{"id":1631,"date":"2025-04-30T10:45:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T10:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tactical-dailynews.com\/?p=1631"},"modified":"2025-04-30T10:45:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T10:45:02","slug":"are-competition-triggers-for-self-defense-a-good-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tactical-dailynews.com\/?p=1631","title":{"rendered":"Are Competition Triggers For Self-Defense A Good Idea?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
\n
In Patrol Rifle classes, it wasn\u2019t uncommon for officers to have a match trigger in their AR-15, and a factory-stock trigger in their Glock. That can lead to problems.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

When it comes to the guns you use to defend yourself, is it smart to modify them with competition triggers?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Before we get to making mockery of those who insist on \u201cthe best trigger possible\u201d in a firearm to be used for defense, we need to lay out the parameters of just what it is we\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

In truth, most triggers are good enough. Most, even those that are deemed \u201cbeyond hope\u201d by the cognoscenti will actually do the job when required. But \u201cgood enough\u201d is a small comfort. And this is, after all, America \u2026 where we have choices.<\/p>\n

You just want to be careful what you choose.<\/p>\n

You will search for a long time to find someone more dismissive of the Glock trigger than myself. Not to pick on them in particular (oh heck, why not?), but a spongy, gritty, 6-pounds-plus trigger isn\u2019t ideal for good marksmanship. And that\u2019s the best, out-of-the-box trigger that they tout. Some places, like the NYPD, had even crappier triggers foisted upon them. (If you\u2019ve never tested the trigger pull of an NYPD 1 or NYPD 2, consider yourself lucky.) The temptation to improve such a trigger pull can be great, and in a lot of instances it can be a good thing.<\/p>\n

But, like so much in life, it\u2019s easy to go too far.<\/p>\n

\"Competition
Really? Five pounds? This is an utterly box-stock G22 that was my choice after going through the armorer\u2019s course. It hasn\u2019t even had all that much ammo through it, and it never came close to 5 pounds, ever.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two examples come to mind: pro shooters on the USPSA\/IPSC circuit and law enforcement. People will read about, or hear about, the top shooters using trigger pulls in the 2 pounds or less region.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, that\u2019s what it takes to shoot fast? Then, sign me up for some of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, no. If you want to shoot fast, you can manage very quick shooting while using a regular trigger pull in the 3\u00bd-pound level, or even a 4-pound trigger. As long as it\u2019s clean and crisp, you\u2019ll be able to shoot as quickly as you need to in a defensive situation. So why do the Grandmasters use such light triggers? Because they\u2019re trying to beat other Grandmasters, that\u2019s why. (I know it sounds obvious, but there it is.)<\/p>\n

The Real World Application<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If you find yourself in need of shooting in a defensive situation, you have to use both good marksmanship and good tactical awareness. It\u2019s entirely possible to shoot too quickly in a defensive situation. The tactical awareness needed in a match consists solely of, \u201cIs the target the correct color? Have I engaged it already?\u201d<\/p>\n

For a defensive situation, you\u2019re not going to need \u201csplits\u201d at the 0.15-second level, which is the working space of the GMs you read about. It\u2019s more like a half-second, and you don\u2019t need a 2-pound trigger for that.<\/p>\n

So, what if you do have a trigger that light on your sidearm? Well, the chances of stress, cold weather, gloves, or just being jostled while handling your sidearm greatly increase the chances of an accidental or unintentional discharge. Simply holstering can be problematic, if something like a jacket hem or a drawstring gets in the path of the trigger as you are finishing the shove home.<\/p>\n

The old adage that \u201cevery bullet has a lawyer attached\u201d is one you have to keep in mind. On the range, an accidental discharge\/unintended discharge (AD\/UD) will get you DQ\u2019d from a match. It might even be cause for your gun club membership to be looked into. Out in public, an AD\/UD could be a lot more serious. You will have your CPL looked at. You might find civil action being brought, from the damage your bullet created or even the emotional harm experienced by bystanders.<\/p>\n

Back in the old days, when it was mostly (or only) law enforcement officers who were packing, an AD\/UD was cause for their embarrassment and not much else. The department might or might not have taken some disciplinary action, but that was it. These days, even LE gets put on notice for an accidental or unintended discharge.<\/p>\n

And the rest of us? It could be bad.<\/p>\n

The Other Side Of The Coin<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But shouldn\u2019t a bad trigger pull be improved if it can be? You bet. There are rational arguments to be made for a better trigger pull, such as improving accuracy and allowing for better decision-making.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying that improving your trigger pull is always a bad thing. Just keep it reasonable. Taking a really ugly 6-plus-pound trigger pull and bringing it down to a clean four will seem like a huge improvement. And it is.<\/p>\n

Now, if you want to make the legal side of this a better proposition for you, engage in a bit of planning. Peruse the manufacturer\u2019s spec sheets for a pistol similar to yours. (So, you have a Glock, that means pretty much any maker of a striker-fired pistol then.) Find a competitor\u2019s spec sheet that lists their pistol as having a 4-pound trigger pull. Now take your Glock and an aftermarket trigger to a pistolsmith and work the details out. You want it in writing that the task was to \u201cmatch the other maker\u2019s trigger pull.\u201d (You could just trade guns over the counter at the gun store and get that 4-pound pull, but that would be too easy.)<\/p>\n

\"holstered\"holstered
Glocks aren\u2019t the only pistols that can have a mismatch with rifles as far as trigger pull is concerned. There are pistols that do better, so search one out or have your Glock built to match.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you then use that pistol in a defensive situation, and the question comes up as to the trigger pull, you\u2019re now on record as simply matching the factory-spec trigger pull of the competitor\u2019s model\u2014nothing untoward about that. Of course, the pistolsmith will have to be onboard with this, no fair blindsiding them when the question comes up.<\/p>\n

Law Enforcement Is Different<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The law enforcement aspect mentioned isn\u2019t so much an LE departmental thing as it is LE equipment. The problem here is one of trigger disparity. In Patrol Rifle classes, we\u2019d run into officers who were issued Glocks with unaltered factory triggers (as required by, or issued by, the department), but the officers, when they were authorized to do so, had purchased an AR-15 for duty work. (And good on them for having done so.)<\/p>\n

\"competition\"competition
In factory trim, a mil-spec trigger in an AR-15 can be close enough to a factory Glock that you are all set. But if you should upgrade your AR-15 (this is just a small selection of triggers available), then you\u2018d better look to improve your Glock\u2014or other pistol. The two should match or come close.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In many instances, that AR-15 came with a match trigger. They now had two firearm tools at their disposal, one with a 3-pound trigger and the other with a 6-pound trigger. Despite giving them a heads-up, there would be unintentional discharges from the trigger-pull disparity. Why?<\/p>\n

Having spent years up to that point training with Glocks (a lot of departments were late in allowing\/issuing AR-15s), the officers had fired many qualification courses with the long and heavy factory pistol trigger. Then, arriving for the Patrol Rifle class, they\u2019d have a short-travel trigger with maybe as much as 3.5 pounds of pressure required. So, when firing their AR-15, just about the time they would have taken up most of the slack and trigger weight on their Glocks, their AR-15 would discharge.<\/p>\n

Often, this was near the target, but not at the point they planned on striking. Sometimes it was on the range floor, into the dirt or gravel below the target frame. It wasn\u2019t easy learning to switch from one to the other. Transition drills were almost a comedy of errors. Officers who had now become accustomed to the AR trigger when switching to their Glock, short-pressed the Glock trigger, subconsciously expecting it to go off at 3.5 pounds. (Nope, it\u2019s never going to do that.)<\/p>\n

Had they just opted for the mil-spec trigger pull on an AR-15, they would have been all set. The USGI specs for an M16\/M4 are close enough to the actual specs on a Glock that the two are in sync when box-stock. It\u2019s when they changed one of them that created the disparity.<\/p>\n

The Value Of Uniformity<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ll admit, the temptation to improve is great. And, in some instances, it\u2019s never been easier. It used to be difficult to improve the AR-15: Now you have no lack of \u201cpacket\u201d triggers you can just drop in, delivering whatever trigger pull you desire. The 1911 can now gain that with the Nighthawk drop-in trigger pack. But Nighthawk knows how to build a pistol for defense, and the trigger weight it provides? About 3\u00be to 4 pounds. Sound familiar? An online search for improved Glock triggers will produce a tsunami of pages. So, keep your trigger pull weight search within proper limits.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re going to depend on an array of firearms for defense, it would be a good idea to have them all with trigger pulls in a reasonable closeness to each other in pull length and weight. Here, I can point to myself as either a bad example, or an exemplar, depending on how you want to approach it. For a long time, I carried a 1911 with a match-grade (well, match-grade back in the 1980s) trigger pull of just under 4 pounds. My backup? One or another double-action revolver. They represent a combo more disparate than the Glock\/AR-15 example I just gave.<\/p>\n

\"ar-15\"ar-15
With a matched set\u2014a pistol and rifle with closely matched triggers\u2014transitioning from one to the other is not a potential headache.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, I was shooting three, four, or five times a week in different types of competition, and used both 1911s and revolvers in those competitions. You\u2019ve heard of the theory that it takes 10,000 hours of some kind of activity or practice in order to excel at it? I\u2019m not going to say I\u2019m some kind of genius or grandmaster shooter, but I passed the 10,000 of activity level back before Bill Clinton got in trouble with his intern.<\/p>\n

But it took a lot of work, and that\u2019s not something a whole lot of people have the time for or the willingness to invest in.<\/p>\n

What To Do, Then?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Simple: If the trigger pull on the pistol you have selected for defense is truly atrocious, you have two choices\u2014change to something with a better trigger or have your trigger pull improved. But don\u2019t seek to make your trigger pull like that of the pro shooters, the sponsored shooters who you might read about in match results. They work hard to get accustomed to those light triggers and use them for match work.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re going to depend on a battery of firearms, then you\u2019ve got some planning ahead of you. Figure out the one with the worst trigger. See how much it can be improved, and if it can be brought into the \u201creasonable\u201d region. Then, have the rest of them tuned to match the one that was the worst, so ideally they all match. If they can\u2019t be made to match, then keep those trigger pulls reasonably close, and life will be good. At least as far as managing triggers is concerned.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note:<\/strong>\u00a0This article originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of\u00a0Gun Digest the Magazine<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

More Knowledge For The Armed Citizen:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"44-Targetposters-pack-GD-reduced-300\"\"44-Targetposters-pack-GD-reduced-300\"<\/p>\n

Next Step: Get your FREE Printable Target Pack<\/h2>\n

Enhance your shooting precision with our 62 MOA Targets, perfect for rifles and handguns. Crafted in collaboration with Storm Tactical for accuracy and versatility.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the Gun Digest email newsletter<\/strong> and get your downloadable target pack sent straight to your inbox. Stay updated with the latest firearms info in the industry.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n