Handgun Grip Technique

[JohnS23]

Just wanted to share my thoughts on grip, having experimented with a couple of techniques the past week. 

 

1.) 360 degree grip

Works fine but hands need to be        dry/tacky. Works best with grip enhancers.

Downside is slipping hands when sweaty.

 

2.) weak hand wrist lock, relaxed strong hand.

Works the same as the 360 degree grip, but needs traction on the left hand to work. Also tiring after a few hundred rounds. I tend to overcompensate and shoot right (I am right handed)

 

3.) push pull/isosceles stance

works well with sweaty/dry hands. Sights track straight up and down. Very little to almost no grip necessary (making a fist). All pressure front to back with the push and pull. Downside for me is it does not work too well for glocks because of the shape of the grip. Works better with rounded grips for guns like a 1911.

 

wanted to see some thoughts/techniques some might have to improve shooting.

 

thanks!

 

 

[bimmer1980]

I´m also fighting for a good grip. When using Chalk i think my grip issnt that bad at all.

 

What helped is giving pressure to my strong hand pinky. That somehow activates the muscle that locks you wrist and it´s the direction the grip wants to go in recoil anyway.

 

But i have one strange problem.  When i shoot multiple shots (more that 3 or 4) like a billdrill, the gun starts dancing like it´s out of the clock. Is that a problem with the recoil spring or a grip problem?  

 

Sorry for my bad englisch. I hope someone does understand what i want to say      

[wtturn]

21 hours ago, bimmer1980 said:

 

 

But i have one strange problem.  When i shoot multiple shots (more that 3 or 4) like a billdrill, the gun starts dancing like it´s out of the clock. Is that a problem with the recoil spring or a grip problem?  

 

   

 

That's a grip problem.

 

It means something is changing as you progress through a string of rapid shots.  

 

Probably grip pressure.  You may be tensing up and applying a different level of pressure than what you started with, which will of course cause the gun to behave differently under recoil.

[HesedTech]

Check out Todd Jarrett on grip:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQy5yKN-2vw

 

 

I took a class from him and grip is a big deal to him. He made some changes in my grip that were really subtle but helped a lot. 

 

Additionally you will find all off the top shooters work on weak/support hand grip strength. Why? Because in rapid shooting grip strength is how we control our guns for the follow up shots.

 

In one of my first USPSA matches I was on a squad with Henning and after watching me shoot he came up and squeezed my forearm with his support hand and said, "grip it like that." He has a strong left hand.

 

Additionally you will read a whole lot about the grips on the gun itself. Again look at top USPA shooters and they have really aggressive textured grips. People add "board tape", "cheese grader" grips, very aggressive stippling or similar. The goal is to hold on really tight.

 

Get a couple of those "Captain Crush" grip trainers (not those cheap Walmart easy ones) and get your support hand beefed up.

[bimmer1980]

Thanks a lot.

Well, I know how to grip a gun. Maybe i do something wrong, but the basics are there. 

I´m by no means an expert, but at least i can do a billdrill clean in 2.0 to 2.2. Anyway, sometimes the gun starts weird dipping moves like a Trailer behind a car, wich gets out of control. If you know what i mean. I think you call it "rocking" ?

 

I´ve seen some videos where shooters have the same problem, with a basically normal and good looking thumb-forward-grip, without realizing it.  

Jump, dip, jump, dip, jump, dip... and it´s getting worse. More climb, more dip with every shot. 

I got no Problems with let´s say .25 splits, but sometimes with .14 to .16.  

 

I think i´m really overgripping, or do some kind of active recoil control with  bad timing when shooting as fast as i can.  

 

 

[wtturn]

Gun could be shifting within your grip.

Honestly all this is speculation and conjecture; the only way to know is to get some video, throw it in YouTube, and play it at quarter speed so you can actually see with your own eyes what is happening.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

[JohnS23]

Squeezing for me might not be the best option. When i squeeze really hard, my hands naturally sweat. 

 

Push pull has been effective, although it puts stress too much on my right shoulder. Maybe I’’m doing something wrong, will have to experiment. But so far, i find better results with the push/pull grip without squeezing.

[WarBoom]

I have smallish hands with fat fingers and I’ve found that my weak hand pointer finger on the trigger guard with thumbs stacked. I am more accurate and stable than any grip I’ve tried.

 

I still lock my weak hand wrist with a finger palm grip on my strong hand

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bimmer1980]

3 hours ago, wtturn said:

Gun could be shifting within your grip.

Honestly all this is speculation and conjecture; the only way to know is to get some video, throw it in YouTube, and play it at quarter speed so you can actually see with your own eyes what is happening.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk

 

 

Thats a really good idea! I will try that. Thanks!

Edited January 29, 2019 by bimmer1980

[mvmojo]

For a polymer gun like a Glock, I've found the push/pull grip is effective in taming the flexing of the frame.  For a steel gun, I generally try for a support hand gorilla grip, with maybe a 50% or so grip with the strong hand.  The challenge is to not allow sympathetic grip of the strong hand to influence trigger control.  Early on I developed a habit of a "comfortable" grip with both hands while developing good trigger control.  Now that I think I can manipulate the trigger effectively, I feel like my weak hand grip is the main thing keeping me from improving fast shooting of double taps and controlled pairs....  I'm working on it in both dry fire and live fire.  

[Chui]

Check out Todd Jarrett on grip:
 

 
 
I took a class from him and grip is a big deal to him. He made some changes in my grip that were really subtle but helped a lot. 
 
Additionally you will find all off the top shooters work on weak/support hand grip strength. Why? Because in rapid shooting grip strength is how we control our guns for the follow up shots.
 
In one of my first USPSA matches I was on a squad with Henning and after watching me shoot he came up and squeezed my forearm with his support hand and said, "grip it like that." He has a strong left hand.
 
Additionally you will read a whole lot about the grips on the gun itself. Again look at top USPA shooters and they have really aggressive textured grips. People add "board tape", "cheese grader" grips, very aggressive stippling or similar. The goal is to hold on really tight.
 
Get a couple of those "Captain Crush" grip trainers (not those cheap Walmart easy ones) and get your support hand beefed up.[emoji2135]

[emoji1431]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mvmojo]

If you're a right hand shooter (left hand = support hand) and are considering the "Captain Crush" grip trainers, I'd recommend you buy the left hand version - the right hand version just doesn't feel right in the left hand!  This sounds weird, but they offer a right hand version and a left hand version, the difference being which direction the spring is wound.  If you want to strengthen your left hand, get the left hand version.  Here's a link:  https://www.ironmind-store.com/Left-Turn-Trainer-Gripper/productinfo/1485/.  My guess is that for many of us, the "Trainer" model (100 lb) will be adequate to significantly improve grip strength.

 

[bimmer1980]

https://youtu.be/HGtFQLhgyi0

 

Did a video, originally to compare a push&pull grip to my regular kind of "nutcracker" grip.

 

In this video you see my regular grip.

What i found out is, that my front sight sometimes comes back a bit to high.

 

I didnt shoot fast enough to show that crazy "rocking" i talked about further up, that sometimes happen. But you can see a lot of wobble in my body (i think), even with many layers of clothing (2 degrees on the range).

 

I hope someone can give me tips to get my technique better.

 

I try to hold my wrist tension all the time, so the gun should come back to alignment automatically. I get problems with anticipating recoil or flinching if i try to drive the gun back more active.

 

I shoot a Shadow 1 with 124gr factory loads S&B in this Video. The Spring is a progressive 13lb i think.

Edited February 8, 2019 by bimmer1980

[promtcy]

Look at where your head is when you start shooting and where it is when you stop. I also compared a line on the wall with the front of your jacket, your upper body doesn't appear to be wobbling so much as being driven back. I used to have the same issue, I just lean my upper body forward from the hips a little more. I'm a scrub though so hopefully someone more experienced will weigh in. 

[bimmer1980]

Thank you very much! I recognized that too... also that my gun went back an inch after the first shot. Somehow that video App hast stolen some FPS, looks strange, but you can see enough. 

 

The strange thing is, i already felt like beeing far forward with my upper body. But maybe thats more my head than my body. I will try bend over even more. 

 

Anyone else with tips?

 

 

[promtcy]

Your head is forward, I'm not experienced enough to comment on that being good or bad. I hinge at the hips and bend my knees a little. Not a lot, just enough to keep me stable. It's not as far as some would call an "athletic stance",  I'm just not standing completely upright. Again, my technique isn't one you should necessarily aspire to emulate. I have not taken any instruction and while I shoot well enough, I think I suck at a lot of things. I just noticed what I pointed out and I'm pretty sure that's not what you want to have happen. 

[bimmer1980]

2 hours ago, promtcy said:

Your head is forward, I'm not experienced enough to comment on that being good or bad. I hinge at the hips and bend my knees a little. Not a lot, just enough to keep me stable. It's not as far as some would call an "athletic stance",  I'm just not standing completely upright. Again, my technique isn't one you should necessarily aspire to emulate. I have not taken any instruction and while I shoot well enough, I think I suck at a lot of things. I just noticed what I pointed out and I'm pretty sure that's not what you want to have happen. 

 

Believe it or not, that helped a lot. That line near the Jacked is eye opening. I did look at the gun only. I really always thought i had a good and stable stance. Thank you Sir!

[Halo09]

On 2/8/2019 at 3:38 PM, bimmer1980 said:

https://youtu.be/HGtFQLhgyi0

 

Did a video, originally to compare a push&pull grip to my regular kind of "nutcracker" grip.

 

In this video you see my regular grip.

What i found out is, that my front sight sometimes comes back a bit to high.

 

I didnt shoot fast enough to show that crazy "rocking" i talked about further up, that sometimes happen. But you can see a lot of wobble in my body (i think), even with many layers of clothing (2 degrees on the range).

 

I hope someone can give me tips to get my technique better.

 

I try to hold my wrist tension all the time, so the gun should come back to alignment automatically. I get problems with anticipating recoil or flinching if i try to drive the gun back more active.

 

I shoot a Shadow 1 with 124gr factory loads S&B in this Video. The Spring is a progressive 13lb i think.

Good video...I was waiting for both grip styles in the video   My question for the group is, not matter the grip style, should the elbows be bent or almost locked out for extension?  I've noticed a lot of open guys run their elbows at almost a 45 degree bend...I know that they are shooting compensated guns and I'm shooting limited, but was curious about the elbows.

[bimmer1980]

real speed

 

slowmo

 

I caught that rocking move on tape  You can see it after the last slowmo-pair. If i would have went on shooting, it would have become stronger and stronger.

 

Dont know what i´m doing wrong.

 

I´m happy for every tip, no matter what.

 

[promtcy]

I'll take a stab at something. It might be something simple, although I think I see a couple of things. If I'm wrong hopefully someone will correct me. You are still being pushed back by the gun. Look at this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cKDQRa1LUg&t= It might help. Rob Leatham also has a vid I can't seem to find about how you should actually almost move forward when you stop shooting. I believe he described the stance as like leaning against a wall. If it were me I would be thinking that there's not much chance of me having a solid grip and being able to control the gun if I am off balance and because I'm moving backwards I have to keep realigning the vertical point of aim. If you hold the gun out and point it at a target and then rock your upper body backwards you'll notice the gun is now aimed higher than it was. If that makes any sense. So to get the gun back on target you are having to re-position yourself. As an experiment you might try moving your right foot back a little and see if that helps. But mainly I think you just need to lean into it a little more, with some minor effort. 

 

The second thing I'm wondering is if your recoil spring is too stiff. That will make the gun bounce. 

 

Aha, found the vids:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW6dKcW6qmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnYjzEpFTEU

 

[bimmer1980]

On 2/23/2019 at 7:24 AM, promtcy said:

I'll take a stab at something. It might be something simple, although I think I see a couple of things. If I'm wrong hopefully someone will correct me. You are still being pushed back by the gun. Look at this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cKDQRa1LUg&t= It might help. Rob Leatham also has a vid I can't seem to find about how you should actually almost move forward when you stop shooting. I believe he described the stance as like leaning against a wall. If it were me I would be thinking that there's not much chance of me having a solid grip and being able to control the gun if I am off balance and because I'm moving backwards I have to keep realigning the vertical point of aim. If you hold the gun out and point it at a target and then rock your upper body backwards you'll notice the gun is now aimed higher than it was. If that makes any sense. So to get the gun back on target you are having to re-position yourself. As an experiment you might try moving your right foot back a little and see if that helps. But mainly I think you just need to lean into it a little more, with some minor effort. 

 

The second thing I'm wondering is if your recoil spring is too stiff. That will make the gun bounce. 

 

Aha, found the vids:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW6dKcW6qmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnYjzEpFTEU

 

 

Thats funny, i watched the same vids yesterday, as i still get pushed back. You are right, i think. I get my center of gravity forwards but i dont push against the recoil.

I have to work on that.

I´ll try some different recoil spríngs too.

 

Thank you very much!