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It's Not a Stingy Lemon, It's a Pistol!. Gripping too tight is one of the most common, and commonly misunderstood mistakes novice shooters make. Even some of the pros grip too tight. Proper grip is essential for many reasons. Many people, when at the range, take a nice controlled grip, carefully executing the finer details. In a defensive situation, this is IMPOSSIBLE. Therefore the grip MUST be practiced. Of course the grip has some dependence on the pistol size, hand size and holster location. For tactical considerations, this is why it makes so much sense to use and practice with the tactical pistol often. We cover the grip hands on in courses with range time, but there are some basics that we will cover here that are good for coming back to as refreshers. To obtain the proper grip involves moving the hand from where it is to the pistol grip. A section on the draw follows, and since the whole motion should take less than 3/4 of a second, they tend to blend together. The proper STRONG hand grip places the hand as high on the pistol as is possible. Thumb placement should be straight down the frame of the gun as should be the trigger finger when off the trigger. The trigger finger and thumb should make a “J”. The middle finger of the strong hand should be firmly against the frame and the bottom of the trigger guard. The hand should be at “about” 40% of your grip strength. Remember, Place the strong hand on the grip as high as possible, both front and rear. If shooting a 1911, the strong hand thumb should be on TOP of the safety. The trigger finger should not touch or rub on the gun anywhere other than the trigger. The pad of the finger should be used! This will provide better trigger control. The WEAK hand grip places the index finger on the middle finger of the strong hand and folds firmly around the strong hand. The weak hand thumb goes under the strong hand thumb, but they should be parallel. The weak hand should be at about 70% of your grip strength. The fingers should all be under the trigger guard. Your weak hand index finger should never be on the front of the trigger guard. There should be total hand to hand contact at the left rear of the gun, for the right handed shooter. The left hand should not sit straight forward on the gun. It should be canted at an angle with the back of the hand being higher on the gun than the front. If you trace you thumb on your left hand back past the knuckle to the base by the wrist, this should be in between the first joint and the knuckle of the right thumb. This is going to cock the left hand at an angle and complete the contact between both hands. This also serves another purpose of bringing different arm muscles in on controlling the gun. You should feel the muscles on the top of the left arm by the elbow doing the work. If the hand is straight you will feel the strain on the bottom of the arm. Again, both thumbs should be pointing at the target and your arms should be pushing out in a positive tension against the gun, but no joint locked. Several instructors teach a push/pull technique, and so did I until I broke it down with the tutelage of Burkett. He asks “Why should you pull on the gun when it is already going that way during recoil?” The left arm should be more straight than the right arm, which is probably the opposite that you've been told. If you are relaxed and square to the target, your left hand has to be further out than the right hand. Remember, stay relaxed, especially in grip strength, to much tension in the shooting hand slows down trigger speed. If you have a proper grip you will be surprised at how little work you have to do to control the gun.
Video of me Shooting with only 2 fingers loosely holding the pistol!
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