Trigger terminologies?

[vNaK]

I'm still fairly new to guns here. I keep hearing how some guns have a nice crisp break while others have mushy feelings. Can someone explain these terms to me? Maybe when I get my second gun, which is a DA/SA (CZ PCR on order), I'll understand this a little better. My first gun is a USPc LEM, so not much to compare at the moment...

I guess some words that comes to mind are:

crisp break
clean break
gritty
mushy
smooth
take up...
and whatever terms you think is worth telling me about triggers.

[9mmepiphany]

when you place your finger on the trigger and start pressing it to the rear
1. free movement before resistance - take up or slack
2. at the resistance it will feel - mushy or gritty or smooth
3. at the end of the travel, the trigger breaks - which can be clean (not gritty) or crisp (more sudden)
4. after the break, there will be addition movement - overtravel
5. as you let the trigger back out, you'll feel a click - reset point or resetting the trigger
6. at which point you can begin pressing again - bypassing the slack portion of the trigger pull

[9mmepiphany]

there are variations of the above. generally speaking:
1. USP LEM - mushy and smooth
2. CZ PCR - gritty

[nazgulnarsil]

first there is take up. that is where you move the trigger but nothing mechanically is happening. then you reach the tension point, from here until the break is called travel. any movement after the break is called over travel.

I'm still not positive what people mean by creep.

the terms you mentioned are fairly self explanatory once you shoot a few guns. gritty feels like the trigger mechanism is rubbing somewhere. mushy feels....mushy. I think people often mean no over travel when they say clean break.

edit: creep seems to be the same thing as travel. no creep means once you reach the tension point it breaks without further movement. don't think I've ever fired a gun with zero creep.

[bellwilliam]

obviously you want a clean and crisp break. smooth trigger.

but how about creep, take-up, over-travel ? minimal ?

[9mmepiphany]

the term are applied slightly differently to different trigger actions...the basic trigger actions are SA, DA/SA, DAO and striker fired (which can be accurately described as SA or DA depending on the marketing)

a DA trigger will have travel, which can be smooth or rough (gritty or lumpy) but it doesn't have creep.

a SA trigger will have a bit of travel as the sear and hammer hooks rub against each other as the slide out of engagement.
1. if you feel roughness as the two surfaces slide against each other...that is creep
2. if you sliding is smooth...that is a clean break
3. if you feel no noticeable movement (when press very slowly)...that is a crisp break

there is always overtravel...the free movement of the trigger after the sear has released the hammer (the break)...which can be limited, but not removed, with installation of a trigger stop.

the exception to overtravel were the Olympic pistols which either had electric triggers or triggers which broke when you released pressure

[9mmepiphany]

obviously you want a clean and crisp break. smooth trigger.

but how about creep, take-up, over-travel ? minimal ?

creep - should be completely removed
take-up - makes no difference (within reason)
overtravel - should be limited to prevent your, now free moving, trigger from slamming into the frame of the gun. but there has to be enough so that dirt buildup will not prevent the release of the sear

while I agree that your trigger break should be clean/smooth, there are different schools of thought if the break should be crisp or if it should have some roll to it. it depends on you what your goal is in shooting and which trigger management style you practice. you can generally shoot a production/stock gun faster, while maintaining accuracy, with a little roll in the trigger

[Arondos]

What if the dohickeys, thingamigjigs, and whatchamacallits feel buggered up or just plain goofy?

Sorry I just couldn't resist it was one of those days at work.