Indy_Guy_77
Grandmaster
- Apr 30, 2008
- 16,576
- 48
Unless you have some sort of predisposing injury like Jeremy I certainly wouldn't try and adopt the middle finger trigger pull. This comes up every so often in forums and is often propagated by the point shooting crowd. If you don't need it I wouldn't work too hard to adopt it. It was promoted years ago by some LE trainers from various eastern PD's who seemed more interested in pure accuracy vs. actual use etc.
Here's a link to a report on this grip:
The Police Policy Studies Council
From John Farnam of DTI:
There was a better response than this but I can't find it right now.
Lessons: The "middle-finger-on-trigger" technique, sometimes called the "Pittsburgh Grip," has been used off and on by the Pittsburgh PD and others for several decades and had caused uncounted accidents (mostly self-inflicted), like the one enumerated above. It proponents say the index finger is used to point, and the middle finger is used to manipulate the trigger, but there is no way both fingers can go into register simultaneously, so we see incidents like the one above. How stupid can you get?
Overarching jist: the index finger moves much more independently than the other fingers. Just hold your hand out like you're trying to palm a basketball. Slowly curl your index finger in like you're pulling a trigger. Note how much you have to move this finger before the middle/ring fingers move.
Now try it with your middle finger... Your ring finger will move at almost the same rate/pace/distance.
Now try it with your ring finger...watch to see how much your middle finger moves.
Middle finger on trigger: not at all ideal because the harder you grip the pistol with your ring finger & pinky, the more chance you have of a sympathetic movement of your middle finger to pull the trigger unintentionally.
-J-