Grip Adjustments Taken from G20 to 1911

[GunBugBit]

This is not intended to be instructive as I claim no expertise. I'm just sharing observations that have worked out well for me, lately. The things I tried were taken from two external sources that I'll cite, though I've heard/read similar things elsewhere:

Brian Enos: Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals

Kyle E. Lamb: Stay in the Fight! Warriors Guide to the Combat Pistol

Things I discovered while shooting the G20 (full-size Glock 10mm) enhanced my pistol shooting fundamentals to the point that I was able to improve my 1911 .45 ACP shooting. This was part of what led to me to finally compete in my first local match, using the 1911 as a single stack shooter.

My first couple of sessions with a G20, using hotter 10mm loads, were pretty poor with regards to accuracy. I very much wanted to improve my accuracy with this gun and the ammo it can shoot. It occurred to me that my pistol hold and trigger press and follow-through habits might not be optimal.

In years prior, I thought I had worked out a good way of holding a semi-auto pistol, but I tweaked a few things to be able to better manage hot 10mm. I scoured my shooting books and thought carefully about my personal technique. One improvement was to stop touching the frame with my support-hand thumb. Another was squeezing a little harder with my support hand fingers on top of my shooting-hand fingers and applying less grip pressure with my shooting hand. Another was conditioning myself to intentionally follow through with the trigger and not trying to fight recoil, just letting the gun naturally settle back to a sight-aligned position while tracking with my eyes. Anticipating recoil and trying to muscle against it is very flinch-inducing, at least for me.

These small adjustments made quite a difference. I had been exposed to these tips give before, but never really internalized and applied them. When I finally did in my quest to tame 10mm, I entered a new world of more consistently accurate shooting, toward which I had been striving for five-plus years with no real consistency.

It might surprise some that shooting a Glock could improve 1911 shooting, but I swear it is true for me. Lighter/shorter/crisper triggers help, more favorable grip angles help, but certain foundational elements seem to apply across these two quite different pistols.

Good shooting to you.

-Bob