My 13 year old evaluating triggers...

S

Skans

New member
I had my 13 year old daughter try out (dry fire) several of my pistols to see which ones she could operate and what triggers she liked and disliked. She's not new to shooting, but has never fired a handgun.

She hated the feel of the straight-pull triggers on all of my 1911's. :confused:
She really liked the trigger on my Hi-Power, but the slide was too hard for her to pull
She liked the trigger on my CZ 75B and my Steyr GB.
She could actually pull the trigger and operate my COP 357, but struggled pulling slides on many of my pistols.
She thought the trigger was "ok" on a couple of my DAO carry pistols.

Very interesting first impressions, I thought I'd share. Certainly not what I'd expect.
 
My daughter told she would like a pistol of her own to practice with and eventually carry. We've yet to find one that she likes the trigger on, she likes the looks of, is not too light or too heavy and she doesn't care for recoil, but wants a small gun. Top it off, believe it or not, the young lady changes her mind faster than her mother. I'm learning patience.
 
I'm developing a theory that racking the slide is a psychological problem and not a hand/arm strength problem. At least in folk that don't have a medical problem.

Case in point, a couple of my female relatives could not rack my 1911 until we were out shooting and they decided they wanted to shoot too. Once they had done it ONCE it was not a problem for them to do it again and again even though a few days before they couldn't do it at all.

Just my $.02.
 
Dale,
That is accurate in my opinion. I don't know why slide racking has such a mental component to it.
 
My 18 yr old daughter could not rack the slide on my Beretta subcompact. Just didn't have what it takes. A snub revolver for her.


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She didn't like the 1911 trigger? From what planet did you adopt her?
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I know, I was shocked too. One was a custom STI 2011 - she hated the trigger on that one. Another was a pristine 1974 Gold Cup. Both have sweet triggers IMHO.

I don't get the whole not being able to rack the slide thing either. She's an awesome athlete. I showed her how to grip the slide holding and move the frame with her right hand to rack the slide. That seemed to work for her, but she still kind of struggled.
 
For what it's worth I cut my teeth on traditional DA/SA guns like SIGs and also on revolvers.

I actually have a hard time shooting a good 1911 trigger. I actually tend to do better with a crappy double action pull most of the time. I realize how weird that is but my brain is wired for it.
 
Kids are hard to predict...( I have a lot of grandkids that are teenagers...-- kid are 11 to 25 now ..)/ and they all go thru stages differently / hand and wrist strength doesn't always come at 12 or 13...girls or boys.../ upper body strength often comes later.../ some of the girls liked to shoot full size guns before the boys did / some of them got real competititive at 12 or 13...some not until they were 19 or 20...

When they were real young ( 8 - 12 probably )...they all liked the Browning Buckmark .22 that had the "red dot" sight on it...because it was novel...( and it was light and fit their hands pretty well )....a S&W model 18 revolver in .22 ...was more hit and miss between the kids../ some like it, some put it down after 2 shots...

In my 1911's ...( the 9mm's only )...none of the kids liked my 5" guns...but they did like the 4" alloy frame Kimber I have.../ that gun was lighter, especially the kids with less hand and wrist strength... that gun was a big hit / as I recall, they all liked it - and some in their 20's still like it over all of my other options.

Another gun they liked a lot..single stack 9mm .. Sig 239...again light, with a DA/SA trigger...but they liked that it was smaller and light ...
( and I also kept the recoil down...by loading some 9mm at published minimum levels in reloading manual with some moderately faster powders...to really reduce the recoil )...
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I went thru the same things on my revolvers...mostly they liked my K frames in a 2" or 4" with .38's / none of them cared for the L or N frames even in .38's until they got up around 16 or so, and some of them never did like them ( too heavy )...even if they were in a 2"...was a common thought..
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Skans,

My folks had me start shooting a rifle at 5 yrs. at a sleep away camp.

the lessons I learned stayed with me my entire life. Excellent for you to teach her at a young age.

Forgot. You can always have a pro do the trigger job.
 
I'm developing a theory that racking the slide is a psychological problem and not a hand/arm strength problem.
Click to expand...

Think of your first efforts doing something new on a computer, sending an email, posting a pic on a gun forum, etc. You can't do it. It makes no sense. Some kid shows you how to do it and says "see, it's easy". You get worried you'll break the computer, embarrassed the kid is "smarter" than you and acts like it, worried you'll break the kids head when ya slap him, etc. My spouse says "I've shown you how to do that before, like 5 times!"

Like learning to drive a car. You worry and are scared and excited.

1. Having trouble doing something can be embarrassing. Especially when you see someone else having no trouble doing it over and over.

2. Suspicion that you might break or hurt the gun due to unfamiliarity. "Am I doing this right?" Cuz you don't know how much strength to use.

3. Suspicion that they may hurt their hand.

4. Concern the gun will fire and someone will get hurt.

5. Often these days men and women are less familiar with mechanical things. Unfamiliarity. Takes a bit to get used to it.

tipoc
 
I'm developing a theory that racking the slide is a psychological problem and not a hand/arm strength problem. At least in folk that don't have a medical problem.
Click to expand...

Often quite true, my sister in law completely failed to rack the slide on my S&W5906 which I consider to be one of the easiest centerfire pistols in my collection to rack. A couple of months later she did it with no issues whatsoever, and wondered why she had trouble with it before.
 
I often have my wife evaluate triggers. She has low hand strength and perhaps better sensitivity than I do. At any rate, she can often tell the difference between triggers that I think feel exactly the same.
 
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