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Thumb over or under


ksteele1

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Good day, been shooting for awhile but just picked up my first 1911.   Have read conflicting advice on grip with some advocating keeping thumb on top of safety for greater control, others saying the opposite.  Thoughts and opinions welcome.

Thanks

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over the safety dude. if it's under it's taking up space where your support hand should be. I see this a lot with new shooters you have their strong hand thumb low and it's causing their weakhand to be low on the grip or not touching the gun up high (or both). you want your grip as high as possible and as much support hand on the gun as possible. 

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Top (picture): "Both thumbs are pointed at the target, but neither touches the gun. Doing so can steer the muzzle."

                                                                           Practical shooting  - beyond fundamentals - page 43 - by Brian Enos

Not sure if he stayed with that thinking as time went by but I think the short section on grip is worth the price of the book. That is what I used to develop a grip that feels good to me, my thumb is beside the safety closer to above it than below it depending on the gun. 

I do not think there is 1 best way that works for every hand size and every gun. Some folks are comfortable riding the safety, I'm comfortable with thumbs just pointing down range and not really touching the gun, for me the extended safeties are why dremels and touch up blue were invented. 

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1 hour ago, IHAVEGAS said:

Top (picture): "Both thumbs are pointed at the target, but neither touches the gun. Doing so can steer the muzzle."

                                                                           Practical shooting  - beyond fundamentals - page 43 - by Brian Enos

Not sure if he stayed with that thinking as time went by but I think the short section on grip is worth the price of the book. That is what I used to develop a grip that feels good to me, my thumb is beside the safety closer to above it than below it depending on the gun. 

I do not think there is 1 best way that works for every hand size and every gun. Some folks are comfortable riding the safety, I'm comfortable with thumbs just pointing down range and not really touching the gun, for me the extended safeties are why dremels and touch up blue were invented. 

Posted without permission from page 43:

"When the safety lever is depressed, the shooting-hand
thumb can stay atop the lever. A lot of top shooters do this
to gain a little leverage to help hold the muzzle down. I
can't use that technique because the heel of my support
hand is placed up high enough on the gun that my thumb
presses on that instead of the safety. My thumbs just fit
together naturally with the grip I use, and neither thumb
touches the gun. So I don't really feel like there's any benefit
to pressing on the safety; I'd rather let the pistol recoil
freely. But I don't really want to recommend that you not
try that. I do recommend, however, that you don't
press down really hard on the lever. Anytime you
introduce more pressure than is needed to just hold
the gun, there's the chance that different shooting
circumstances may cause you to use inconsistent
pressure. If you do rest your thumb on the lever,
look for wear marks on the slide and install a thumb
shield on your gun if you see them."

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34 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

Posted without permission from page 43:

 

Hope I was not a bad boy by posting the original quote. Not sure about what is considered according to Hoyle and what is not. The pictures were put there on the wondernet so I figure they were public domain. 

Edited by IHAVEGAS
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42 minutes ago, IHAVEGAS said:

Hope I was not a bad boy by posting the original quote. Not sure about what is considered according to Hoyle and what is not. The pictures were put there on the wondernet so I figure they were public domain. 

I forgot to add the part "If you want to see more, go here http://brianenos.com/shop/shoppractical-shooting-beyond-fundamentals/ ." (I hope it's OK:()

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  • 4 weeks later...
7 minutes ago, Yeti said:

Experiment and see what works best for you, 

6'1" thin frame, CZ 75 , thumb on top opens up the thumb-forefinger web which reduces pressure high up on the grip and hurts recoil control, and feels weird. 

Your mileage will vary :) . 

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