64 Larry Mudgett: Trigger MasterLarry Mudgett: Trigger Master

By Barrett TillmanLarry Mudgett is the trigger master. Spend a

day with him learning his four drills and you’ll beconvinced of his methods.

Larry’s experience is, in words of one syllable,vast. A combat rifleman in the Air Cav in Viet-nam, he joined the Los Angeles Police Depart-ment in 1969 and spent three fourths of his 35-year LEO career as a SWAT and departmentfirearms instructor. He’s a regular at Gunsite andhas a long relationship with the Department ofEnergy. Along the way he learned a few things.Well, OK, he learned a lot of things, but he’ll bethe first to tell you that he’s still learning (“Some-times an instructor, always a student.”) And he’sstill sharing what he knows.

In May 2010 Larry came to Phoenix for a ses-sion with police firearms instructors from half adozen Valley agencies. After about three minutesthe audience learned that he is passionate aboutteaching and about survival. The decibel levelalone is convincing, but the penetrating tone ofhis voice speaks as eloquently as his words. Larrysupports his evangelical tenor with some punch-in-the-nose facts.

During Larry’s tenure, LAPD’s 9,000 copswere involved in 150 shootings each year. Usual-ly they win by a large margin but it hasn’t alwaysbeen that way. In one stretch during Larry’scareer the department buried 13 officers whowere killed after missing the criminals they shotat. Larry takes it personally: two of his academyclassmates were KIA.

Larry insists that marksmanship is defined bygroup size, which of course demonstrates com-petence and consistency. “But how many PDscare about group size?” he asks, not rhetorical-ly. Most qualification targets allow generousscoring zones, and an acceptable pistol or car-bine target can resemble a shotgun pattern.Larry believes that most officers in streetshootouts lose half of their range accuracy,which explains repeated instances of multiplerounds fired with no/few hits inside 20 feet,regardless of weapon.

After instructing untold thousands of students,Larry Mudgett has an enormous database to drawupon. Analyzing shooters’ problems over 40 yearsor more, he sees two prime problems: poor triggercontrol and improper sight alignment.

“A low rear sight is the most common aimingerror,” he insists. In many cases the instructor’semphasis upon front-sight focus leads students toneglect the rear sight.

That does not alone result in high shotsbecause most shooters who drop their rear sightalso anticipate, pushing the gun during firing.That’s why the target does not tell the instructorthat the shooter has a low rear sight: the two mis-takes tend to cancel each other. “I’ve actually seenofficers who taught themselves to flinch enoughrounds into the K zone to qualify,” Larry says. “Nowonder they miss on the street.”

What to do? Call Dr. Larry. He’s a diagnosticianwith a couple of excellent remedies.

Apart from the ordinary assessments involvingheeling, palming and breaking the wrist, Larry hasfound a surprisingly fast cure for what ails mostproblem shooters. It determines whether the diffi-culty lies in sight alignment, trigger control, orboth. His regimen involves four trigger drills.

Trigger DrillsTrigger Drill One determines whether a student

can maintain a proper sight alignment. It’s accom-plished with the shooter holding the pistol whilethe instructor manipulates the trigger. With histrigger finger along the frame, the student cannotpossibly know when the round will fire; every shotis a surprise break. If the target shows a well-cen-tered group at 12 to 15 yards, the problem likelyis trigger control. Thus, the common error of rearsight low only shows high shots on or over the tar-get when the instructor is pressing the trigger.

In Trigger Drill Two the instructor holds thefirearm and the student stands alongside, placinghis finger on the trigger. The instructor’s finger isplaced over the student’s, permitting the student toexperience a proper release. The exercise usuallyis done at seven yards.

Back at 12 to 15 yards, Trigger Drill Threereturns the pistol to the student with the instructoragain providing pressure on the student’s triggerfinger. If that’s satisfactory – no excessive muzzlemotion – proceed to Drill Four.

In the fourth drill the student again holds andfires the pistol, now pressing the instructor’s fingeragainst the trigger. As Jeff Cooper used to say,when results are satisfactory, “Print that!”

Larry has practical advice beyond the con-ceptual aspects of his trigger drills. For instance,

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