Trigger drop test

[Decap]

There are rifles with triggers that I am sure would not pass a 12" drop to concrete but I don't consider them unsafe. They are used by benchrest shooters, only loaded when safely aimed downrange, and used by individuals that have excellent trigger management.

This is the absolute truth. It is true that no trigger should ever fire when set within its design range. However, when you get into the three and four ounce triggers that benchrest shooters use they can fire by simple momentum, they don't necessarily need to have anything wrong with them. By the same token benchrest guns always have an open bolt until the shooter is on the gun. The one caveat to this that needs to be remembered: if a trigger is set that light the gun can also fire by just closing the bolt hard. This is where the shooters safety awareness and training becomes critical. The safety is only a switch, it's the shooter behind the gun that is the real safety.

 

[Mike Matteson]

SAAMI Z299.5-2016 is a voluntary standard that specifies drop tests. It contains specific requirements and would be difficult to do at home.
Also note: "The requirements of this Standard are not appropriate for firearms primarily intended for formal target shooting, and therefore this Standard does not apply to firearms whose trigger pull is designed to be less than three pounds (1.36 kg)".

As an active RSO I see all kinds of rifles and shooters. There are rifles with triggers that I am sure would not pass a 12" drop to concrete but I don't consider them unsafe. They are used by benchrest shooters, only loaded when safely aimed downrange, and used by individuals that have excellent trigger management. Safe gun handling is paramount. These rifles are never carried, transported, or moved loaded for obvious reasons. I would consider this trigger unsafe if I were the shooter because they are so light that they fire as I touch them.

Rifles routinely fired off hand prone or sitting, carried loaded, or casually used should be able to pass a user drop test along with a jar test and a hard chambering test. It's also important to verity that the rifle will not fire when the satay goes from on to off, especially if the trigger was pulled while the safety was on. It should also be remembered that triggers are mechanical devices and as such are susceptible to failure.

None of this should be considered as legal advice, it's strickly common sense.

Common sense goes a very long ways. I use light trigger pulls in all my rifles. Somewhere around a 1# or so. You don't put your trigger finger into the trigger well until you are ready to shot.

 

[nksmfamjp]

So, for those of you drop testing 2 ft or more, is the requirement that it not fire safety on or safety off or both?

What are the conditions where you carry loaded with safety off?

 

[asd9055]

So, for those of you drop testing 2 ft or more, is the requirement that it not fire safety on or safety off or both?

What are the conditions where you carry loaded with safety off?

I don't drop test, but if I were, I would with both safety on and safety off...I also don't have any "range" guns, and I don't have "hair" triggers either.

But I am actually here for the second question. I always carry my sidearm loaded, hammer down, has no safety. DA/SA. Pull, point and shoot.
I would carry a rifle loaded safety off in dangerous situations, i.e. Bear/Cape Buffalo hunts in brush. walking up to wounded annimal too. Or in when I was in a war zone, pulling guard duty. All I have to do is point and pull trigger. Any other situation, unloaded. That's how I was tought, that is how I taught my kids.

 

[Mike Matteson]

I don't drop test, but if I were, I would with both safety on and safety off...I also don't have any "range" guns, and I don't have "hair" triggers either.

But I am actually here for the second question. I always carry my sidearm loaded, hammer down, has no safety. DA/SA. Pull, point and shoot.
I would carry a rifle loaded safety off in dangerous situations, i.e. Bear/Cape Buffalo hunts in brush. walking up to wounded annimal too. Or in when I was in a war zone, pulling guard duty. All I have to do is point and pull trigger. Any other situation, unloaded. That's how I was tought, that is how I taught my kids.

I spent a year in Vietnam, and mostly in the field or air. I always carried my Car-15 with a round in the chamber, but with the safety on. I also carried a 1911 on my hip. It was fully load including a round in the chamber. That 1911 was part of my pillow at night. I never carried my rifle off safety, I walked with my men in front of the tanks and APC as a dismount and we were spread out over 400 meters on line. Each of us in away walked as a point men. Having to watch for chuck (VC,NAV), boobytraps. So all of us were kind of on our own. We never got the first shot off. Can't sneak up on anything with Tanks and APC running. If you couldn't here us coming you were stupid. You had to walk as your next step could be your last. It's no wonder why we didn't wear underwear. butthole would have been full. We didn't have much in the way of problems with accident. So carrying a firearm off safety, except in a very few places, is stupid. In firefight that was a different story. I only recall two accidents during that time. One was a guy want to carry a grease gun, and the other was a man getting shot with a 40mm in a hanger from a gunship. Friendly fire was a different thing. Somewhere around 20 or so men. Generally from a bad call from an officer. Of the 77 men KIA in the first 9 month, 20 were friendly fire. The first 2 men killed in my platoon were friend fire kills in 3 days (22nd and 25th of March 1969). Those were the only to be killed on those days. So don't carry your rifle off safety. Pistol a different story. Most would probable **** their pants. So if you think you need to carry your firearm off safety, think again.

 

[asd9055]

I spent a year in Vietnam, and mostly in the field or air. I always carried my Car-15 with a round in the chamber, but with the safety on. I also carried a 1911 on my hip. It was fully load including a round in the chamber. That 1911 was part of my pillow at night. I never carried my rifle off safety, I walked with my men in front of the tanks and APC as a dismount and we were spread out over 400 meters on line. Each of us in away walked as a point men. Having to watch for chuck (VC,NAV), boobytraps. So all of us were kind of on our own. We never got the first shot off. Can't sneak up on anything with Tanks and APC running. If you couldn't here us coming you were stupid. You had to walk as your next step could be your last. It's no wonder why we didn't wear underwear. butthole would have been full. We didn't have much in the way of problems with accident. So carrying a firearm off safety, except in a very few places, is stupid. In firefight that was a different story. I only recall two accidents during that time. One was a guy want to carry a grease gun, and the other was a man getting shot with a 40mm in a hanger from a gunship. Friendly fire was a different thing. Somewhere around 20 or so men. Generally from a bad call from an officer. Of the 77 men KIA in the first 9 month, 20 were friendly fire. The first 2 men killed in my platoon were friend fire kills in 3 days (22nd and 25th of March 1969). Those were the only to be killed on those days. So don't carry your rifle off safety. Pistol a different story. Most would probable **** their pants. So if you think you need to carry your firearm off safety, think again.

Mike, there is no question that your method is by far the safest.

 

[Philward]

This is the absolute truth. It is true that no trigger should ever fire when set within its design range. However, when you get into the three and four ounce triggers that benchrest shooters use they can fire by simple momentum, they don't necessarily need to have anything wrong with them. By the same token benchrest guns always have an open bolt until the shooter is on the gun. The one caveat to this that needs to be remembered: if a trigger is set that light the gun can also fire by just closing the bolt hard. This is where the shooters safety awareness and training becomes critical. The safety is only a switch, it's the shooter behind the gun that is the real safety.

I remember when in high school on the rifle team at practice, one of the guys suddenly had his rifle fire when he closed the bolt. Trigger had backed off of adjustment somehow. This was 50 foot indoor 4 position small bore 22LR. We were shooting in the basement of school into traps. Rifles were Winchester M52 I believe. Hard to believe these days that we were shooting rifles in school...