Get a Grip.

Welcome to shooting 101. We're going to talk about the basics of handgunning and there's a few points to cover: stance, grip, sight picture, and trigger control. Today's post is about proper grip. Like golf, bowling and a host of other sports, grip is important.  There's no substitute for hands-on experience, so I won't bore you with expansive descriptions of other's methods. Instead we'll look at some pictures and video and use these as a basis for practice.

When the handgun was invented, people were riding horses. As people found themselves controlling the horse with one hand, they found themselves shooting with the other.  Times have changed, and that means using both hands whenever possible.  Pistolcraft has advanced a good deal since we traded cars for horses, and the people that shoot for a living have a few things to show us.

Jessie Abbate shooting for Glock, now she's joined team S&W.

Julie G. Program Manager at S&W, wife, mother, veteran, World Champion shooter

Take a quick look at Jessie and Julie.  (Julie has some tips for you here.) Both right-handed, they grip the pistol high in the dominant hand and fully cradle the gun with the support hand.  Arms are outstretched, but the elbows aren't locked.  They both press the trigger with the pad of the finger and not the first knuckle.  The support hand is rolled forward 45° with the thumb pointing at downrange.  I'm a recent convert to the rolled support hand, and I must say it's made a big difference.  It's very stable, and repeatable.  That kind of consistency leads to better accuracy.  Both the ladies shoot semi-auto pistols, so what about revolvers?

You can't talk about revolvers and people that shoot them properly (and fast) without mention of Jerry Miculek.  He is the unchallenged champion of revolver competition world-wide. Miculek currently holds five world records in exhibition revolver speed shooting.   Jerry has won every wheelgun competition you can win and he does it in the most humble way.  He practices the basics.  He also has designed a special pair of wood grips for his revolver that allow a more natural grip.  

In addition to how you place you hands, how firmly you hold the pistol is important as well.  Most people say you should squeeze as if you were giving a firm handshake, and I agree.  Any firmer and you'll begin to shake, ruining your sight picture.  Any weaker and you don't have control of the gun.  


All this is good, and getting some proper training is even better.  From a training standpoint, the guys at Magpul Dynamics are out in front.  They offer some of the best (or at least best marketed) hands-on training available, and also offer DVD modules to be used in conjunction with your own range time.  Travis Haley is the CEO of Magpul, and a decorated Marine.  In this excerpt from their handgun training DVD, he discusses grip from a basic standpoint.

Now it's time to get to the range and practice.  We'll continue with more basics next time, and I'll see if I can shoot some of my own video to help enhance the the lesson.  Until then, be safe and have some fun at your local range.  That's just it; fun.  While we may practice to prevail in an unsavory encounter, most of the shooting we do is for fun.  It's ok for shooting to be fun, and going forward we'll explore some ways to make range time more fun.  I hope you'll give it a shot!