Fancy Triggers

Someone asked recently on M4C about triggers for SBRs, and below is my response, expanded somewhat for the blog.

I am a fan of the GI trigger.  I have never missed a shot that I blamed on the trigger* (more on that in a minute) but have missed many shots that were the fault of the shooter.  With aftermarket triggers (Excluding the ALG, which I have not tried yet, or even seen on the market) I have also not encountered a fancy-trigger that I believe is robust enough to consider using that wasn't also money better spent on an equal cost in ammo and some time on the range learning how to shoot.

SBRs are, for me anyway, about close range and fast shooting.  Can they be shot at distance?  Certainly.  We had a shooter in my 0.5 class last week that went from never having spent any time with the AR FOW to hitting A/C steel at 200 yards with an A1 profile 10.3" barrel, GI trigger, and Aimpoint T-1 (which, according to most of the internet is just physically impossible).  I myself have reliably made hits on 8" steel with 11.5" A1-profile barrel and an Aimpoint Comp ML2 with GI ammo (something else the internet says is impossible)

Now to really piss you off.  The fancy-trigger is a crutch.  I personally believe they have a place in precision shooting, and that some who come from such a professional background or spend a lot of time doing civilian nappy-time shooting get used to that crutch and they need it, or at least want it, all the time.  That doesn't mean it's not a crutch.

I also don't like the two-stage for close-range, fast shooting.  Because I'm not used to the crutch, I will sometimes bobble the reset when going fast because I'm not resetting the trigger far enough, because I'm used to the GI trigger.

As to my own experience...

*Prior to the 0.5 class last weekend I had been shooting a gun for an article with a Geiselle SD3G trigger in it.  Since January of this year virtually all of my AR shooting has been with this gun and I'm just over 1400 rounds with it.  Besides that the only rifle  I've been doing has been a Winchester Model 70 which I took to a 3-day practical rifle class and put about 600 rounds through.  Trigger on that frankly rivals the S3G in terms of how easy it breaks.  In that 0.5 class last weekend I had occasion to shoot my BCM T&E loaner gun both up close at speed and at 100 yards for zeroing and 200 yards at the A/C steel.  My performance in all cases was sub-par.  I could not go as fast as I used to, nor was I as precise as I used to be.  To be sure, some of this is simply that I've been focusing on handgun shooting in place of carbine this year to date, but some of that is absolutely that I got used to the crutch.

Speaking of handgun shooting...
I originally started pistol shooting with Glocks, then went to mid-grade 1911s (think Wilson, Brown, Yost-Bonitz), then back to Glocks.  Using the IDPA Classifier as a metric I went from Sharpshooter with the Glock in the beginning, to Sharpshooter with the 1911s, and then dropped down to Marksman with the Glock when I went back to it. Why?  The crutch.  The trigger of the 1911 allowed me to get away with being sloppy.  What is interesting is that I didn't use that crutch to excel, I used that crutch to devolve!  Logically I should have easily moved up in the Classifier with the better trigger (although the Classifier is weighted to negate this to some extent, the times for a Glock are not the same as the times for a 1911) but I didn't.  Instead I got lazy (lazier?) and I am paying for it now with the Glock.  I just recently re-shot the Classifier after YEARS of shooting the Glock again and finally managed to pull myself back up to where I STARTED almost 10 years ago.  But I didn't learn.  I purchased and installed a Vanek Classic trigger in one of my Glock 19s and took it with me to a Hackathorn Advanced Handgun course a couple of weeks ago.  My performance was no better than with the stock Glock trigger and "-" connector but I'm now $100+ lighter in the pocket.  Know what I should have done with that money?  Ammo and range time.

If you're ok with the crutch, and willing to install the crutch on all your guns, and willing to accept that if you need to shoot a GI trigger you may not perform as well due to being spoiled by the crutch, then by all means have at it.  If you do shoot a whole slew of triggers and find that your performance is not impeded by going from the fancy-trigger to the GI then you're simply a better shooter than I am.  But if that's the case, it begs the question, why would you spend all that money on a crutch you don't actually need?

I'm not saying there's no place for aftermarket fancy triggers, but what I am saying is that I haven't been able to find a place for them in my guns, for my needs, that doesn't come with serious drawbacks and eventually lead to an actual negative overall result.

Carbine 0.5 Proof of Concept

Last weekend, 14-15 April 2012, I ran the first prototype course of the Carbine 0.5 shooting class.  For those not familiar with the concept, the idea is this...

I have noticed more and more instructors moving away from the introductory courses.  I have no idea why this is, but it leaves a void in the training market that also leaves shooters looking for ways to begin to get involved.  Much like the waiter jobs I tried to apply for in high school, you can'get a job if you don't have experience, but you can't get experience if you haven't gotten a job.  New shooters are left with a similar challenge when they WANT to train but they find that all of the courses they want to take have pre-requisites.  Additionally, many shooters new to the sleepaway training class don't know what to expect and don't want to shell out the cash (easily $1k+) or the time (2-4 days depending on travel) if they aren't ready or aren't going to like it.  Enter the 0.5-level course which addresses all of these concerns.  This is not the course for the guy that's already been to several classes with name instructors, but is more for the shooter that may have a safe full of stuff he really doesn't know how to use, or perhaps a wife or adult child that has always been interested in what dad is up to but never had the outlet to learn it.

So, last weekend at Rocky Creek Ranch, a friend and I ran the first prototype of the Carbine 0.5 course.  The format at this location included a 2-3 hour portion on Saturday before dinner and then an all-day range portion on Sunday.  We had a total of 4 students for the Saturday portion and one could not return for the Sunday portion so we had three on the range day.  Experience levels varied from pretty used to running the carbine, to familiar with handgun shooting but no real carbine experience, to little to no shooting experience at all.  The students were great, and I want to give a big thank you to Justin, Keith and Anna.

During the Saturday portion of the class we began with Cooper's four rules of safe gun handling

1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Never point your muzzle at anything you are not prepared to destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target.
4. Be sure of your target.

We discussed what each rule meant, how they work together, etc.  From there we moved on to the controls of the rifle, from the charging handle, to the magazine release, to the bolt catch and release, to the safety and performed dry manipulations of them all, finishing up with discussion of ready positions (indoor, low, and high port) and dry manipulations of the trigger getting the feel for the ease to reset.

Once the classroom portion was done we had an excellent meal of BBQ chicken and ribs, mashed potatoes, and salad.  This is one of the benefits of training at Rocky Creek Ranch, having lodging and (great) meals provided right on site. While training sites should be all about the training first, I'm certainly not going to complain if I can stay in a nice place, have a nice meal, and save driving all over God's creation getting from ranges in the sticks into town to stay at some fleabag hotel.  Total commute time at Rocky Creek Ranch from the lodge to the range is 5 minutes.

On Sunday we began with breakfast of bacon, eggs, and grits along with coffee, orange juice, yogurt, and bagels.   Once we moved out tot he range we had a review of the four rules and gave BCM Gunfighter charging handles to the two students that were able to repeat a rule on demand.  Special thanks to Bravo Company USA for helping sponsor this event with the charging handles and hats, posters and stickers for all the students.

Once we had refreshed everyone's memory on the safety rules we went over the ready positions and controls again before we covered loading and unloading the carbine with several rotations through to get the hang of it.  This was followed by an explanation of the mechanical offset of sighting systems.

We then walked the students through a method of demonstrating the offset to themselves.

We then had the students shoot while holding on the X of the NRA B-8 Repair Center to further demonstrate mechanical offset and holdover, and then had them compensate for same by holding high as necessary.  During this portion of the firing drills we covered easing to reset, and had the students hold the trigger to the rear after each shot so that they could feel the gun ease to reset and get the feel for the concept.

Positions followed, and we covered prone and kneeling positions and had the students shoot from these positions at 25 yards in order to minimize walking time on the range.  Once they had a handle on things at 25, we moved out to 50.  Before lunch we wound up with malfunction clearances and an introduction to speed/emergency reloads.  Again, being able to retreat to the lodge for a nice lunch of sandwiches in air conditioning was a welcome change of pace from courses where you eat lunch huddled under a shed.

For the afternoon portion we covered other topics such as shooting at cadence, prone at 100 yards, live-fire practice of emergency reloads, and we finished up with a walkback drill on steel plates.  We then moved out to 200 yards and ALL students were able to reliably hit the A/C-zone steel plates from 200 yards with regularity.

We finished up with a totally voluntary fam-fire portion wherein I laid out the various T&E carbines I have, as well as my personal guns, and gave anyone that wanted to an opportunity to check out different triggers, brakes, optics, slings, etc. to help inform their own future purchases.  I believe this portion is something that will help set the 0.5 courses we offer apart.  We don't want to prioritize gear but in today's market you can't ignore it either and if we can help students make an informed choice then so much the better.

For her vast improvement from 08:30 to 16:30, Anna received a Blue Force Gear Vickers Combat Applications sling.  Thanks go out to Blue Force Gear as well for their participation and sponsorship in this.  Anna began the day almost totally inexperienced with the AR platform and finished by hitting steel at 200 yards, which is a great improvement in my book.

I believe the course went extremely well, and all of the students saw improvement and indicated positive feedback when the course was complete.  A partner and I are starting a new training company based around this concept of the 0.5-level course, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements of more classes in the near future.  If you'd like to be added to our mailing list to be notified of future training events you can drop me a line at rob@tacticalyellowvisor.net and we'll keep you posted.

I also want to thank everyone that was involved.  Anna, Keith, and Justin were great students, listened well, performed the drills we asked them to and were patient with each other when someone else was struggling.  I couldn't have asked for a better group.

Chris, Gene and Nic of Rocky Creek Ranch were similarly fantastic.  Meals were great, lodging was seamless, and all of those in attendance were impressed and anxious to come back.

To Paul from Bravo Company and Stephen and Brittany of Blue Force Gear, thank you again for the schwag.  I appreciate the confidence in this new venture, and the students always like getting good gear as a reward for good performance.

Be sure to find all of these guys at their websites but also at their facebook pages
https://www.facebook.com/rockycreekranch
https://www.facebook.com/blueforcegearinc
https://www.facebook.com/BravoCompanyUSA

and my own page
https://www.facebook.com/TacticalYellowVisor

and the placeholder page for our new training venture
https://www.facebook.com/GoalOrientedTraining
("like" us for updates as we roll out more 0.5 training)

And finally, extra special thanks to my friend Kevin who acted as assistant instructor for this course.  He did a fantastic job and knew exactly when to pipe up to add to what we were discussing without breaking the tempo of the course.  He also worked individually with students who were struggling with one thing or another so that the rest of the class could keep pace.  Kevin was "never a disabler, always an enabler", to quote Pat McNamara.  Fantastic having you there bro.

Rob (Instructor), Kevin (AI), Keith, Anna, and Justin (students)

Gunwriting

In certain circles, the term "gunwriter" gets thrown around as an insult.  I can certainly understand this, especially with the influx of "bloggers" and "youtubers" that consider themselves writers (and no, the irony that I've recently started a blog and a youtube channel is not lost on me).  Often the writer is considered inexpert in whatever he is writing about, perceived as having insufficient skill at arms to be allowed to write in the critic's opinion, or is even just viewed as a poor writer.  All of these things are often true.  However, there are certain realities faced by those of us that choose to put ourselves out there are "gunwriters".

First among these realities is the pay.  If you think anyone is getting rich off of writing for gun magazines, you're wrong (or I'm doing it wrong, in which case please share the secret).  What I typically get paid for an article is barely enough to cover the ammo, range fees, and travel expenses I'll put into an article.  Factor in that oftentimes I'm writing about a class, or using a particular piece of gear in a class, and I'm in the hole before I ever even write the first sentence.  Given this, it is certainly easy to see why a writer would choose to fire a minimal number of rounds through the gun and then get to the business of writing, and why he would be most interested in writing about the items that he can get for free, to potentially be sold after the fact to increase the bottom line.  But even in this model, it would be damn tough to make any kind of appreciable living off of writing alone.

Which, then, leads to the second challenge, which is finding the time to do both the shooting and the writing.  Even the writer that fires a minimal number of rounds has to get himself (and possibly a photographer) to the range, do at least that minimal amount of shooting and take pictures of same, edit the photos, and THEN set about doing the actual writing portion.  Strictly in terms of time invested for dollars earned it is a loosing proposition at best when you break down your fee by the amount of hours you have invested.  That time spent reviewing photos and doing the writing is time not spent shooting, performing dryfire practice, reloading, etc.

And for the writer that DOES actually get out and shoot, it means a constantly revolving set of firearms through one's hands.  In this regard I'm lucky, to some extent, to specialize in the AR15 family of weapons such that at least the basic manual of arms stays the same.  But even with that given, rotating handguards, optics, stocks, grips, triggers, etc. is hardly conducive to improving proficiency.  "Beware the man with one gun", they say, "he probably knows how to use it".  If that's the case, what do we say about the man with a different one each week?  And does it really matter if he isn't as good a shooter as the guy next to him on the line at a class?  Does that somehow make him incapable of evaluating a piece of equipment?  If so, how?

It strikes me that what is truly necessary to perform well as a writer is to have an analytical and critical mind, an understanding of machinery and engineering, and the ability to communicate one's findings.  And I have another news flash for you, you don't have to agree with everything someone writes in order for them to be considered a good writer!  I know!  Shocking, right?

If this sounds like I'm bitching, I'm not.  I truly enjoy almost every aspect of writing.  It's cool to check out new guns and gear.  It's nice to get at least a portion of the cost of training offset by my writer's fee.  It's an ego boost to be recognized as an SME to however small a portion of the population.  It's fun to come home and find a package on the doorstep that you didn't order that is full of some new hotness you weren't expecting.  All of these things are what keep me writing and keep me interested.  But some of the perceptions of the public, that this is somehow a full-time gig, that I should be a master-class shooter or a professional face-shooter to be able to evaluate a piece of equipment, are kind of silly when you really think about them.  Which isn't to say that there aren't writers that get themselves fully out of their lane.  Or that there aren't people that think I do it with every stroke of the keyboard.  But not every gunwriter needs to be the bestest, fastest, baddest-ass shooter on the planet just to evaluate gear and write about what he finds.  and in fact, it is highly unlikely that someone is likely to be both.