OUCH..or, Ode to DA mastery

C

Carbon_15

New member
Besides a smoother action, faster reloads and overall improvement in my DA skills, I have have aquired a rather painfull blood filled blister on my trigger finger as a result of a few thousand dry fires over the weekend a few hundred UMC 125gr 357's this evening. I'm not some office weenie who gets a blister every time he picks up a ream of paper..I've worked with my hands all my life. But machismo aside..this thang hurts. I also noticed that my trigger gets really hot during rapid fire full-house .357 sessions. I had never noticed it before but the soreness of the blister made me just a little bit more sensative :)
I think the real culprit was probly the few hundred dryfires from last night with my S&W 360. That tiny little revolver can tear your fingers up even without ammo in the gun. The 686 workout probly just finished it off.
What to do, back off on the dryfire practice, or just wait for my finger to get tougher in the area that dosn't get much abrasion except from the unique action of pulling a DA trigger.


BTW, no thats not the part of my finger i use to pull the trigger. I use the joint behind the first nuckle...don't realy know how the blister got there.
 

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Use to happen to me too whenever I was given as much ammo as I'd care to shoot. How much? I'd go for over 300 rounds in less than an hour. The gun would get hot and hard to handle because of the heat. Like Sam sez, I'd shoot both strong and non-dominant (we don't have weak hands, just dominant and non-dominant) and it was darn fun practice. It was great for the "natural point" shooting. Another lesson learned was to favor smooth triggers over serrated ones as they're easier on the finger.
 
Only you can answer this for sure but it appears from the position of the blister you are rubbing against those rubber grips. I shoot DA with the pad of my finger, not the joint, so it's not a problem for me. Just a thought.
 
me too....

I went to the range w/ a buddy on friday,and did a lot of DA shooting w/ my GP and full house 357's....I broke the skin on my trigger finger.That's why today I'm droppin my gun off at the shop to get the trigger honed.Itwill gt rid of the sharp edges,.I would do it myself but I'm a spaz wen it comes to that stuff.So I'll spend the $20 and not have to swear and throw things......:D
 
From the position of the blister I'd guess that you either had the blister before you started or cause dthe blister by other than shooting. But then all the dryfire and practice probably agrivated it. Still sucks though.
 
Those damnable rubber grips are just on there untill I get my wood grips back from Hogue..they cracked.


Found the culprit BTW..the 686 just finished it off.
 

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I was going to suggest the evening of dry-firing with the J-Frame was the problem but it appears you discovered this on your own. Once the blister heals, do your long dry-firing sessions with a K-Frame or L-Frame - it will fit your hand better. Good luck!
 
This thread is funny! Not laughing out loud funny, just big toothy grin funny from the first post to this reply!

Thanks for brightening up a Monday morning! :D
 
If you really want to get the most out of your range time, use the HKS Competition Ammo Boxes. They hold 60 rds per box in neat circles of six and your speed loaders can pick them up and transfer them into your gun very fast.

I noticed that my M65 got so unpleasantly hot with this, that I am now taking another K frame along.

I had those blisters, too. Mine were caused by an old M17 with tt that I shot D/A.
 
Wide triggers, 'dems da problem.

That has nothing to do with the grips, unless they are somehow hindering you from proper finger placement on, or reach to, the trigger. The problem is those smooth wide triggers that S&W puts on the majority of their guns. The wider the trigger, the more conctact with your finger. This gives the illusion of a lighter pull, particularly in single-action fire. That's why true target-triggers are even wider, albeit useless for any control with double-action fire.

However, in DA, these 'semi-target' triggers start to abrade your finger, as you found out. Look at the top of your guns trigger where it enters the frame. If it is narrower than the contact portion of the trigger(and I'm sure it is), than that's the problem. It's exascerbated by the fact that there's hardly any bevel to the transition from face of the trigger to the side.

People have the mistaken belief that serrations on the face of the trigger, in and of themselves, are somehow abrasive in a similar way. Such is not the case, IMHO. Actually, the serrations help your finger to track along the face as it moves through the length of the pull.Just get a trigger that's no wider than the 'body' of the trigger where it enters the frame. Search the area gunshops for a K/L or even N-frame with just such a trigger. Ask permission to dry-fire it, or just hold the hammer spur to prevent it from falling. I think that you will feel the difference immediately.:)
 
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