Pitt Bull Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I have developed the bad habit of crushing the grip of my 1911 when I draw. Everything is fine until I start prepping the trigger. Then I have trigger freeze. I can't get the hammer to fall. I only have a 2 1/4 lb. trigger so thats not the problem. When I wait to get to full extension the problem does not seem to be as bad. Any suggestions or tips to break this habit would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkatz44 Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Relax... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitt Bull Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 I'm trying to do that. Alot harder to do than I thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Increase your grip strength. You'll be amazed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Gene Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I agree with relax, and grip strength plus slow mo practice out to extension, slow mo back into the holster, over and over and over and over and over and over and oever and over and over and over and over and over and over and over an over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ and over again. WG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpops Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 What Seth said! Increasing grip strength really helps overcome the urge to over grip. Nothing beats practice. Something I tried (thanks to Mike Seeklander) is a visual/physical cue. Everytime I touch my gun in practice or during "make ready" I tell myself to relax. Sounds a little silly but I was going through a period of trigger freeze and it cured it. The other biggie, and you read it all the time here, is to not rush. If you get that "mow it down" feeling you will overgrip and lock up. Just shoot as fast as you can see. Hope that helps. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I'd guess that you are shooting a stance that has your strong arm straighter than your support arm? (weaver'ish) And, that, you feel like you need the grip the gun to "control" recoil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitt Bull Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 I use the stance described in Brian's. I just start gripping too hard as I prep the trigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 ask yourself why... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon b Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 i have started to wiggle my fingers and toes before the buzzer and it really helps to ease tension and has helped with trigger freeze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonovanM Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 (edited) How does your grip pressure vary between your hands? I used to death grip my gun with my strong hand and had comparatively miniscule grip tension in my weak hand. It was just kind of "there," instead of actually gripping the gun. Now it's as close to even as I can tell. Changing just took awareness of the problem and repetitive conscious reprogramming. "Stop doing that, start doing this," every time I dry fired (which has been as often as a Muslim prays these days). It might take 2-3 weeks for your subconscious to implement the change. Edited April 9, 2011 by DonovanM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 To me, the word "relax" meant backing off from the typically overly tense state that seemed to always come over me upon hearing the start buzzer. So in a sense I was "relaxing" from being too tense. And then on top of that, for me, a specific feeling and level of firmness that I felt in practice had no relationship whatsoever to what that same level of firmness felt like in a match. In a match, if I felt "relaxed," my tension level was actually fairly close to what it felt like to be just firm, in practice. I said "for me," because I feel it is a temperament related issue. There are people who can say to themselves, "I'm going to shoot at Tension Level #8 (TL 8) on this stage in practice," and then say that same thing in a match and have the actual TL's be very similar if not the same. But for me it was not like that. I always defaulted to coming out of the holster much tenser in a match than I ever did in practice. So (again) for me, it really helped when I figured out how to create, remember, and manage an optimum tension level for match shooting only. Since "the juice" wasn't there in practice, managing the TL in practice was much easier: shoot firm but not tense. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MosesM Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 I find that being extra conscious about my breathing patterns helps a lot in lowering tension levels (mentally). Try to focus on your inhales and exhales before you step up to the line, and of course...repetition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitt Bull Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 Thanks guys I'm working on grip strength and relaxing. It has helped me to try and think about the grip with both hands being one grip only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92fs Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Thanks guys I'm working on grip strength and relaxing. It has helped me to try and think about the grip with both hands being one grip only. I have a very similar problem. I overgrip with my strong hand instead of weak hand. When I do that I pull alot of shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Often, that is a desire (whether conscious or not) of wanting to control the recoil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seth Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Often, that is a desire (whether conscious or not) of wanting to control the recoil. And that's why the grip strength is so important. If my AVERAGE grip strength is 90# and my maximum is #120, the gun is going to be a handful and I'm going to overgrip. If I increase my grip strength and my AVERAGE becomes 130# and my max is 200#, I am no longer holding on for dear life..... instead a moderate, neutral grip is MORE than enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACraig Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 (edited) Just a thought, but is the gun's grip sufficiently "grippy"? I shoot a Glock in production, and without something very aggressive like grip tape covering most of the grip, I feel the need to apply a death grip to drive the gun. Psychologically, with aggressive grip tape, I don't feel the need to apply so much pressure. So, if you haven't already, consider aggressive stippling or some other aggressive grip material, you might give it a try. Edited April 15, 2011 by ACraig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92fs Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Often, that is a desire (whether conscious or not) of wanting to control the recoil. And that's why the grip strength is so important. If my AVERAGE grip strength is 90# and my maximum is #120, the gun is going to be a handful and I'm going to overgrip. If I increase my grip strength and my AVERAGE becomes 130# and my max is 200#, I am no longer holding on for dear life..... instead a moderate, neutral grip is MORE than enough. I don't think actaul strenght is a problem. I have large hands and have recently discovered that I am sometimes squeezing the Glock grip so tight with my two bottom fingers (strong hand)that the mags don't fall out easily during reloads. I think it is a prduct of my tension level during a stage. I need to learn how to control that tension. I know that when I am relaxed during a stage I do much better. I know that I need to relax my strong hand and tighten my weak hand but, often times, once the timer beeps, everything I know goes out the window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jhp147 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 (edited) I have been fighting this problem for a long time, trying to relax when practicing had little or no effect. I would practices loose as a goose, but when the buzzer went off or someone was watching, all was lost. I would come home from the range with my hand hurting from gripping the gun so hard. It has played heck with my grip consistency and discouraged me from shooting for a long time now. I think I have two things that are helping me now. First, as someone mentioned, I have been shooting a heavily textured gun-an M&P, it feels like it stays attached to my hand. Not having to worry about depressing the grip safety of the 1911 has helped, though I will be trying to sensitize mine when I go back to the 1911. Then, I recently saw an instructional DVD in which the instructor said not to worry about 60/40, 70/30, or 59.5/40.05 grip strength in each hand, just shoot. I tried that and was shocked how well it worked, it is like it took a factor to worry about away from me. It is sort of the more purely physical version of something I would expect to hear on this forum, "don't think about it, just shoot." Edited April 23, 2011 by sheepdog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Often, that is a desire (whether conscious or not) of wanting to control the recoil. And that's why the grip strength is so important. If my AVERAGE grip strength is 90# and my maximum is #120, the gun is going to be a handful and I'm going to overgrip. If I increase my grip strength and my AVERAGE becomes 130# and my max is 200#, I am no longer holding on for dear life..... instead a moderate, neutral grip is MORE than enough. My point wasn't about grip strength. It was about the misplaced mindset of "control" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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