Hammer fall disturbs sight alignment, any suggestions?

[PWS]

I put a Ultra Dot on my 4" 629-3 with the thought of reducing aiming error while testing for accuracy. Never noticed it with the iron sights but the red dot sure jumps around when dry firing the pistol. It's got the wide spur target hammer and it sure seems to jerk the gun when it drops.

Any suggestions to get that dot to sit still when the hammer falls?

Thanks

[paralaska]

Press, don't pull . . . And . . . Practice . . . Practice . . . Practice . .

Dry firing and trying to keep the dot still is excellent trigger press practice . . .

[Char-Gar]

Yes, you are jerking the trigger of pushing the pistol frame with your trigger finger. That finger should not contact the frame anywhere. In days gone by we would balance a dime on the front sight and dry fire until we could drop the hammer without the coin falling off. This is handgun shooting 101.

[Certaindeaf]

Put a 12 power scope on there. Joke. It's just more apparent and moves around the same as if without that doohickey.

[dubber123]

You have the heaviest of hammers on there, which won't help you, but probably isn't the issue. A reduced power main spring makes matters worse too, as it slows the hammer fall giving you more "wiggle time". Optics do magnify the movement that was always present as the others have noted.

[44man]

Why I can't hunt with a scope or shoot them off hand. I see the wiggles and will make the gun fire as the cross hairs pass the bull instead of squeezing. The red dot is the easiest to use.
A hammer can jar the gun but the gun should not dip. When shooting the primer absorbs a lot of the shock.

[bobthenailer]

I can also shoot a red dot sighted gun off hand better than a scope with duplex cross hairs ! now change the duplex cross hairs to a 5" to 6" target dot combined with a 1X or 2x power scope and you have a scope that will work for off hand shooting.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

We used to think the hammer fall affects accuracy, that's where the idea of skeleton hammers came from. You might see an old revolver with holes drilled in it to make it lighter, same idea. All this was abandon when we realized that hammer fall was consistent therefore doesn't affect accuracy.

Your doing very valuable practice holding a red dot on target during dry fire practice, keep it up. The constant ill affect on handgun accuracy is the human. As a human we can't hold a handgun perfectly steady. As a human we can learn to hit with a handgun with practice but never perfectly. I saw a 70 year old full time firearms instructor talking to a wise older man who suffered a minor tremor in his hands all his life. The instructor taught the man with the hand tremor to shoot through his malady. One thing the instructor told the man was to: go with it. Really we all suffer with a tremor, just not a perceivable as this man.

Focus on the front sight and don't jerk the trigger.

[MT Gianni]

Hold your hand with the fingers apart and practice moving only your trigger finger. Keep at it until you are moving only the tip of the finger and practice every week as long as you want to shoot a pistol.

[Char-Gar]

For some reason, on issues like this, folks tend to think of equipment first. While some handguns are easier to shoot well than other, all handguns (with a few exceptions) can be shot well, if the shooter concentrates on the basics of handgun shooting.

[country gent]

Another thing is to work on learning to pull the trigger straight back and let the hammer fall. Let the trugger break be a unintentional result, A surprise implies lack of control to me. Watch you breathing and get a solid comfortable position to shoot from. Remember a 5 lb trigger pull on a 3lb firearm requires much more controlled than the other way around.

[gnostic]

I've noticed sight movement when the hammer strikes on a 7.5" SB. You can see the hammer land when dry firing...

[bhn22]

Grip the gun higher on the frame, and work on the strength in your hands. Your grip should be firm, but not enough to induce shaking.

[Shooter6br]

Have a Ultra Dot on a 14 in Contender Hunter barrel 44 mag. Red dot helps you pick up any fault in your trigger technique.

[PWS]

I must plead guilty of blaming the equipment first so thank you everyone for the reality check!

I'll focus on my technique.

[Scharfschuetze]

A couple of thoughts:

1. A good firm (hand shake firm) two handed grip of the handgun high up on its back strap with no lateral pressure will be a big help. I also like to push forward with the strong hand and pull back slightly with the support hand to help control things, particularly when shooting in service related activities or for sport shooting in some of the action oriented events. A good solid stance will also help. I prefer the old Weaver style, although very good shooting is done with the Isosceles stance. If you can find a supported position, then that's even better. Prone, sitting and kneeling positions will also help you reduce any movement of the firearm during its hammer fall or its lock time. The more solid your position and grip, the better you can control the trigger and hold the firearm steady.

2. Wobble area. We are all afflicted to some extent with a wobble when shooting. It's nothing more than our inability to hold a firearm perfectly still when firing it. Position shooting from prone, sitting or kneeling will help to reduce your wobble area, but good shooting can still be done from the off hand position if you understand that you shoot within your area of wobble and that you do not try to "ambush" the target as your sight (dot, cross hairs or front sight) comes across it. Center your wobble area over your intended point of impact and pull your trigger within it and you'll find that you will hit more often as not. The size of your wobble area depends on all kinds of things (nerves-fatigue-musculature-conditioning-etc.), but it will always be there no matter what your skill level is. As noted above, a scope sight will tell you very precisely what it is.

[44man]

I use over power Wolfe hammer springs for accuracy, 26# in the SBH and BFR's. Not for hammer speed but for proper impact to the primer. It does not do anything but make the guns shoot better.
Never seen the jar hurt and everyone knows what my revolvers do. All evens out in the end and trigger control is still the answer.

[waksupi]

The way I beat this trigger control problem, was to get a cheap air pistol with a terrible trigger. Half hour practice every day, got me holding a dime size group at 12 yards. It also helped rifle shooting immensely.