When did "Keep your finger off the Bang Switch" become a thing?

[Dennis in MA]

1. So the answer is 1956.

2.

Alec baldwin couldve benefitted from this...

TBF - they were practicing a scene. I do not for a minute believe he did not pull the trigger on that gun on purpose. His crime is not checking the gun to see if it was loaded. You can't portray gun owners as poop-eating troglodytes and then say you need to be an expert to know how to handle a firearm. It's either basic knowledge or you're the moron and the gun owners are Mensa candidates. He pulled the trigger on purpose. He didn't check if it was loaded. It was loaded. Case closed. It's like Roman Polanski claiming he tripped and his penis accidentally penetrated several teenage girls.

 

[JDL]

1970 Army Basic Training emphasized finger off the trigger. If you were caught with your finger on the trigger and not on the firing line and shooting you would be punished. So it was a thing then during my Basic.

 

[Agnotology]

Alec baldwin couldve benefitted from this...

Pretty sure he only pulled the trigger when he meant to.

 

[Dench]

1970 Army Basic Training emphasized finger off the trigger. If you were caught with your finger on the trigger and not on the firing line and shooting you would be punished. So it was a thing then during my Basic.

It wasn't during mine 30 years after your experience. At least I cant remember it ever being brought up.

We had some pretty questionable gun handling going on during my 00's service

 

[JDL]

I went through during the time they could still manhandled you that was OK they just didn't want anyone shooting each other by accident because that would be a real headache for them.

 

[moojpg2]

My dad was in the military through Vietnam and then in the reserves for years after that through the early to mid 80's. He always used to say "keep your booger hook off the bang switch" not sure where he got it from though my guess would be from boot camp or some other training.

 

[Drix]

I remember watching a documentary about Iwo Jima and raw film had guys walking around with their fingers on the trigger. That's what got me interested. Has to be a more modern thing that made it verbatim.

This.

Absolutely a post ww2 thing.
I suspect it goes hand in hand with the NRA's creation of the safety rules as we know them today.

 

[tuna]

I think I remember seeing it in my Daisy 880 handbook back in the late 70s. But that was when we could enjoy ads with women holding guns and not have the safety nazis go crazy

 

[Matt_SERE]

I think in the 80s it really started in law enforcement, S&W Semi autos especially some of the early 3rd gens had finger serrations on the front of the trigger guard as a reminder to keep your finger off the trigger.

No one really shoots that way anymore. And S&W Removed the serrations in future models. I think what really made it a mega rule is seeing Glocks in Law Enforcement.

Stories of Boston Police Officers and their Glocks randomly going off. In modern days that is in the majority of cases (finger on trigger) since the Sig P320 fix was put into place.

Just how long is your index finger? I can reach the front of the trigger guard on most pistols, but no way can I wrap my shooting index finger around the front of it.

 

[yanquidog]

Cant recall the conflict, maybe Russia/Georgia? There was a picture on NES a few years ago that showed maybe 15 civilian or militia crowded onto a tank.
Everyone of them had the pointy one laid along the receiver of their rifle. I remember thinking it was awfully good trigger discipline for what appeared to be a bunch of regular joes

 

[Andy in NH]

Marine officers (including Jeff Cooper) of the U.S.S. Pennsylvania, 1943.



Wisdom, Lindy Cooper. “Marriage .” Jeff Cooper: The Soul and the Spirit: My Father’s Story, Gunsite Academy, Paulden, AZ, 2002, pp. 108.

 

[Mesatchornug]

Just how long is your index finger? I can reach the front of the trigger guard on most pistols, but no way can I wrap my shooting index finger around the front of it.

I can't speak for him, but mine is about yeah long:

Even so, I thought that texture was for the support hand index finger...
(I usually go to the slide or even above the ejection port)

 

[paul73]

Marine officers (including Jeff Cooper) of the U.S.S. Pennsylvania, 1943.

View attachment 768634

Wisdom, Lindy Cooper. “Marriage .” Jeff Cooper: The Soul and the Spirit: My Father’s Story, Gunsite Academy, Paulden, AZ, 2002, pp. 108.

again, as was stated before - that photo shows a typical high ready position, ready to shoot - finger must be on the trigger there all the time, handgun or rifle.
same as at tactical swipe - everyone has finger on a trigger while moving, as you will not have time to reposition it on the trigger when you are aiming.

in low ready or carry - finger generally should not be inside of trigger enclosure, but as i understand it was not arbitrarily enforced before.

if new regulations now are specifically saying it has be in aiming hold ONLY for finger to be on the trigger and not on a high ready - it would be quite odd.

 

[Road_Clam]

Nobody questioned "Bad Brad" Lackey back in the very early 1980's

 

[M1911]

I think in the 80s it really started in law enforcement, S&W Semi autos especially some of the early 3rd gens had finger serrations on the front of the trigger guard as a reminder to keep your finger off the trigger.

That’s not why finger serrations were put on the front of the trigger guard. Back then, some folks put the index finger of their support hand on the front of the trigger guard. The serrations were designed to give their support-hand index finger a better grip.

 

[cams]

Nobody questioned "Bad Brad" Lackey back in the very early 1980's



View attachment 768672

Just reminded me of one of my fav old video games called Road Rash. Great game. lol

 

[Mesatchornug]

Nobody questioned "Bad Brad" Lackey back in the very early 1980's



View attachment 768672

Look at that mustache. Nobody could ever question him.

 

[Andy in NH]

again, as was stated before - that photo shows a typical high ready position, ready to shoot - finger must be on the trigger there all the time, handgun or rifle.
same as at tactical swipe - everyone has finger on a trigger while moving, as you will not have time to reposition it on the trigger when you are aiming.

in low ready or carry - finger generally should not be inside of trigger enclosure, but as i understand it was not arbitrarily enforced before.

if new regulations now are specifically saying it has be in aiming hold ONLY for finger to be on the trigger and not on a high ready - it would be quite odd.

Please tell me more about this.

 

[Dennis in MA]

Just how long is your index finger? I can reach the front of the trigger guard on most pistols, but no way can I wrap my shooting index finger around the front of it.

That's why the ladies love me.

 

[IPSC_DRL]

Sometime after Bond movies were first made.

View attachment 768418

Ya, but that was "just" an air pistol.

 

[paul73]

Please tell me more about this.

easy. rather similar BS like i was forced to attend back in the time, as it was a mandatory thing.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlzI9B36uGI

 

[Road_Clam]

Just reminded me of one of my fav old video games called Road Rash. Great game. lol
View attachment 768675

I had that game ! Whacking the snot out of fellow racers with chains and pipes and listening to heavy music from Soundgarden ! A therapeutic feel good game !

 

[Andy in NH]

easy. rather similar BS like i was forced to attend back in the time, as it was a mandatory thing.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlzI9B36uGI

I'm not watching an eight minute video when I don't understand the language they are speaking.

I'd simply like for you to tell me the reasoning behind your statement:

...everyone has finger on a trigger while moving, as you will not have time to reposition it on the trigger when you are aiming.

 

[paul73]

I'm not watching an eight minute video when I don't understand the language they are speaking.

I'd simply like for you to tell me the reasoning behind your statement:

you are allowed to like all you want, i do not argue with that.

 

[jkelly1229]

1. So the answer is 1956.

2.


TBF - they were practicing a scene. I do not for a minute believe he did not pull the trigger on that gun on purpose. His crime is not checking the gun to see if it was loaded. You can't portray gun owners as poop-eating troglodytes and then say you need to be an expert to know how to handle a firearm. It's either basic knowledge or you're the moron and the gun owners are Mensa candidates. He pulled the trigger on purpose. He didn't check if it was loaded. It was loaded. Case closed. It's like Roman Polanski claiming he tripped and his penis accidentally penetrated several teenage girls.

When have we cared about being fair?

 

[Andy in NH]

you are allowed to like all you want, i do not argue with that.

I'm not looking for an argument.

I was asking for more information on what you had said.

How did you come to the conclusion that "...everyone has finger on a trigger while moving, as you will not have time to reposition it on the trigger when you are aiming"?

 

[paul73]

How did you come to the conclusion

it is not a matter of a conclusion - it is matter of following orders after being told what to do - what i was told to do - and it was more than 30 years ago.
also, i was not the best student, frankly, as all that BS was not of my liking, but, it was a mandatory training thing for junior officers to attend and get signed off.
again, video it quite representative as it shows exactly that sort of an urban warfare training. language is irrelevant, turn off the sound and look at the movements. or don't.

 

[Andy in NH]

it is not a matter of a conclusion - it is matter of following orders after being told what to do - what i was told to do - and it was more than 30 years ago.
also, i was not the best student, frankly, as all that BS was not of my liking, but, it was a mandatory training thing for junior officers to attend and get signed off.
again, video it quite representative as it shows exactly that sort of an urban warfare training. language is irrelevant, turn off the sound and look at the movements. or don't.

So thirty years later, do you still think that this is true?

...everyone has finger on a trigger while moving, as you will not have time to reposition it on the trigger when you are aiming.

 

[paul73]

So thirty years later, do you still think that this is true?

i guess you know better of what is true and what`s not, why don`t you do the talking instead?

 

[Wickedcoolname]

According to Hollywood movies all guns make a clacking noise every time you point it. Also, according to the movies you're supposed to always have your finger on the trigger and you're supposed to point your gun straight up while holding the gun up next to your face.