Thinkers and Feelers, and "how" you grip your pistol

[benos]

I was going to relate this to fine or gross motor skilled people, and what mental method they use to grip their pistol.

Then I thought it might be better to just to say whether you are a thinker or a feeler, which would let those who are fine or gross motor skilled participate.

I have no idea how this will come out, but it might be interesting regardless.

Duane's "Fine Motor Skilled or Gross Motor Skilled, How Do You Tell?" thread got me thinking on a specific topic.

Let's establish that today, for this thread, there are two approaches to gripping your pistol, and also, how you "remember" to reproduce your grip.

1.

Both hands grip with equal pressure, and you "remember" your grip as "one feeling in both hands.

2.

Some variation of the 60/40 or 70/30 technique. Or in other words, your support hand grips with more pressure than your strong hand.

I'm a Feeler, and "1" worked way better than "2" for me. Which makes sense, now that I've been thinking about it.

I could much more consistently reproduce a good grip with method "1" than I could with method "2," being a Feeler.

I experimented with "2" for some time, but it was just too much to think about for me.

Actually it worked best for me to "remember" as many things as possible as one feeling. Toward the last years I was shooting, I learned to remember everything from my waist up as one feeling. Including the feeling I had right between and slightly above my eyes. I called the whole feeling "the set."

And if I could reproduce the feeling of "the set" after the buzzer and before I started shooting I'd usually shoot as good as I could.

So if you know if you are a Thinker or Feeler, please post which you are and if you remember your grip with method 1 or 2.

be

[Bryan W]

Feeler

Grip option 1

[JThompson]

2

I have an ultra bad wrist, so If I don't take most of the heat with my weak hand the pain is so bad I can't shoot accurately and develope a bad push anticipating the recoil.

Edited February 3, 2009 by JThompson

[Sam]

I'm a feeler. I remember my grip as one feeling with both hands, but the 60/40 is part of the feel. The feel is support hand fingers firmly laced across the gun hand fingers, with the heels of both hands below the thumbs mashed firmly against each other. Trigger finger "poised" but relaxed. I guess that the "set" for my hands on the gun.

I hope this isn't the start of a thread drift... The thinking part of this is very low intensity. It's more of an intention than a thought. At the draw, I intend to feel the middle finger of my gun hand touch the bottom of the trigger guard to start the grip. I intend to feel a solid grip in the holster. I intend to feel the 60/40 "clamp" and heel pressure of both hands.

Thinking is something that I can happily do for days when occupied by a particular fascination, but would rather not do at all while shooting.

[el pres]

Thinker, 2

The best runs come when just before the buzzer I think to grip the crap out of it with the weak hand ...

[Slabbie Shooter]

Feeler. Although my grip tends to 2..

I try to have the same feeling of isometric tension in my hands/arms/upper body.. if my grip is closer to 1, my trigger finger feels "bound up" a bit.

As an aside, I'm a southpaw. I'm also a professional guitar player. My left hand fingers have decades of training behind them to push right on the fingertip. So i did that with my trigger finger for a long time. didn't even notice it, but my shots were pushing to 3 o'clock. I finally started putting the trigger on the pad of my finger (which felt "wrong") and my shooting improved.

Now i have guitar calluses and gun calluses!

[Fergus]

I'm very much a thinker and #2 works pretty well. I've found that a strong support hand grip really helps me on the follow through. I've noticed that I may be pushing sideways a little with my trigger finger, so the very strong support hand grip maybe as a result of this [compensating]. I've ordered a new trigger insert to experiment.

So much to learn so little time!

Edited February 3, 2009 by Fergus

[bkeeler]

Method 1 feeler.

I never did get the 60/40 grip tried it but had to think about it. So I went to feeling equal pressure in both hands much better for me.

Found with equal pressure that the gun tracks more consistently.

The 60/40 was not consistent for me.

BK

[Duane Thomas]

I am a strong Feeler (88%) but I can't really give a definitive answer to this one because I've never quit playing with my grip: different hand positions, different amounts of pressure. Sometimes I think it would be great to forget all that and just shoot, watch the sights, and then changes to the technique will occur naturally over time. Having said that, I don't think all the time I've spent experimenting with different grips has been wasted. Because it all goes into the subconscious memory banks. How else can you eventually "let go and just shoot, and changes to the technique will occur naturally" if the memory banks don't have a large variety of experiences to draw upon while subconsciously modifying the technique over time?

[BBoyle]

I would say I am a feeler but neither option one or two. I do not even think about my grip anymore and do best on a stage when I just relax and go on autopilot with out thinking about anything.

[XRe]

INTP... and a feeler in terms of these sorts of things - definitely #1 in question at hand. I know the rough grip force distribution in my hands under normal shooting conditions - but I didn't arrive at it by thinking "72.5% left, 27.5% right" or anything like that. I got to it by watching the dot and shooting drills with a desire to see the dot stay in the A-zone as much as possible.

Further, my grip is not static - depending upon the shot at hand, I'll sense my left hand grip tightening or loosening as required.

When I've been away from the gun for a bit, I seem to tend back to not gripping firmly enough. If I go about correcting it by thinking about a grip percentage or thinking about "firmer left hand", I end up far off base. If I go about it by visualizing the feel of a firmer left hand grip, I get right back to the right grip.

ETA - speaking of "set", I've found something that sounds similar to what Brian describes. Before I shoot, I'll set my head slightly forward, and be certain that my spine is straight and shoulders back, with the whole upper carriage tilted slightly forward at the hips. That posture seems to result in the best shooting for me. I'd never thought of it in the term "the set", but that's as good a label for it as any...

Edited February 3, 2009 by XRe

[AlamoShooter]

#1

at times I may have to Think the grip to let go of the gun. Especially if I have to set it down.

[Jake Di Vita]

Feeler with method 1 for sure.

[Blueridge]

I am a feeling camp, but I don't fit in either category you have provided. I just grip the handgun to control the recoil. I don't mean that I hold it absolutely still, but I maintain a level of control that I am comfortable with.

The two options given seem to me too "thinking" oriented. I cannot ascribe how I hold the handgun to either one, and I don't "remember" how I hold the handgun. I do know when I don't feel like I am controlling the handgun well.

If I provide stability and control for the handgun, then I can focus on other things.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Blueridge

[Duane Thomas]

Well that's just too darn simple.

[pjb45]

I start out as a thinker. I do analysis of what I how I want to the gun to feel in my hands. Then I dry fire that feeling over and over again.

Recently, a master class shooter I sometimes train with, noticed two things. 1) I was taking the safety off once the gun was in my eye sight and 2) the weak hand was wraping too far around the trigger guard. 1) was causing me to dip the gun when I had the sights aligned. 2) was causing some of my shots to dip, I was not in good control of the recoil.

So I worked in dry fire to change both situtations. I wanted to dial in the feeling of how my gun was set in my hand. I am definitely more of a number 1 - the 70-30 does not seem to work well for me.

Although I am still somewhat inconsistent: I did have some outstanding stages in a match recently I had some great accuracy--95% of the points.

[benos]

I should have added this in my first post.

Let's leave whatever you do in a match regarding grip out of this thread. That might help keep the input more consistent.

What I was specifically wondering about is if there's a relationship between thinkers and feelers and how they learn and train their grip in practice.

For me, in a match, giving any of my attention away to my grip was usually detrimental. Not always, but usually.

be

[ebg3]

I'm closer to #1, I may actually use a little more strength in my strong hand. If I use too much weak hand pressure, I tend to pull the gun left. Definately a feeler.

[davecutts]

I tried the 60/40, 70/30 thing when I first started, but in the last two years when I get serious I can't say I've thought about my grip much. People ask and my standard response is I'm to stupid to figure out 60/40, just hold on to the pistol, and I prefer a neutral grip, so number one. If I find myself thinking about my hands at all it is because I put my attention into trigger control.

[Ron Ankeny]

Number one all the way.

[Jaxshooter]

Feeler #1

[HSMITH]

If I do a couple practice draws before a match or at home I want my weak hand to be cocked down at the wrist absolutely as far as it will go, people have commented on how far my left thumb is up and ahead while I shoot so evidently that works. With that wrist cocked I want to run it at 95% grip strength, everything I can get out of that hand without shaking. I want my right hand to be along for the ride with about 50% grip pressure, nowhere close to what I can put into it. These are just feelings, I know my right hand comes in a lot harder when actually shooting just from some of the video I have seen with little or no muzzle flip and I can't do that shooting with the grip I think I have when shooting.

I am a feeler, the only reason I will do a draw with those thoughts is to try to get a feeling of what I think I should have feels like. I think at least a portion of what I spend 30 seconds to a minute programming when I put the gun on transfers for at least part of the match. When the buzzer sounds just pull it and shoot. It could be better and it could be worse.

[rjkelso]

I'm a feeler. If the feel is right I don't even notice my grip.

Rick

[BritinUSA]

I Think, therefore 1 am.

[JasonC]

Thinker, #2