Will you buy a gun without trying the trigger?

M

MrDontPlay

New member
Well its happend twice this week, once at a gun show and once at a sporting goods store. I've been looking at a gun(both 1911s) thinking about a buying them, and I ask "mind if I try the trigger?" guy at the gun show doesn't dry fire so it was a no(maybe provide snap caps?) and at the sporting goods store they won't let you. Both times I've just said "well thanks anyway" and handed the gun back. Am I the only person who doesn't buy a gun without trying the trigger?
 
I carry and shoot almost exclusively 1911s. I don't care what the trigger might feel like in the gun shop because I know I'm going to clean it up and tune it to 4-1/2 pounds anyway.
 
I've never fired a 1911 so I'd like to try the trigger on one. I'm not just talking 1911s of only handguns. To me the trigger is important on anything.
 
Lots of places don't allow it, you either get used to it or buy from somewhere that will let you, simple as that. For me its not an issue, personally I don't really want to buy a gun that someone else has been dry firing ??? amount of times....but that's just me.

On another note, if you really want to try a 1911 trigger........rent one at a range and actually fire it.
 
The only time I will not try a trigger is if I'm buying a gun to rebuild for match use, when this is the case the trigger pull is going to be changed so it is not important. Other wise I agree with you I want to feel it. That way I may have a heads up on future needed work or just not like it and not want to buy.
 
I plan on upgrading the triggers later but I'm wanting a matching pair, so I'd like decent enough triggers out of the box because upgrading them will cost twice as much as upgrading 1.
 
Hello, MrDontPlay. With an exposed hammer type firearm like the 1911, or a revolver..there is no need to let that hammer fall to check a trigger pull..merely control hammer with off-hand thumb while pulling trigger.
 
I sometimes do unless it is a gun I have ordered. I ask permission. But I am generally pretty interested in buying the gun by the time I dry fire it once. Sometimes stores will have snap caps. I usually do not drop the hammer entirely if it is possible to stop the forward movement.
 
No

Would you buy a car without a test drive? I won't. Same for a firearm. If I can't rent the same model, borrow a friend's or use a demo model, no deal. For me, there are just too many variables and feel that I can't tell without firing live rounds. Lot's of guns out there that get great reviews but after renting / testing, they just didn't feel right for me.
 
The car example is a good one. No way I'd buy a gun if I can't dry fire it. Of course I'll ask for permission. Sometimes I happened to enter a gun shop and have a look at something they had there, and dry fired it. What I do is asking them to do so and suggest if they deemed necessary to use a snap cap. If it's a private vendor, it's me the one bringing the snaps along.

Here you can't rent firearms at ranges :(, so dry fire is the only thing that will give you a "feel" on the gun.
 
..merely control hammer with off-hand thumb while pulling trigger.
Click to expand...

This is what I typically do. But, I heard that you can't do this on a Kimber. Something about it messes up the sear or some other piece in that assembly. Has anyone else heard that?
 
Always ask and they always comply. Would you buy a car without a test drive? Course not.

Tried the trigger on a new Taurus PT92 (they have a flip-down safety that I prefer) but it was just as bad as the Beretta, heavy, clunky. Tried the trigger on the Kimber Solo, mushy and vague. A couple weeks later tried the Solo again, still mushy and vague. Kept reading the Solo triggers were great so went back a 3rd time, but the dealer said Kimber had recalled them all...handed me a PPS, very good SA-like trigger, bought it on the spot...would have preferred a flip-down safety tho...
 
I ussually have a pretty good idea on what a trigger should feel like on any particular gun after reading about it on the net and/or a magazine. In the store I'll ask if I can dry fire and when I do the trigger matches what I had expected in almost all cases. In those case where it didn't it was only by degree and not anything that would change my decision. So I guess if everything else appeals to me I would be willing to buy a gun without dry firing it.

The problem I have is when I know there is a specific gun that has been sitting there for a while which has been dry fired by a lot of people and that gun is the only one in stock. If there are a limited amount of times a gun can be dried fired without a problem, I'd like to be the one that actually is doing the dry firing and not have others already pull the trigger on X% of whatever safe dry fires might be there. I'm pretty sure hardly anyone was using snap-caps and the store didn't care.
 
I'll buy a gun without trying a trigger. Or holding it for that matter either. It's just not that big of deal to me.

Of course if its important to you then find places that support it and give them your money. You'll be hard press though to find places that have more old wives tales than a LGS.
 
I have several times

I've ordered a number of guns online and obviously can't check the trigger. Some were just plinkers that I'm not too worried about and some were known quantities i.e. glock. Others I bought knowing that the trigger would get changed or modified. IE my rem 700, I'll probably throw a timney trigger in it. If i was buying a competition gun or uber expensive 1911 I'd certainly want to try the trigger. I think it all depends on what your goal is for that particular purchase.
 
I have never been turned down when I ask to check the trigger.

Small or large shops. Cabalas always let me. When I bought a Mosin I went through a stack to find the one I wanted. After asking, I dry fired each prospect.

I also bought a 22 CZ from Cabalas, I asked if they had any "snap caps;, The clerk go a package of 22 snap caps off the rack, opened it and produced the cap so I could try the trigger.

Out of courtesy I dry fire revolvers by opening the cylinder and use my thumb to catch the hammer as it's released.

The only guns I haven't dry fired was mail order or on line. I didn't get to try the trigger on my Nagant Revolver, but if you know Nagants, it wouldn't have helped.

I think it has a lot to do with how you approach the salesman with the question.
 
If I decide on the Rohrbaugh R9... I may have to purchase it without ever trying the trigger.

Very few gun stores stock their shelves with it. I think there is still a wait just to get an R9 anyway.

There have been some guns that I thought were neat but when I tried the trigger it ruined the deal for me. The Ruger LC9 was that way... once I pulled that long long trigger I knew the gun wasn't for me.
 
I always ask first but no one has ever said no. The counter I frequent most, I'll go in and the girl I know there has a couple times taken a gun out and said you've got to try this one. Now that's what I call good customer service.

I definitely agree with you though. I do want to know what the trigger and firing system feels like. If I don't at least like it at the counter, I'm not going to waist my time and money renting it at the range (cost of rental + range ammo + range time ... it all adds up to a fair chunk of money that could have just been put towards the new gun).
 
I don't shoot competition and there isn't a trigger out there that's too tough to squeeze. No, I don't test triggers. The car analogy is off as well. Since you aren't actually shooting the gun, you are only testing the trigger and holding it. Like sitting in the car steering while someone else pushes :D.
 
How the trigger feels is the least of my worries. If the gun has a hammer, I cock it, and uncock it. Thats as far as I go. The way the gun fits in my hands and the balance is so much more important. If I like the gun enough, I'm buying it. If the trigger obviously has problems, it'll go back to the store. If it's not exactly perfect, I'll get used to it. If it really bothers me, I'd get a different trigger for it. So far I haven't returned any guns and haven't had to modify triggers. If I really wanted to dry fire guns at the store, I'd buy snap caps and bring them with me. If I was the owner, I wouldn't want people dryfiring my guns either.
 
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