Josmund, generally speaking the better the trigger the easier it is to shoot a gun accurately. It's more telling on the bench, but important for hunting also.
What we look for is usually described as a "crisp" break. It's a bit difficult to describe. It's easier to describe a bad trigger. A rubbing, sliding, grinding or "crunchy" feeling just before the trigger breaks is not desirable.
Trigger creep is the distance the trigger must be moved to the rear before it breaks. It's not necessarily bad. There are two situations. One where the trigger moves to the rear bit smoothly with little resistance to a point where it feels firm, then breaks clean. This is OK once you get to know your trigger. The other is where the trigger moves to the rear for some distance with constant or variable resistance and is difficult to tell when it's going to break - much less desirable.
Trigger weight (i.e. pull weight) is the force, measured in pounds, that it takes to activate the trigger. Anything in the two to four pounds range is fine. Lighter than that is not usually good in a hunting situation, the exception being double set triggers that the user is familiar with and is practiced with. A heavier pull that breaks clean is manageable and can be shot fairly well with practice. But anything over six pounds or so is not good. A heavy bad trigger with a lot of creep and crunch is a miserable thing indeed.
Pull weight is measured with a trigger pull scale. A fairly accurate way to measure pull weight without a trigger scale is with a plastic jug tied to the trigger, and a common kitchen scale. It's easier done with two people. One to hold the assembly and one to slowly add water to the jug until the trigger breaks. (See picture.) Fill the jug until the trigger breaks, then weigh it to see how many pounds it took to activate the trigger.
