Trigger Discipline

[n1zfg]

Last night I finally got the chance to view Gunny Ermey's special on the history of the Rifle, "Lock N' Load". About half way through it I saw something that surprised me.

I watched him bring the rifle onto the target with his finger inside the trigger guard the entire time. (It did look like a good offhand position otherwise)

Bringing the gun down onto the target I can understand. That is a military thing and he was on a military reservation which usually has the couple of miles of restricted area beyond the berm to make that okay.

But having "reminded" any number of newbies on making sure their finger is off the trigger until they are on the target, I have to ask two questions.

Am I just being anal?
And what do the Marines teach regarding trigger discipline?

 

[Andy in NH]

Not anal - just observant

n1zfg,
Good catch.

Remember that R. Lee Ermey is a Vietnam era Marine. Also, his MOS (job skill) at the time did not require large amounts of firearms training other than the requirement for yearly requalification. He may had done a bunch of shooting since then, but I doubt he has participated in any training in its current form.

Firearms training has come a long way since then. Consider the Vietnam era Marines who currently conduct modern firearms training:
Pat Rogers
Bill Jeans
Clint Smith
Chuck Mawhinney

There is a picture of Jeff Cooper with his finger on the trigger of a 1911 from his early days in the Corps. (Jeff Cooper, the Soul and the Spirit, page 108) He self-criticized, trained, and progressed. Look what that did for the Modern Techinque of the Pistol and firearms training in general.

Here is the current version of the Marine Corps firearm safety rules:
1) Treat every weapon as if it were loaded.

2) Never point a weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot.

3) Keep trigger finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to fire.

4) Keep weapon on safe until you intend to fire.


R. Lee Ermey is just a product of (or lack of) the training he received.

Then again - aren't we all?



.

 

[Joe G]

Saw the same show, noticed the same thing. One other quirk I noticed was that the gunny was using spent casings for ear plugs. His Marine spotter was using the more conventional plugs.

It couldn't have been good for his ears. The only other time I've heard of that was from the guy that taught my highpower. He said that was what he used when he was in the army. His hearing wasn't all that great...

 

[n1zfg]

Saw the same show, noticed the same thing. One other quirk I noticed was that the gunny was using spent casings for ear plugs. His Marine spotter was using the more conventional plugs.

It couldn't have been good for his ears. The only other time I've heard of that was from the guy that taught my highpower. He said that was what he used when he was in the army. His hearing wasn't all that great...

Wow, and here I was thinking those were novelty handles to some silicone earplugs.