How do you apply your support hand during the draw?

[ER_STL]

How are you applying your support hand to the gun during your drawstroke? Do you apply your fingers first and then wrap the palm side around the gun or do you apply the thumb-meat first and then wrap around the fingers? Or, do you do both using Matt Burkett's pinch-and-roll?

For the most part I've been doing something close to the pinch-and-roll because my goal was to keep the support hand fingers very tight and close over the strong hand fingers. Last night though I was playing around with bringing the hands together in front of the chest (like most probably do at the "clap" position) and letting the support hand come onto the gun just under the flagged thumb of the strong hand. Once the strong hand thumb and support hand thumb were locked together, the support hand fingers would wrap around the front of the gun and strong hand fingers. This feels really weird and backwards from what I've been doing but it actually seems to keep my support hand tighter to my strong hand since I'm wrapping around the gun rather than trying to pinch it with my support hand (which, when rushed, seems like I grab a lot of air and have some gap between the support and strong hands). I still don't feel like I can really clamp down hard with the support hand though since (as described in my other grip thread) I'm grabbing a wedge instead of a rectangular surface but if the grip proves itself in live-fire I'll try not to worry about it.

It's tough to explain in words but I was wondering how everyone else is making the grip.

[38supPat]

I get my index finger in contact with the trigger guard, then fingers and hand roll around into contact.

[Jake Di Vita]

The best explanation of what I do is the pinch and roll.

To me the more important aspect of that is getting your support hand on the gun as soon as possible and finding a way to get a consistent grip every time.

[Flexmoney]

The best explanation of what I do is the pinch and roll.

+3

To me the more important aspect of that is getting your support hand on the gun as soon as possible and finding a way to get a consistent grip every time.

+2 I preach to take the support hand past centerline, with the idea of getting it on the gun earlier.

A lot can be learned from going backwards in slo-mo.

Get into your stance with the gun out and on target...really into it, like the gun is hot and is going to push you around in recoil. Then go in reverse, back to the holster. Do so at half-speed a few times, then slow it down a bit...then a bit slower still.

Doing so, you ought to be able to break the draw-stroke down into a number of steps...and then notice efficiencies (or lack of) in each of the steps.

That is my method, break something down and then build it back up.

Or, you can do like Steve Anderson and just work the repetitions a bunch, with a crystal clear goal of getting an Alpha in a short period of time...and make the body get there however it gets there.

Or, be like Jake and do both.

[Bongo Boy]

In the 3 photos above, it's useful to pick out a spot in the background just behind shooter's head. Note the base of the cattail just above the timer in the first photo, and the light round object just in front of the cattail (on the berm in the back). Notice the relationship between this spot and the back of the shooter's head as the draw progresses...there's not much change at all. I've shown this below...

I bought a couple of Matt Burkett videos and he does quite a bit of holster draw demos, but the one single thing he said really stuck with me: move both hands simultaneously (as they naturally want to do anyway) and, because the mass of each arm is somewhat balanced, the head doesn't move during the draw at all. This single observation has proven to be a huge help to me in practice, as has his little trick of drawing a permanent marker line across the strong and weak thumbs while holding the gun properly. After each draw you can visually check to see what you've done...if the lines on the two thumbs are lined-up or out of whack.

Also, I think Burkett makes a pretty good case for rotating the weak hand forward a good bit, too. The best way for me to describe this without a photo would be to visualize that, when in shooting position, you coould lay the edge of a yardstick along the topmost of the forearm of the weak side arm, and it would pass all the way forward over the top of the thumb in one single straight line, or nearly so. No sharp upturn where the wrist turns into the aft section of the thumb.

I have been blown away at how little dryfire practice it takes to get fairly good at coming out of the holster and getting good sights in a single, smooth effort. I personally try not to mix this practice up with trigger control practice right now because it's just too much for my tiny brain.

Edited August 1, 2009 by Bongo Boy

[boz1911]

Some really good tips here. I'm going to try the breakdown this morning (per Flex) and get Singlestack to do some good video this weekend to check head movement. We're shooting four classifiers (stand and shoot) so it will be a good opportunity for "draw" videos.

[benos]

You can train yourself to draw with little to zero head movement by dry drawing in front of a mirror. Just line up the top of your head in the mirror with something that's behind you. And keep an eye on the relationship between the spot/thing in the mirror and the top of your head as you draw.

be