Jeff Cooper Surprise Trigger Break

[DanOH]

Some instruction that I am still digesting, but coming from the GURU I am sure is sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIAqU7hKBw&feature=related

[timkelley]

Now I know that I lean on the shot. My next problem seems to be what to do about it.

[Pepe Ray]

Thank you DanOH for posting that link.
I've been a Cooper fan since the '60's but in all of his printed material I've never read an explanation of the 'surprise break' that made sense to me. Seeing/hearing this explanation is illuminating to me.
Thanks again,
Pepe Ray

[257 Shooter]

That is a great video. I have taught the suprise break to my children and new girlfriend and it has made them much better shots.

[Echo]

Now I know that I lean on the shot. My next problem seems to be what to do about it.

Dry fire. And dry fire some more. If you are shooting a revolver, use Ball & Dummy practice. Load one, or two, live rounds, randomly, spin the cylinder before closing, use single action if possible, concentrate on the front sight (and I mean CONCENTRATE, not just focus), squeeze (don't jerk!) the trigger until the hammer drops (as a surprise). Every now & then you will get a discharge, and if you are paying attention to the front sight, the round will hit in the black.

Then dry fire some more.

When the hammer drops, the gun should not move...

And then there is the grip. One should be trying to squeeze the grip in two. If one is shaking, one needs more conditioning. And the finger tips should not be in contact with the grips. ALL pressure should be front-to-back, with NO side-to-side pressure.

[yondering]

I've always disagreed with the idea of being surprised when the trigger breaks. This may be a good method to teach beginners not to flinch, but is most definitely not an advanced rifleman skill, and is terrible advice for shooting offhand. At best, the surprise break is a benchrest technique only.

If you're shooting offhand, and the sights are wobbling around, how do you expect to hit the target if you don't know when the gun will go off? For good offhand shooting, you must be able to control exactly when the gun fires. This requires dedicated practice to aquire familiarity with that particular gun, and precise trigger control, with no flinching.

[stubshaft]

I agree with the concept of precise trigger control. To check if either myself or others have acquired a flinch I either load a revolver with 1 or 2 snap caps in among to live rounds and spin the cylinder and close me eyes when closing it, or if it is a rifle I keep a couple of dummie rounds capped with a boolit (looks like live ammo) and a spent primer. I load those into the magazine in a random manner. It makes it real easy to tell if you've developed a flinch or prove to others that they have when they drop the hammer on a dummy round.

[yondering]

For those interested, there's a real good article in last months "Precision Shooting" magazine on off-hand shooting, how to do it, and the trigger control involved. (Surprise break is not one of them.) Some good techniques are explained in the article. I'll try to figure out which issue and the name of the article if anyone's interested.

[KYCaster]

Well.........I started to make a comment, but I think I'll just go kick a sleeping dog instead. I probably won't get chewed up as bad.

Jerry

Peein' on Elmer's grave would probably be safer.

[Echo]

Well - I'll agree to some extent with the critique of the 'Surprise' factor of trigger control. But I maintain it is the best way to improve one's ability to hit what they are aiming at, except maybe in combat situations, Can't comment on that, haven't been there nor done that.

With practice, the trigger pull can be organized on the spinal cord, so that it just takes the mind saying, "OK,start the pull", and the spinal cord does the rest. >I< was taught that shooting offhand pistol, there is always a wobble - the amount is reduced by training, and conditioning, but it is always there. A Surprise letoff will produce higher scores, on the way to Master class. At least, it did with me.

Saying that, I found that once I got in the vicinity of 2600 (and over), I was interrupting the pull when I felt the wobble to be excessive - not necessarily releasing the pull, but interrupting, to be continued when the wobble settled down. If too much wobble during a Slow Fire stage, I would put the gun down and sit down for a minute or so. If during sustained fire, I sucked it up and did the best I could. Practice kept those events fairly rare. Still, even with the interrupted pull, the discharge was generally an (expected) surprise.

If the shooter has an exceedingly strong grip and arm musculature, then jerking the trigger may have little effect on the POI. I guess I have heard of this phenomenon, but never saw it in action - and I was tagging along on the coattails of Champions.

Just my observations...

[danski26]

Yondering,
I am interested in that article. I don't recieve the magazine. Is it posted online anywhere?

[MT Gianni]

Yondering,
I am interested in that article. I don't recieve the magazine. Is it posted online anywhere?

+1 for me also.

[Char-Gar]

Cooper's termology may be helpful to the neophyte pistol shooter, but it has no usefulness to the precision rifle shooter. This stuff needs to be kept in the proper context.

[yondering]

I'm not sure if the "Precision Shooting" magazine is available online. Some gun shops carry individual issues, but you won't find it on most magazine racks. The subscription is expensive (~$40/year) but well worth it for any serious rifleman.

The article I mentioned is from January, 2010, Vol. 57, No. 9.
The title is:
Will Is The Controlling Component
MASTERING THE OFFHAND TECHNIQUE
How To Create A "Mental Trigger"
by Wes Lefler