Basic grip question..

pilot25 · Sep 8, 2018

I think I have identified a major flaw in my grip. Here are two pictures. Which one is the correct hand position?

ClutchyMcClutcherson · Sep 8, 2018

Top one is better. Sometimes people with smaller hands rotate like in the second picture to reach the trigger easier.

Biggfoot44 · Sep 8, 2018

Answer #1 - Grip #1 (top) is presumptively the correct/ prefered grip . The gun is inline with the forearm , providing the best natural aim and control .

Answer #2 - Sometimes it depends . If there are issues with gun size , hand size, and particularly finger length , it is not always possible to achieve proper finger placement on the trigger with ideal alignment as discussed above . When compromise is required between trigger finger placement and ideal alignment with arm bones , trigger finger placement takes priority . ( And a sugguestion to consider switching to a gun that does fit their hand ).

This can be an issue for small hands on some service sized pistols, for average size people with Desert Eagle sized gun , and gorilla sized hands with small pocket pistols .

pilot25 · Sep 8, 2018

Thanks. My natural grab is the hand position in the second picture. I don't have too much trouble with my finger on the trigger with the grip in picture #1 but it feels really weird. So, not shockingly, I'm not a natural but am wondering how many reps it'll take to achieve the natural feeling of having the grip in the first picture. Like any sport, swing, throw, catch there is an ideal bio-metric movement.

I'm happy I finally realized it. Dry firing made the light bulb finally kick on. At the same time, am bummed because it feels so weird to grip the handgun properly

Biggfoot44 · Sep 8, 2018

The advantages of having bore axis inline with forearm will be more pronounced with one hand shooting .

And thereby is included a huge hint of the benefits of also training with one hand . In addition to practical aspects of being competent when one hand is unavailable or otherwise doing somthing important , it is very important from a skills viewpoint .

One handed brings basic marksmanship skills very amplified . Any imperfections in grip or trigger control, or follow through will beat you over the head . Improving these thru one hand will directly carry over to improving your two handed shooting .

( And if you squint just a little, you will also see a recomendation for training with both strong hand and weak hand, but that's a topic in itself . But I will briefly note, rather than arbitrarily getting "good" with strong hand first, training with both from the beginning is both much easier to develope weak hand skills, and has synchronicity to improve both .)

davsco · Sep 8, 2018

while the handgun is canted a little in pic 2, you seem to be tighter on the beavertail. i find really jamming the web between thumb and index finger into the beavertail helps with recoil management. partly because there is less space for the gun to bounce back or up, and partly because you are higher to the bore axis.

are you having fun playing 'find the dot' game???

pilot25 · Sep 8, 2018

Biggfoot44 said:
The advantages of having bore axis inline with forearm will be more pronounced with one hand shooting .

And thereby is included a huge hint of the benefits of also training with one hand . In addition to practical aspects of being competent when one hand is unavailable or otherwise doing somthing important , it is very important from a skills viewpoint .

One handed brings basic marksmanship skills very amplified . Any imperfections in grip or trigger control, or follow through will beat you over the head . Improving these thru one hand will directly carry over to improving your two handed shooting .

( And if you squint just a little, you will also see a recomendation for training with both strong hand and weak hand, but that's a topic in itself . But I will briefly note, rather than arbitrarily getting "good" with strong hand first, training with both from the beginning is both much easier to develope weak hand skills, and has synchronicity to improve both .)

Thanks I probably should have prefaced I wasn't just talking about a one hand grip. Though my epiphany was with the right hand part of the grip. Just difficult to take a picture with no hands...

pilot25 · Sep 8, 2018

davsco said:
are you having fun playing 'find the dot' game???

I'm getting good at it

I was trying to make a better grip but was fumbling the phone a bit. I think I was just pretty excited to have figured out to tweak my wrist a little made a huge difference. Also, was hoping for a little confirmation from the pros on here. Like a little kid hoping for a pat on the head.

Can't wait to try it out live fire. The little dot definitely doesn't jump around as much with the new grip in dry fire.

smokey · Sep 8, 2018

old but good video with todd jarrett

Mr.Blue · Sep 8, 2018

If you can comfortably hold the gun in the top position, then this is the better position. If you feel like the gun is loose or the tip of your finger barely reaches the trigger, the below grip would be fine. If you have small hands or short fingers this can happen on average sized guns. If it only happens on large guns, try to use a gun with an average sized grip and hold it like in the top picture.

I wear size large gloves, but I have short fingers. I used to have to grip my old CZ 97BD like in your second picture. Using a two handed grip I was still very accurate with it. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable shooting the 97BD one handed, especially with hot loads.

pilot25 · Sep 8, 2018

Excellent video. Wish I watched it 2 years ago.

Do you guys bend your arms a little or keep your arms straight?

Mr.Blue · Sep 8, 2018

I cannot tell what handgun you are using, but using smaller grip panels or the smaller back strap inserts (if you can) will mitigate how much you need to adjust your grip.

hogarth · Sep 9, 2018

Pic #1 is correct.

My friend had to hold his Glocks like in Pic #2, because he has small hands, and it battered the rearmost knuckle on his thumb. Answer for him, since he wanted to keep and use his Glocks, was a grip reduction.

If you can't reach the trigger very well with grip #1,modify your gun or get a different one.

Racinready300ex · Sep 10, 2018

pilot25 said:
Excellent video. Wish I watched it 2 years ago.

Do you guys bend your arms a little or keep your arms straight?

I bend my arms some.

Biggfoot44 · Sep 10, 2018

There are multiple viable techniques both ( and more ) ways , try more than one , its a matter of which prefered/ works better/ works adequately for each shooter .

Racinready300ex · Sep 11, 2018

Biggfoot44 said:
There are multiple viable techniques both ( and more ) ways , try more than one , its a matter of which prefered/ works better/ works adequately for each shooter .

This is true, I've even noticed changes in my grip and straightness of my arms over time. Not things I consciously changed, just things that for some reason I started doing differently subconsciously. Little things made it noticeable like picking up a old gun and finding the safety interfered with my grip when two years ago it didn't. Finding callus's on my hand from a part that didn't leave them before, things like that.

I think a bigger thing that people miss is grip pressure. Most people aren't gripping hard enough.

pilot25 · Sep 11, 2018

Racinready300ex said:
I think a bigger thing that people miss is grip pressure. Most people aren't gripping hard enough.

Yes, I also learned that in my dry fire practice.

However, the grip in picture #1 forces me to have only that front part of my finger on the trigger. The supposed correct amount and part of the finger.
Whereas the second picture I can maul the thing all the way to the second knuckle. Because of this grip, I've noticed the red dot doesn't move as much to the right when I pull it in double action. It's so uncomfortable though I don't know if I can repeat it and or have the desire to continue to do it.

After watching videos, I thought I fully vetted two years ago, picture #1 is definitely bio-mechanically the correct form. I have more of my right hand against the grip and frame as my trigger finger isn't bent outward to make sure I don't place too much finger on the trigger.

I now totally get the desire to have the option of changing out the back part of the grip to something thicker or thinner.

smokey · Sep 11, 2018

fun times with cowan

pilot25 · Sep 11, 2018

smokey0118 said:
fun times with cowan

His videos are informative but he gets way to snarky about anything not trijicon or glock.

Blaster229 · Sep 11, 2018

If that bottom one is your more natural grip, there's nothing wrong with offsetting that angle by bringing your right leg to the rear some so that you are using your body core to make the adjustment. Rotating your whole body ever so slightly to the right on that vertical axis.
I have taught a couple people with hand/arm issues (badly set broken bones from childhood) try this and seems to work best for them. The bottom line is having that longitudinal axis of the pistol line up straight with the target. You should be good to go with a firm grip, front sight and smooth trigger.

Give it a try next time. You've nothing to lose.

Basic grip question..

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