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Thread: Grip pressure for a new shooter

  1. #1

    Grip pressure for a new shooter

    When teaching a first time or very new shooter when do you tell them to grip the gun extremely tight. There are lots of discussions about grip pressure on here and it seems most GM's crush the gun. I find that it helps me and helps most people who have some experience shooting, but with brand new people I'm not sure if that is the time to concentrate on crushing the gun. I'm also not sure that isn't not the rights time.

  2. #2
    Member JHC's Avatar
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    I've coached a couple that manifested a weak grip. How to make it real?

    I said "shake my hand".

    When they did I gave them a crush grip handshake. Not turn a bricket into a diamond but damn strong. They got the message. All improved.
    “Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais

  3. #3
    The Nostomaniac 03RN's Avatar
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    I always tell new shooters to grip as hard as they can without inducing shaking.

  4. #4
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    I really don’t like the term crush. I do demonstrate with a very firm hand shake. When teaching new folks, trigger control is always my primary focus, because that’s the hardest to get right. That’s not to say sight alignment/picture, grip, stance, etc isn’t important. IMO, a building block approach works best, each technique builds off the other.

    Sometimes terms don’t translate well, which is why I personally don’t like the crush word. It’s easy to tweak grip pressure and experiment with adding more, but careful not to mask or introduce trigger control issues.

  5. #5
    All good answers. I see it in phases — initially grip hard enough they don’t drop the gun or induce malfunctions, then learn trigger control, then learn to grip harder so they can go faster.

    Many new shooters think they should grip harder with their firing hand and under appreciate how much comes from the support hand, and that should be explained right off.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  6. #6
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
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    Jan 2014

    Grip pressure for a new shooter

    Ok so I’m a new shooter and have always wondered about support hand grip.

    I’m a lefty, and grip hard enough to where I normally take off my wedding ring at the range, else it hurts. So I have to take it easy wrapping my support hand around.

    Am I doing it wrong?

    I feel this mostly when shooting ‘The Test’. I’d like to break a score of 90, and am thinking this will come with more trigger Control, managing reset during recoil and prepping the trigger appropriately for the next shot, but I thought I’d ask this side question.
    Last edited by RJ; 02-10-2018 at 09:06 AM.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rich_Jenkins View Post
    Ok so I’m a new shooter and have always wondered about support hand grip.

    I’m a lefty, and grip hard enough to where I normally take off my wedding ring at the range, else it hurts. So I have to take it easy wrapping my support hand around.

    Am I doing it wrong?
    .
    Is your grip interfering with your press? Over gripping with the strong hand certainly can.

    This is going to sound controversial, but sometimes a looser grip isn’t a bad thing. Not everyone shoots best with a super hard support hand crush. Some people do better with a more equal grip.

    Plastic guns tend to be more sensitive to grip than metal guns and finding what works best for you is the path to walk. Grip it firmly but you might want to try backing off a bit, or gripping harder. Pay attention to what your front sight is doing while exploring grip. Does it return to the notch or do you have to drive it there? I don’t personally care how it lifts, I just want it to come back to the same place.

    For ME, and when shooting GLOCKs, I am more consistent with very firm front to back pressure and less heavy side pressure. My hands, my guns, YMMV.

    Trying to muscle the gun may not always be the best thing for a beginner to focus on.

  8. #8
    Deadeye Dick Clusterfrack's Avatar
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    Grip pressure for a new shooter

    I agree with LSP552, and would go even further. “Trying” to muscle the gun is probably not a good idea, except when you’re practicing to build a stronger grip. Goal: grip hard without trying to grip hard. Takes practice.
    Last edited by Clusterfrack; 02-10-2018 at 10:05 AM.
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clusterfrack View Post
    “Trying” to muscle the gun is probably not a good idea, except when you’re practicing to build a stronger grip. Goal: grip hard without trying to grip hard. Takes practice.
    ^ much win here! Like pressing the trigger without thinking about pressing the trigger....

  10. #10
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
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    Jan 2014

    Grip pressure for a new shooter

    Thanks guys. I’ve been experimenting with a push pull in Dry Practice also and will evaluate it next Range session.
    @LSP552 Ken, yep my sights return to target and I use that to break the next shot (in an ideal world; shooting The Test induces a lot of pressure to put everything into place for repetitive, careful presses.). I’m getting better, my first target strings a couple years ago looked like I was trying to pick out a diagonal line low and right. Now my POI while not all in the black more or less surrounds the target.

    On a gun related note, I’ve noticed I seem to shoot better with the more squared off profile of the G19.5, as opposed to the Marilyn Monroe curves of my VP9. I think the square grip is easier for me to stabilize for my size M hands. Would not have thought of that as a plus for the Glock, but it seems so.
    Last edited by RJ; 02-10-2018 at 10:39 AM.

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