TargetTalk

http://www.issf-sports.org/news.ashx?newsid=1328

I enjoy these stories about battery powered triggers causing stress during a match.

“I risked to loose the final because of an empty battery” said the Hungarian shooter Peter Sidi.

“I run out of power on my eighth final shot. The battery of my electronic trigger was almost empty, and I could not trigger properly”

I've personally witnessed battery powered trigger drama twice and heard first hand accounts of several more.

I guess it just lets me chortle and feel good about my lowly/outdated LP10 mechanical trigger ;-)

Oz

First, the trigger makers say you should get thousands and thousands of shots per set of two AAA batteries. Seems odd that they should die just at the end of a match.

Second, batteries cost what, $2.00 a set, max. Why not just put in a fresh set just before equipment control, and know that you had at least several hundred shots with healthy batteries.

And, of course, one could carry a spare set if it's legal to change batteries during the match.

Or am I missing something?

-pz

Yes the simple thing would be to put fresh batteries in just before the final it would take all of 30 seconds. I wonder if it also a convenient excuse.

Good question! I dunno why it happened; all of the electronic trigger failure stories have an "unusual" air of mystery regarding the failure.

I also don't know if/when it's legal to change them, or have to worry about the last time the batteries were changed, what size the batteries are, how old they are, if I have spares before I shoot, if they might leak while the pistol is being stored... Battery leaks which corrode the boards and cause failure at the most inopportune time is something I've heard about more than once.

I have a simple mind that likes to keep things as simple as possible. Or it's sour grapes because I didn't want to pay for an LP10e VS and LP10 ;-)

Oz

There is no rule about changing batteries, it has no effect on trigger weight or anything else.

The batteries are AAA (x2) unless you have a first gen. Morini, then its a 6v or something photo battery (not 100% sure on the size).

I hazard to guess most batteries go flat because there is a tendency to forget to shut them off.

After shooting I always take my 9V battery out of my Walther free pistol (which still works well) and every match gets a new battery (old batteries are used for training).

Oz wrote:Good question! I dunno why it happened; all of the electronic trigger failure stories have an "unusual" air of mystery regarding the failure.

. . . . . . . .

I have a simple mind that likes to keep things as simple as possible. Or it's sour grapes because I didn't want to pay for an LP10e VS and LP10 ;-)

Oz

All of us who shoot electronic triggers have a secret pact to tell horror stories of all our problems.

We change our batteries only to find the "new" battery was defective.

When we swap batteries, we pinched a wire.

The switch goes bad on the 8th shot of the final.

Don't complicate your shooting with electronics.

All of these tales are schemes to delay the discovery of what excellent triggers we have on our pistols.

Ben

LOVE the title

call me old fashion in a sense but i do not think that the electronic triggers belong on a pistol or rifle but that me ..

Freepistol wrote:

Oz wrote:Good question! I dunno why it happened; all of the electronic trigger failure stories have an "unusual" air of mystery regarding the failure.

. . . . . . . .

I have a simple mind that likes to keep things as simple as possible. Or it's sour grapes because I didn't want to pay for an LP10e VS and LP10 ;-)

Oz

All of us who shoot electronic triggers have a secret pact to tell horror stories of all our problems.

We change our batteries only to find the "new" battery was defective.

When we swap batteries, we pinched a wire.

The switch goes bad on the 8th shot of the final.

Don't complicate your shooting with electronics.

All of these tales are schemes to delay the discovery of what excellent triggers we have on our pistols.

Ben

OR - the batteries are left in situ and eventually burst and corrode away the innards of the pistol !!

joker wrote:

Freepistol wrote:

Oz wrote:Good question! I dunno why it happened; all of the electronic trigger failure stories have an "unusual" air of mystery regarding the failure.

. . . . . . . .

I have a simple mind that likes to keep things as simple as possible. Or it's sour grapes because I didn't want to pay for an LP10e VS and LP10 ;-)

Oz

All of us who shoot electronic triggers have a secret pact to tell horror stories of all our problems.

We change our batteries only to find the "new" battery was defective.

When we swap batteries, we pinched a wire.

The switch goes bad on the 8th shot of the final.

Don't complicate your shooting with electronics.

All of these tales are schemes to delay the discovery of what excellent triggers we have on our pistols.

Ben

OR - the batteries are left in situ and eventually burst and corrode away the innards of the pistol !!

OR de microswitch or the solenoid becomes dirty (especially true on firearms, less on air arms) and the trigger doesn't work relaiblily anymore (bad contacts on the switch, blocked solneoid).

OR the electronic trigger causes multiple shots, known problem on the Pardini SP1 and some rumours of the same problem on the LP50E.

Remember that when we talk of electronic triggers we don't use the correct word, it is a electromechanical trigger. There is always a need of some kind of switch to convert the trigger movement into an electrical signal and some kind of solenoid to convert the electric signal into a firing pin release (for remembrance, there has been a trial to use special powder compound and ignite it by heating it = without primer and firing pin, as far as I know, it dissapeared)

Electromechanical stuff are known to be much less reliable than pure electronic or pure mechanical stuff.

I'm with "Freepistol", don't try them, you would'nt like them any way, they should be reserved for those of us who need every bit of help we can get.
Robin

The interesting thing is that Sidi's rifle from photos seems to be a walther and walther does not make electronic KK300 !!! (unless of course he modified his rifle to take an electronic module (i wonder from what company))

I could be wrong here, but I think the KK200 came with an optional electronic trigger, mabye this has been modified to fit?

There was an earlier Walther rifle, called simply UIT-E with electronic trigger and side lever bolt like an air rifle

Walther has been working on an electronic trigger as well. I know they wanted one that could be used across multiple platforms.

I think this is something simply unacceptable.


Does a Formula One pilot "forget" to fill the tank in his car?

Does a Soccer player "forget" to firmly enlace your shoes?


Excuses like Sidi´s one are only for the "press show".

Top Level Athletes with high sponsorship are not allowed to make this mistakes.

Unfortunately,a gold medal tend to "blur" this things and worse, turns this as a painless "range joke" for the years to come.

Top athletes are not immune to bad luck. Remember how Damon Hill lost Hungary Grand Prix when he was racing for Arrows from the failure of a 50p washer. (just to name another sport/spectacle). It can happen to everybody. I have been let down from a FWB90 for no apparent reason .Battery was checked ok, spare battery was ok too, but the thing would not go bang. When we returned to our university and test it at the range it went bang like usual. I admire that Sidi (and Emmons for that matter) didn't panic but continued as usual.

Yeah, just this year Jensen Button had to retire because an engineer forgot to pull the vent cover out of one of the air intakes as they were vacating the grid. Would have been fine if he hadn't got stuck behind a safety car, but being forced to slow down caused the engine to overheat and he had to pull over and retire to stop it blowing up.
Everyone makes mistakes or can suffer from bad luck.

People with electronic triggers forget to check their batteries, people with mechanicals have springs which can come loose, mechanical joints which can fail, etc.

I shoot an MG1E AP without problems.
They say the battery wil last more than 4000 shots.
I've "shot it down" on purpose and know the 12 volt battery will work at less than 10.4 volts. I just check it now and then with a cheap digital voltmeter. An evenings shooting is maybe 100 shots or thereabouts.
Less than 4 times a week means more than 10 weeks shooting or 2 1/2 months. Never had problems with this, and you should be safe if checking the battery less than a month before an important competition.
OTOH the pistol's cylinder will run out of air after a couple of hundred shots. And yes, this has happened to me....... :-(

And yes, I love the electronic trigger. It teaches me to shoot better because it has no need for an endstop since it doesn't "break" on shot release. To me that's the "purpose" of an electronic trigger.

Luftskytter- wrote:. . . . And yes, I love the electronic trigger. It teaches me to shoot better because it has no need for an endstop since it doesn't "break" on shot release. To me that's the "purpose" of an electronic trigger.

Oh no, Luftskytter, you broke the electronic trigger silence code.