Release Trigger

[bucktooth7]

Howdy Boys,
I was at United Sportsmen Inc in Concord last weekend shooting some trap and skeet and one of the regulars told me a man shooting trap was using a release trigger . This is new to me and I was quite surprised that such a thing even existed. He did OK with it but nothing out of the ordinary. He told us that his wife used this system a few years ago with great success in international compitions. Does anyone else use this?

[bjl333]

A release trigger is for someone with a flinching problem. Release triggers are mostly used in Trap shooting, there are some skeet shooters using a release. The release trigger equipped gun would have to be clearly marked for all to see, because it can be a hazzard for someone to pickup the gun and go click ... BOOM !!!

[kmca]

My wife and I both use them. What do you want to know?

[rojocorsa]

Never heard of these.

What exactly are they?

[reidnez]

Never heard of these.

What exactly are they?

The weapon fires when you release the trigger, rather than when you squeeze it.

Squeeze, release, bang.

They're rarely seen outside of trap. I've never tried one myself, the idea seems pretty weird, but others like them.

[BGY]

As a competitive trap shooter and instructor for over thirty years who developed a flinch and fought like Hell to beat it thus avoiding release triggers, my advice is DO NOT use them if you don't need to; i.e.have a severe flinching problem and cannot address it otherwise. Going to release triggers should not be taken lightly...specifically if you shoot other types of guns.
I have witnessed muscle memory issues crossing over from the use of release triggers to the remaining catagories of firearms...which could be disasterous.

[rojocorsa]

Wow, a backwards trigger. How strange.

[Ledbetter]

What BGY said. These are sometimes used on .22 target guns. Can be very dangerous if you mix guns up or otherwise.

[bucktooth7]

That's why I was wondering about this system. It sounds a little dangerous. Say in trap for instance you call for a bird and the puller does his best but the result is "no bird" the shooter will probably look back at the puller who will again look at the shooter who is standing there holding the trigger back like a grenade with the pin pulled. Is there a way to "decock" a release trigger?

[kmca]

Yes, just open the action.

[BMC]

Beings that all I do is trap competition, I can say that I know more people who shoot a release than those who don't.
You usually won't see people outside of competition or who once shot competition using them. Most of them have shot for a long time and over the course of the years the "accumulated recoil" among an assortment of other physical/mental issues that come with age and shooting got to a point where as others have stated, they start flinching. Flinching is in short is basically the brain says, you know what, I've had enough of this and it doesn't fire the to the nerves that control the pulling of the trigger finger. THus the shooter flinches or bawks in the shot. Bascially the shooter thinks do and the brain says dont. In competition shooting, particularly trap, the entire shot process is a mental repitition, the subconscious brain does all the work. You are just the passenger. Ive shot with several friends and fellow shooters who have had some very noticable flinches. Had a few myself. Its not pretty and reeks havoc on the mind. Im sure kmca can attest to this.
By going to a release, the idea is that the person is fooling the brain that to one degree or another doesn't want to pull the trigger, but it has no problem releasing it. Ive shot a few releases and I wouldn't want to have to use one all the time, but would if I had to. For those who have been to a trap range, those blast marks on the back of the house are usually from release triggers

[bucktooth7]

I've seen the "blast marks" and wondered how they got there. I think the cardinal rule applies here. ALWAYS KEEP YOUR MUZZLE DOWN RANGE. I really enjoy trap and skeet but safety must come first, for new shooters and experienced shooters as well.
I shoot a Rem 870 pump gun for both venues and I'll stick with the "standard trigger" for now.
Great info about the how and why of the reverse trigger.