Walking Dead - Give Your Pistol the Middle Finger

[etrain16]

darrel shoulda killed him. just sayin

I'm surprised he's still getting around as well considering what Eugene did to him Gives a new meaning to 'taking a bite out of crime'.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

That's what that condition is actually called.. "trigger finger".. medical term. Hopefully it'll go away but it's an easy fix if it doesn't.

It went away before when I had the problem years ago. Solution was quit that job. Is there a medical solution too?

 

[Certaindeaf]

Treatment is a spectrum, ranging from rest up to surgery.. with stuff in between. Glad it went away.. mine did too.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

Treatment is a spectrum, ranging from rest up to surgery.. with stuff in between. Glad it went away.. mine did too.

It's a strange feeling having to lift your finger up with your other hand. Pain is minimal but It sure is a PITA trying to use your hands for anything before you get them fingers limbered up!
I'm only planning on working this gig another month thank god. It's supposed to be welding but it's like 80% grinding 15% welding (sort of), and 5% tracking paperwork.

 

[Doc In UPlace]

The use of the middle finger on the trigger used to be called the assassin's grip back in the 50's and 60's.
The idea was to help keep the gun from being ripped out of your hand when shooting really close up, and maybe to keep the gun straight while exerting a lot of torque on the trigger.
This was the grip Jack Ruby used to shoot Lee Oswald in the basement of the Dallas PD, using a S&W Model 61 Bodyguard .38.
Officer L.C. Graves (wearing a black hat and suit jacket) grabbed the gun's cylinder with his right hand, and prevented Ruby from shooting again. Jim Leavelle, on the other side of Oswald, saw Ruby trying to pull the trigger but Graves maintained his grip on the revolver until he got the gun away from Ruby.
I'm sure the actor on TWD had no idea of any of this. But it used to be a real technique.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

No worries, I kind of figured as much. For reference, this is a wolf:

View attachment 285713

That dirty little canine needs a bath and grooming! Oh.....and some behavior modification kicked into his head!

 

[etrain16]

That dirty little canine needs a bath and grooming! Oh.....and some behavior modification kicked into his head!

True. But he did get his

 

[clearconscience]

Brutus you may be living among zombies soon enough.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Brutus you may be living among zombies soon enough.

Wow! That's true!
But you probably only have to worry about patchouli poisoning!

 

[Oldvet70]

I don't know how many folks here still follow the Walking Dead, but I'm still on board with the show. This week a scene came up with a guy pulling a gun on Daryl, and while it was a surprise that he was caught unaware, what really caught my attention was how the guy was gripping the pistol - with his middle finger on the trigger. Here is a photo:

View attachment 285674

I've not seen anyone do this before, and I can't think there would be any benefit, rather it would likely make it much more difficult to shoot the gun. I don't know why he's doing this - I was trying to see if maybe his trigger finger was cut off or wounded, but it appears intact.

I guess at some point in the past, someone suggested this might be a possibly useful technique as it left you pointing your finger at the target while using your middle finger to pull the trigger. From what little searching I did, it sounds like it was a no go for anyone that tried it.

Aside from the grip, it appears, from the angle of the photo that he's holding at such an angle/elevation that he wouldn't be able to see the sights. Reminds me a bit of the 'gangsta' style hold where they not only turn the gun 90 degrees, but also hold it up high while they bust a cap in their rival members

Anyway, I just thought it was curious and wondered why they chose to go this route.

I shot that way before. It was a study to see if there is any advantage to it. There is a minimal advantage if the firearm is very small or your hand is big. The down side is it increases the chance of shooting yourself with a smaller firearm.

 

[parsonsr2]

This just my view. I have a size 20 ring finger. So really big hands and fingers with ostoarthiritis making my index fingef not bend much (not over 15 to 20 degrees). So, i use my middle finger and have my index along side the barrel. I am careful to make sure my finger not in the slide's way. I can not even get my index finger in some finger guards. This my $.02 worth.
parsonsr2
God blesd

 

[Allen Benge]

His trigger finger is up on the slide, which means when he presses the go switch, the slide is going to fold that finger like origami. I have seen a couple of guys use the middle finger, but their index fingers were below the slide. I had a friend in Arizona who managed to saw off his trigger finger with a circular saw, so he had to learn to use the middle finger.

 

[Ura-Ki]

This was a shooting tec that was trained into us many years ago. It was supposed to be used to cover the shine of the barrel on a pistol! Non of us could master it effectively and it quickly went out. I have heard of it being called point shooting, but I don't think that was what I remember it being called or used for! It WAS a very long time ago! Do like the show, but hopelessly behind on all the episodes!

 

[Fast Eddie]

Season 6 was the season I turned. I am rooting for the Saviors to kill the whole cast.

 

[Skier]

I absolutely love the show. I even watch Talking Dead afterward.

But there are always gun things that are so annoying!! All the time, for example, they are in some harrowing situation outside the walls of whatever home they're in at the time, walkers everywhere, and then one of them pulls the gun and racks the slide. What, they were carrying COLD?!?! I don't get it.

I'm not sure that's as bad as an episode of "Under the Dome," where a guy racks a shotgun and is pointing it at his dad during his monologue, then when his dad says something that peeved him off, he racks the shotgun [again]. LOL

Or, like an episode of Longmire where you HEAR a guy rack a shotgun, then when they show the guy, he's holding a break-knee shotgun*. hehe

*Curious side-question. Has anyone else ever called break-action shotguns "break-knee" shotguns? That's what I've always called it and was just curious if that was an actual proper or commonly used term, so I looked it up and found break-action, which makes sense, but curious if anyone else uses, has used, and at least heard of them being called that before, or if somehow that got in my head years ago and no one has ever mentioned it or told me I was wrong before. (No one has ever asked me "huh? what's a break-knee shotgun? or acted like they didn't know what I was talking about, or even looked confused...)

 

[Skier]

On another note, regarding "point shooting." I was under the impression that point shooting didn't really have anything specific to do with the style of shooting like pictured in the original post (i.e. middle finger on the trigger). I seem to recall that point shooting is just basically practicing reactionary shooting where you just point the gun and shoot, instead of trying to take the time to line up the sites properly. Mostly used when the assailant is close and reaction time is critical. I figured that you could point shoot with your middle finger on the trigger, but I din't think there's any relationship, but then I read this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_shooting

, and there seems to be at least some precedent for the middle finger being associated with point shooting, but I'm not convinced it's exclusively the case.

 

[best defense]

I never watch that show. This is just one more reason to choose something else to watch.

 

[Skier]

I've never really been into "zombie shows/movies," but a neighbor told me "it's different, you should really check it out sometime." My wife wasn't really interested at all either, but for some reason, she agreed to watch the first episode with me, and we were hooked, watching the first 2 or 3 reasons in a week or so. Yeah, there some something goofy gun slips once in a while, and time where I think "I totally wouldn't do that," but overall, a really enjoyable show, where main characters actually die sometimes, and you see the various aspects that might come out in humanity when defecation physically collides with some form of forced pneumatic impeller-type device. ;-) Some lead, some follow, some love, some hate, some just do what they have to, etc. It's more of a dramatic/action survival show with zombies in it, than a "zombie show." And, MAN, the season finale this last week was pretty intense!

 

[clearconscience]

That's what I always like about it. The zombies have always been a secondary fear.
It's the human nature side of the apocalypse and the way they breakdown human instinct and survival that makes the show real.
The fact that these main characters have never been the super hero type. They are raw, gritty, and vulnerable make it even more realistic.

I do hate cliff hangers though. I'm impatient and do get a bit of anxiety watching because I've gotten invested in the characters.

I still haven't watched this last half of the season. I'm not sure I want to get so invested again.

 

[deerbandit]

My guess is he is not familiar with handling a firearm. He is also a leftie which makes our view of him holding a firearm different than most of ours.