wrist is in no way locked.

During the match only the wrist support is observed by the firing line judges, and after the shoot a randon number of shooters must submit their weapons for trigger control.

Prior to the Olympic Finals, all eight participants are allowed to shoot without new checkings, but podium finishers are cheked at the end of the final.

Dr. Jim's experience has been the same as my own.

A couple of years ago, John Zurek was DQ'd after a match in Europe. He had been "weighed" before the match, but they claimed he didn't make weight after testing at the end of the match.

Knowing John very well, I'm certain he didn't fiddle the trigger. He did say they didn't much care for Americans, though.

It's pretty easy to discretely trip a marginal trigger if a biased judge wanted to. I would want to have a little extra weight dialed in if I knew I might have my trigger weighed by an unsympathetic (or worse, biased) party.

I haven't shot in a big enough pistol match that anybody worried about it in quite a while. I used to shoot in a rifle league where they weighed triggers, and some folks would yank the rifle up pretty briskly against the weight. I think it was more in the interest of time than an attempt to fail people. If you passed, off you went. If you failed, they'd do it again with more care.

Mass Shooter wrote:Was pondering a question regarding trigger weight, and thought to ask the question here due to the diversity on this forum of competitive shooters.

Are triggers weighed prior to a major competition, or after, or is it at the descretion of the event venue? Feel free to fill in the voids to enlighten about competition trigger weight.

My club hosts a Sectional every year, and we weigh all triggers before shooters go to the firing line. If they set a record (it's happened three times) we weigh them again.

Rover wrote:Dr. Jim's experience has been the same as my own.
A couple of years ago, John Zurek was DQ'd after a match in Europe. He had been "weighed" before the match, but they claimed he didn't make weight after testing at the end of the match.
Knowing John very well, I'm certain he didn't fiddle the trigger. He did say they didn't much care for Americans, though.

"they claimed"? Either it did or it didn't.

Having been on both sides of this for many years, it no longer amazes me how many pistols can change trigger weight: no question (usually) of the shooter changing the settings - it just happens.

Gwhite wrote:It's pretty easy to discretely trip a marginal trigger if a biased judge wanted to....

At an ISSF sanctioned competition:
- the Judge/s only observe the trigger check. The check is carried out by the Equipment Control personnel with one or more Judges and the shooter observing. If the pistol does not pass on the first try, more people take an interest and observe the subsequent test/s.
- I doubt that any Judge who behaved this way would be on the circuit for very long.

When setting triggers, allow for enviromental changes, spring tension changes and Murphy's Law.
I add 20 cents (12g) to a Airpistol, 50 cents (16g) to a Standard Pistol and 70 cents (28g) to a Centrefire/Srevice pistol.
You will not feel the difference.

Very interesting comments and experiences from our competitor friends across the pond, and abroad, I thank you for sharing them.
I've only been to a few small 900 matches and have never seen triggers weighed but have read in the NRA rules that if any records broken then your pistol trigger will be checked for weight.
I've heard before from oposing team members saying how nice and light they've sucessfully adjusted their triggers to. .... Hmmm, ideas popping into head.

I may mess with some heads at our fun indoor gallery .22 league which we startup in the fall and place our clubs NRA certified static weight trigger weighing system at the end of the table with a sign reading "Sign In & Weigh In" here. LOL

Most of our team members have used the weight system and those tested lifted the 2lb weight, only (1) older S&W-41 failed which was a complete surprise to the shooter. ...

Appreciate the comments .... Thanks!

As Spencer rightly says trigger weights can and do vary with time, for a variety of reasons. It's certainly not uncommon for a gun to need to be adjusted after trigger weight testing because it's moved. Some folks also insist on having their gun set as close as possible to the weight limit - rather than 50-100g above it. It makes no difference other than you have less chance of failing the trigger weight test post match.

Triggers are tested in almost every match I shoot in, just a few smaller county competitions dont usually test them.

Rob.

The ISSF procedure is defined in rule 8.4.1.6.4: 'Random check after the last series'. However, play it safe! Make sure that environmental changes don't influence the trigger weight beyond the lower limit. Then you won't have to worry during the match if your equipment will pass control. After all, 50 gramms more is of no importance.
Good shooting.
Guy