GUNS AND GUNSMITH ADVICE

One of the most neglected points of shooting well is trigger pull. This simple concept is, in my experience, the primary culprit after poor position and breath control in messing up accuracy. One of the problems on this subject is the fact that there is no definitive “right” trigger pull. It really depends on what you’re shooting at and what kind of gun you are using.

Shotgun triggers are meant to be pulled quickly, as the timing of the shot is the most important factor. As you have a substantial “kill zone” with the shotgun’s pattern, absolute pinpoint accuracy is not as important as timing and leading the target correctly. The fact that the most popular shotgun sports, including skeet, trap and bird hunting, require a quick shot means that timing takes precedence over trigger finesse.

Rifle triggers, on the other hand, are meant to have a slow, gentle squeeze. Precise shot placement is more important than speed. In target shooting you really don’t want to know when the rifle is about to fire. Anticipating the shot is a major culprit when it comes to flinching. Instead of pulling a rifle trigger back suddenly, you gradually add pressure at the same rate to the trigger, with the sights correctly aligned until the rifle fires. This keeps the rifle pointed steadily at your target and helps to avoid flinching. This kind of trigger release is called a “surprise break.”

Achieving a good surprise break is even more crucial to top accuracy with a handgun than it is with a rifle. This is because a pistol is lighter in relation to the weight of its trigger pull than a rifle. For example, my .270 hunting rifle weighs 4kg with scope and has a 1.3kg trigger pull. The trigger pull is thus 1/3 the weight of the rifle. If squeezed gently and properly, the trigger should release without appreciably moving the much heavier rifle. Now consider a 1.3kg revolver that also has a 1.3kg trigger pull. The trigger pull is suddenly 100% of the weight of the gun! Clearly, applying enough force to the trigger of that revolver to make it go off is much more likely to move the gun. Unless the shooter is a very experienced, a surprise break is absolutely essential to achieving any kind of accuracy with a handgun. The two key factors to shooting a handgun are focusing on the front sight (not the target) and squeezing the trigger until the gun fires, seemingly by itself (a perfect surprise break).

The other day a client walked into my shop looking very depressed. The problem was his new expensive rifle and equally expensive scope did not have the desired result on the shooting range. He blamed the ammo, the sun, the gun dealer that sold him a duff gun and so on. The hunting season is around the corner and he is at wits end.

The first thing I check when it comes to a scoped rifle with accuracy problems is the ammunition. If you are shooting different loads and different ammunition types, you will never get consistency. The next to check is the scope. Is the scope mounted properly and are the screws tight enough or have they been over tightened? Then there is the other little scope problem that you have to check. I would guess that for

BY: Terry Harrison

every 10 rifle scopes I have seen probably seven have the crosshairs out of vertical alignment. This can have a very negative effect on your shooting. The reason why this is such a common problem is that when you look through the scope you cant your head towards the stock. The vertical crosshair looks straight at you, but you’re looking at the scope with your head skew. Now you have a skew scops that causes you to lean the rifle to the one side. The bullet will go to the right or the left of the axis of the bore, which means you will be missing right or left of your target when you shoot at 200metres or further.

There are many expensive ways to fix this problem, but the easy way is to take your rifle to the shooting range. Get some sand bags and place your rifle level on the bags. Now find a flat spot on the top of the receiver and place a carpenters spirit level on the rifle. Brace the rifle and make sure it is level. Set up a target at 30 metres and hang a weight on a piece of string on the target. This is what builders call a plum line. Aim your level rifle at the plum line and if your vertical crosshair of your scope is aligned with the plum line, you are in business.

Tighten the scope ring screws. Do this very cautiously and gradually, tighten the screws a bit on one side and a bit on the other side. Check your scope as you proceed. Making sure everything is still aligned. When you have finished the job and you put the rifle to your shoulder you may find that the scope crosshairs may appear skew, which is fine. You’re the one that is skew. The scope is on straight.