Shotguns

• Because shotguns spread shot to cover an area, precise aim is less important than properly timing and leading your target. Sports like skeet shooting and bird hunting obviously require quick response and are more a matter of reflexes than firing a pistol or rifle. For these reasons, a shotgun trigger is designed to be pulled quickly, or "slapped"; and the techniques described for pistols and rifles are less relevant.
  
  

Rifles

• Unlike with a shotgun, hunting and target shooting with a rifle generally involves steady and precise aiming, with less emphasis on timing. For these reasons, you should pull the trigger on a rifle slowly. By gradually increasing the amount of pressure applied, the shooter is unaware of exactly when the rifle will fire and is thus less susceptible to flinching in anticipation. This type of trigger pull is called a "surprise break."
  
  

Pistols

• The surprise break described above is even more important when firing a pistol. This is because handguns weigh so little that they are very easily thrown from the target if the shooter flinches in anticipation. In striving to overcome this, it is especially important when firing a pistol to squeeze the trigger slowly and not anticipate the shot.
  
  

Practicing Trigger Pulling With Rifles and Pistols

• The ideal trigger for pistols and rifles has no movement before releasing; but in reality the movement necessary to release the sear (part of the firing mechanism) is often perceptible, and the exact behavior of the trigger will vary from one firearm to the next. For this reason it's best to adapt to the firearm being used by dry-firing it and finding a method that provides the least risk of flinching in anticipation.