What's the reason for squared off trigger guards?

T

tipoc

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For generations all handguns that I can think of had and have rounded trigger guards. From single action revolvers, to double action to semis. Some time in the 1970's or so squared off trigger guards began to appear in European made pistols.

At the time I was told it was due to the European trend to place the index finger of the support hand on the front of the trigger guard. The grip had begun in combat shooting competition in the European games and traveled to law enforcement, so I was told.

I was also told that police in some European countries liked to place the trigger guard up against barriers, like walls, or the shields that tend to be used there for crowd control SWAT actions, etc.

At any rate it's become very common these days. Why haven't they disappeared? Any use to them other than getting hung up on a holster? Do they have a use? Why are they ubiquitous?


tipoc
 
tipoc said:
trend to place the index finger of the support hand on the front of the trigger guard.
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This.

Watch some videos of the very quick shooters out there who are able to hold the gun completely still as they empty a magazine. Everyone of them will have their index finger wrapped around that guard. I've been trying to get better at this method myself but just don't have the grip strength.
 
Dont know about Europe, I first remember seeing them on souped up 1911's back in the early 70's, when that craze took off. That was often a modification you saw on worked over guns.

There was a time that was touted as a "technique", but I think they soon found it tended to loosen your grip, and it fell out of favor.
 
Supposedly helped with a two handed grip in the 1970's , fast shooting sports , you were supposed to wrap fingers from the support hand around the squared off guard .

I shot a lot of one handed NRA Bullseye so I never paid much attention to that style of grip. In theory if you were gripping with two hands the squared of guard should be easier to hang onto .
Gary
 
Swenson was one custom gunsmith who did some of his guns that way. In looking at production guns. The squared off trigger, or recurved guard is much more common today than in the past.

Compare Sigs of today with those of the past...

https://www.sigsauer.com/products/firearms/pistols/

In the past they were all basically curved.

S&W did a few of it's third gen semis this was but most were curved.

tipoc
 
The number of people using it for a grip seems pretty small these days, and I don't recall it ever being extremely popular. I have heard LEOs talk about being trained to use it in a barrier situation. For those reasons, I give more credence to the latter than the former, but it has become so ubiquitous I have no idea.
 
Nothing to do with Europe. It was the assorted game players. Everything has been tried by them to try and get a slightly better score.
 
My wife's Glock G22 has the finger support front trigger guard. I don't use it , tried it and it feels all wrong to me.
 
I have really large hands (palming a basketball is easy) so hooking my finger on the trigger guard is the most effective grip for me. I note that some of the best competitors in the world do the same, like Eric Graufel.


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Col Cooper discouraged the use of the trigger guard as a grip aid. The 1911 was obviously his favored handgun which normally had curved trigger guards. On weapons with squared guards, I don't see any reason to not try it out.

Some of the old gurus, Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton, mentioned handguns where the owner removed the trigger guard or maybe just the front. I think maybe only revolvers. I'm not sure of the main reason for this as I would think an unprotected trigger might catch on stuff.
 
Some of the old gurus, Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton, mentioned handguns where the owner removed the trigger guard or maybe just the front. I think maybe only revolvers. I'm not sure of the main reason for this as I would think an unprotected trigger might catch on stuff.
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This was popularized early in the 20th century by John Henry Fitzgerald (called Fitz) who worked for Colt. Fitz was a sales rep of a sort. He was an expert shot and would often set up a booth a tournaments and adjust peoples guns for them while they waited. He was an advocate of a "fighting handgun" as distinct from a duty or service weapon.

His modifications on guns, revolvers and semis, became famous and to a certain extent popular. He bobbed hammers, shortened barrels and cut away trigger guards or modified them, to make it easier for large hands or fingers to reach the trigger more quickly. His guns were often modified for concealed carry. His work was and still is influential.

Here's a bit about him and his guns...

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2012/4/20/the-fitz-special/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M91tTJkyMM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5naPpxF8ws

https://www.americanrifleman.org/ar...e-fitz-special-a-defense-gun-from-yesteryear/

tipoc
 
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The squared front trigger guards were very "in" when I shot IPSC 1979-1981. I have seen pictures of Charlie Askins' Colt New Service with the "Fitz" cutaway trigger guard, the noted Texas Ranger M. T. Gonzaulas had an M1911 with a cutaway trigger guard. Bill Jordan have very long fingers but he disapproved of the cutaway trigger guard, as did Ed McGivern.
 
AK103K said:
Dont know about Europe, I first remember seeing them on souped up 1911's back in the early 70's, when that craze took off. That was often a modification you saw on worked over guns.

There was a time that was touted as a "technique", but I think they soon found it tended to loosen your grip, and it fell out of favor.
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This. I tried it about 40 years ago and AK is correct; for most people it loosens your grip rather than tightens it. Currently when we are teaching proper grip techniques during our NRA classes at our range, we specifically advise new shooters not to wrap a finger around the front of the trigger guard.
 
Watch some videos of the very quick shooters out there who are able to hold the gun completely still as they empty a magazine. Everyone of them will have their index finger wrapped around that guard.
Click to expand...

I shoot with those run 'n' gunners, and very, very few wrap their index finger around the trigger guard.
It's still a European thing, having only been something of a fad in the U.S., 30 years ago.
Multiple world champ Eric Grauffel uses the finger-forward grip, so it can be a winning technique.
 
Somebody probably came up with the original idea and has been overlooked by history.

Paris Theodore designed the first ASP 9 with a uniquely up-swept curved & hooked trigger guard in the later 60's, and then apparently tried for a couple of patent filings in '71 & '73, getting one in early '74.

https://news.guns.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/asp9_patent.jpg

Then, HK introduced their P7 in '76 with a hooked trigger guard.

S&W produced their version of a hooked trigger guard with their 2nd and 3 generation series of their traditional double action pistols. The rounded trigger guard returned during the 90's.

Many Euro pistols still use the squared off trigger guard with some degree of a bottom hook on pistols.

I've seen more "average" shooters (both LE and non-LE) create problems for themselves than not, incorporating using the hooked guard for their support hand index finger. No small amount of unintentional pulling or pushing the front of the pistol to one side or the other.

I've usually left alone the long time shooters I've seen who could manage the use of a hooked trigger guard without it affecting their controllability and accuracy. As long as they still had a solid master hand grip for 1-handed shooting ... meaning they'd not modified or compromised their master hand's grip to accommodate their support hand positioning ... why "fix" what wasn't broken?

Having used pistols with hooked trigger guards for many years, I prefer not to rely upon them. I think only my couple of Glocks and my early Ruger KP-90DC have them (and the Ruger's is only a very slight hook at the bottom of the angled trigger guard).

Back when I was carrying either an issued 59XX or 6906 from the early 3rd gen production I had to order holsters made for the square trigger guards. I could carry my later production 3rd gen's with round trigger guard models in them, but not vice versa.
 
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