Electronic Trigger Standards

[SlartyBartFast]

A thread I just read made me wonder if there was any standards body (voluntary or required) that regulated and monitored the design and function of various electronic triggers.

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=46889

The problem presented was the sensor was blocked. I work with many electro-mechanical systems and the use of one-shot circuits and monitoring switch or sensor changes to generate control signals seems to be widely viewed as a design standard.

My knowledge of electronic triggers is almost nil. But it would seem to me that a reasonably designed circuit should prevent the sort of situation described where the gun fires without the trigger being pulled.

While firearms handling standards of keeping a gun pointed downrange at all times should keep everyone safe, standards of design should mitigate the possibility of accidental discharge.

[David Levene]

Simple answer, no there isn't.

[SlartyBartFast]

Simple answer, no there isn't.

Which is what I assumed. The lack of fail-safe analysis for something such as a firearm or airgun is a little distressing.

[renzo]

Bart

I can understand your concern....................... but remember that someone with a lot of idle time in the ISSF could be reading this: don't give them any more weird ideas!!!

[j-team]

Bart

I can understand your concern....................... but remember that someone with a lot of idle time in the ISSF could be reading this: don't give them any more weird ideas!!!

That's exactly that I thought. Not just ISSF idle minds...

[Gwhite]

I've seen far more shots put in the bench/dirt with mechanical triggers than electronic, but the mechanical ones are more common, so it's hard to say which is more reliable. It's almost always traceable to operator error, although some errors are more subtle than others.

If the pistol goes off when the action is closed, the problem is usually NOT with the trigger mechanism, which shouldn't even be "armed" at that point. Free pistols typically have two mechanisms, one that holds the firing pin back, and one that the trigger actuates, which then trips the firing pin release. In the case of my Morini electronic trigger, it was the firing pin sear that let go, and the trigger & electronics weren't involved. The collegiate team I help coach has several Hammerli 160's, and we have learned the hard way that if you slam the action shut too hard, the pistols can fire. Again, this occurs without the trigger mechanism being involved, and is independent of how light the trigger is set. The Hammerli firing pin sear mechanism is designed to go off with a "tap" from the trigger system, and a good jolt can set it off, independent of how new/clean/lubricated it might be. As long as you close the action smoothly, we've never had a problem.

The one free pistol I have never seen fire on closing the action is the old Pardini PGP-75's. They use a bolt system that is very different from the typical Martini falling block design. As long as you set the trigger after you've closed the bolt, they are very reliable.