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Hooking finger in front of trigger guard


BCGlocker

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My thoughts, free no charge, hahaha. You can do that but it takes some really good fine motor skill to hold down & not pull sideways. The tendency is under pressure to pull sideways with that hook. Yes it can be done & done to advantage but if you think about it, you will see it is VERY easy to pull the gun sideways with it & not very easy to just hold down.

That being said a friend of mine does it succesfully but the last joint of his left index finger is permanently crooked from a rattlesnake bite as a kid so for him, it's easy.

I suggest you build a different grip but what do I know?

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Considering what people are try to accomplish by buying expensive tungsten guide rods just to added grams to the gun; I can't help but believe that hooking the support index finger will add weight to the front of the gun which should help you "snap" the gun back in place during recoil. Of course this is done without a death grip that will push the gun downwards. Using the same tension/grip pressure as the thumb forward grip.

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Most instructors will tell you not to use it - I do so when teaching someone new.

That said, Eric Grauffel, Jerry Miculek, Angus Hobdell, and a few other very skilled shooters have won hundreds and hundreds of matches with this grip. So it certainly is possible to hit very well with it, regardless of what the Gun Forum Experts typically preach on other websites.

Edited by MemphisMechanic
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This is how I grip and it works for me. I don't try to use the finger hook to pull the gun down, just simply rest it in front of the trigger guard. I'm not sure when or where I started it, I think it comes from starting on revolvers with no where to hang the off hand pinky. I do it the same every time, so if I am pulling it sideways, I do it every time and sights are adjusted for it. I can pick up most other peoples guns with this grip though and hit the same. So I think in my case it is more of a finger rest than a gripping point.

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Bob Vogel teaches getting the weak hand thumb as high up and close to the front of the barrel as possible. I find this is a little easier to do when you hook the index finger on the trigger guard than when the index finger is placed with the rest of the fingers under the trigger guard. Note, however, that Vogel does not actually hook his index finger on the front of the trigger guard, but has it under the front part of trigger guard near where it curves upwards.

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I do this and it wasn't until someone asked me... Why do I put my finger there? That I noticed I do this. I ride my hands high like Vogel teaches. I have tried moving it off the front of the guard, but once I hear beep, my natural grip takes over and that finger is back. Oh well if it ain't broke and Jerry does it.... Don't fix it.

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I hooked my finger when I started shooting, I have no idea why. Then one day after a practice session one of the better local shooters gave me a short course on proper grip. After that and watching P. Kelly's and Bob Vogels videos about grip and several dry fire sessions my grip has completely changed. I now and have less front sight wobble and am able to manage recoil better allowing me to shoot faster. I have been watching people's grip closer at my local matches and have noticed that none of the top ten finishers hook the trigger guard.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I first started I did it as well, then one day while dry firing, on the draw as I built my grip I put my left index finger in the trigger guard. I broke the habit bc I was afraid I would ND one off in the air. Works for some and some it won't, with me I deemed it a safety issue being a novice and didn't want to have something happen

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I wish my M&P had a hook on the trigger guard so that I could at least try it. It makes sense to me. What would it have cost S&W to put it there? Use it or not, at least if it was there it would be an option.

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Ibhave been debating this with myself for a while. Since I started shooting open I have noticed my finger wil find its way there every so often, just because of where my *thumb rest [generic]* indexes it to. But on my limited guns it is in the "normal" position. I need to go put it on a timer and see. But enjoying this thread

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I do it when I have a thumbrest but not when I don't. If I hold my gun and just torque down on my thumb rest the gun rolls left each time, if I do the same to the front of the trigger guard it rolls right. Doing both it stays right in the center.

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I always put my finger on the trigger guard until recently. I've been trying to just grab the gun with both hands on the grips and I've been getting better groups.

With the finger on the guard I've been pushing off to the left. Now it's not a problem. Took a few thousand draws to correct it but I think I've got it down now. From my latest pictures I'm no longer putter the finger up there.

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Kind of a fundamentals thing right?

If you were teaching a person from scratch the merits of not hooking the trigger guard from a fundementals perspective are pretty compelling. Namely, camming your support hand forward and ability to uniformly squeeze grip pressure without moving the gun.

Of course there are excellent shooters who do hook the trigger guard, just like there some legendary golfers with pretty unorthodox swings.

I used to do it but was convinced the conventional grip would improve my shooting. After about a month of training it became natural and my consistency improved.

I believe it is worth the effort.

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for those that do this. doesn't your trigger finger hit your forefinger on the left hand? Or would this only be possible if you were deep seating your trigger finger?

Only the pad of the fingertip on the trigger, so no. I don't know anyone who engages the trigger at the first joint.

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the people i see do it locally either aren't very good or.......... they are good but have larger hands and seem to do it as they appreciate the extra room for their hand along with the perception of some benefit in controlling the gun.

for me i've tried it goofing off and it seems to make my support hand much much less effective.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I hooked the front of the trigger guard for years and it worked for me . Once I went away from polymer wonders into real guns for whatever reason I yanked the gun left every single time . I tried all sorts of variations , grip pressures etc and no matter what I did I had the same result . SO I ended up switching to the standard target grip and haven't looked back . It's crazy how something can work for so long that one change throws it out the window .

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My little baby fingers can't reach that far on my M&P. I can do it on my LCP but I've never tried shooting with that style before. I'm not sure I buy into it though. The point I think would be to use that as a lever to get the gun back down. Which makes me think it might work too well in some circumstances, especially if you're not gripping hard enough with your strong hand, making the gun nose-dive after recoil. But I mean, I dunno, never tried it. Could work.

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