As promised, here is the second installment on how to improve your shooting so that you can put more swine on the ground and in the cooler. If you recall, we discussed how to properly use a shooting stick to get a steadier position in the last blog. Now that you have a steadier position, let us talk about proper trigger control, so that first shot is on the shoulder every time, and make those running shots less of a spray and pray and more of a controlled shot.
Pistol Grip
The first thing we must address is hand position on the pistol grip. Generally, it should be high, but not so high that your trigger finger is not parallel with the line of bore. The grip should also be VERY firm. I’m not saying I want you to go to muscle failure while shooting a shot, but you want to be in control.
Trigger Finger Alignment
The next thing is finger placement on the trigger itself. I think if I hear another person say that you should use “the meaty portion of the tip of your finger” I am going to puke. Nothing could be farther from the truth, unless you are a 9 year old and that is as far as your finger will reach. Instead you should just naturally wrap your finger around the trigger. If you have long fingers, I would stop at the second knuckle. The reason I am so adamant about this is leverage. The more leverage you have on the trigger, the more it will smooth out and lighten the perceived feel of the trigger. It will also help to eliminate the tendency to pull the rifle to whichever side you are shooting from.
Trigger Test
If you doubt what I say, I challenge you to pull out the rifle with the worst trigger that you have and do a blind test. Seriously, close your eyes and pull the trigger your way (make sure the rifle is unloaded and pointed in a safe direction) and just think about how the trigger felt. Then do it the way I just described and see if it doesn’t feel better. Then, go to the bench and see which way produces the best group.
I hope this improves your shooting to the point that you must look for new places to hunt hogs, because you killed all the ones you knew about. Good luck, and good shooting.
Figure II
Figure III
