Electronic trigger pull gauge

A gauge for measuring the force required to discharge a firearm by pulling its trigger, said gauge comprising:

• a hand holdable housing sized and configured to be held by hand or fingers;
• a rod including a trigger hook portion at a distal end thereof for engaging the trigger of the firearm;
• said housing being pullable by hand when said rod trigger hook portion is engaged with said trigger of said firearm;
• a load cell connected to said housing and to a proximal end of said rod such that said load cell generates a voltage signal in response to forces on said rod as said housing is pulled while the trigger hook portion of said rod is engaged with the trigger of the firearm, the magnitude of the voltage signal being proportional to the forces on said rod;
• a preamplifier connected to said load cell for amplifying and reducing noise in the voltage signal;
• a voltage to frequency converter connected to said preamplifier for converting the voltage signal to an alternating current signal;
• a memory having calibration data stored thereon;
• a microcontroller in communication with said memory and connected to said voltage to frequency converter for receiving the alternating current signal and the calibration data and for calculating a force value based thereon, said microcontroller continuously monitoring the forces on said rod and identifying a trigger pull value of the firearm as being the maximum force on said rod until pulling on the housing is ceased once the trigger of firearm has released;
• and
• a display for displaying the trigger pull value of the firearm identified by said microcontroller.

A method of measuring the force required to discharge a firearm by pulling its trigger, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a handheld gauge for measuring the force required to discharge a firearm by pulling its trigger, the gauge having a housing and a rod associated with the housing, the rod having a trigger hook portion at a distal end of the rod;
• engaging the trigger of the firearm with the trigger hook portion of the rod;
• creating forces on the rod by holding said gauge in fingers or hand and pulling on the housing of the gauge;
• generating an electrical signal in response to the forces created on the rod, the magnitude of the electrical signal being proportional to the forces on the rod;
• calculating a force value based upon the value of the electrical signals;
• continuously monitoring the forces on the rod and identifying a trigger pull value of the firearm as being the maximum force on the rod until pulling on the rod is ceased once the trigger of firearm has released;
• and
• displaying the identified trigger pull value of the firearm to a user.