Modified My Grip

[SRD]

I know this sort of thing has been discussed before, but I wanted to share my personal experience.

Recently I've been frustrated by a tendency for my shots to string left when shooting at speed, not to mention that my sights never seemed to track consistently. After reading the online article The Combat Handgun Grip (it compares/contrasts the techniques used by benos and Dave Sevigny) I decided to move my support-hand thumb off the pistol completely. Wow, what a difference! My shots are well centered and the sights are much easier to track in recoil. I've still got plenty to work on, but this small change to my grip is really paying off. Brian, thanks for pointing the way!

Link for those who haven't already read the article:

http://www.handgunsmag.com/tactics_training/combatg_100306/

Scott

[dagger10k]

Yep! I used to think that the thumb was supposed to sit on the frame during the grip, and tried to hold it on by pressing. Just having it floating in the air next to the gun is so much better it's hard to describe.

[HICKMAN]

Good read, makes it pretty for noobs like me to follow.

[10ring]

I gained this clue from reading Brian's book, (i.e. the neutral grip). Then I experimented with applying pressure with the thumb versus no pressure. I saw quite a difference and have therefore trained my thumbs to just float.

[Victor_R]

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. That article made me realize I was gripping the gun the wrong way. After reading it I put on my gear and tried it out. It's going to take some practice but my grip felt more firm.

[TRev1911]

On thing which helped me was to get more of the palm of the support hand on the grip. To do this I know cock my wrist so if I extend the fingers of my support hand they point down at a 45 degree angle.

[Dutch1911]

Very good... I'll have to go with this.

[Corey]

Im in the process of re-reading Brian's book (its amazing what you can glean the 2nd time through now that Im actually involved in the sport. first time was when i wa getting intersted). I actually hit the page on this today and realized ive been holding my strong thumb on the safety and the weak thumb had been pushed up against the slide. Im heading to the range tomorrow to work on timing drills and what not and am going to make myself keep my thumbs off the gun while shooting.

[JeffWard]

Me too.... floating thumbs. Both of em.

Jeff

[JohnnyBlk45]

I still don't understand what you guys mean by floating thumbs, do your thumbs touch when your gripping your firearm?

[Victor_R]

I still don't understand what you guys mean by floating thumbs, do your thumbs touch when your gripping your firearm?

It means your weak hand thumb isn't toughing the frame of the gun and your strong hand thumb isn't pushing down on the safety.

[eric4069]

After reading this string and the article, and re-reading Brian's book I decided to give floating thumbs a try again. (Previously tried it for 10 minutes last yr).

Even my bench rest groups improved significantly with floating thumbs this year so I will keep working on it. Thanks guys.

Eric

[martine4161]

Actually everybody have their own style to catch the gun and getting the target but sometimes if they shares their ideas with us then we can use them and get the best result from our side. This article gives me the same as I said here. I have also use this and the improvement is positive.