Grip pressure for a new shooter

[JAD]

The advantage of a strong grip for a new shooter has less to do with recoil control and more to trigger movement isolation. A strong grip is a crutch for a bad trigger press. I like crutches.

[Clusterfrack]

Rich—I agree about the square Glock grip. Only one way to grip it right. I find the “ergonomic” guns like M&P to have an ambiguous grip.

Also, just personally, push-pull really doesn’t work for me. Like really ducking doesn’t work at all and seems like a terrible way to hold a gun. Just my take, and I know some good shooters use it.

[RJ]

Rich—I agree about the square Glock grip. Only one way to grip it right. I find the “ergonomic” guns like M&P to have an ambiguous grip.

Also, just personally, push-pull really doesn’t work for me. Like really ducking doesn’t work at all and seems like a terrible way to hold a gun. Just my take, and I know some good shooters use it.

Thanks. My USMC son (Gunny) and I were discussing marksmanship last time I was up in Jacksonville NC. He shoots pretty well. He suggested it after watching the video of me at the Columbia Cascade Match in Dundee OR. So I’m trying it out in Dry Practice.

Interesting stuff. [emoji4]

[45dotACP]

I tend to grip my Glock sorta "firmly". I'll grip a 1911 a little harder because it is a heavier recoiling gun and takes a little more focus for recoil management, and trigger freeze isn't such an issue with a short light breaking trigger, but for my Glocks I can't grip my hardest or I'll be stuck at 0.25 splits while running the gun as fast as possible.

I actually lighten up when shooting fast and just try to track the sights a little harder. If I am seeing a consistent sight video, I can keep splits around .20 and anything much faster is higher hanging fruit than say transition speed.

A shot at 25 or farther makes me tighten up my grip a little.

I'd say try to read your sights. Too hard or too loose a grip for me has always manifested as the sights being more difficult to settle.

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[Robinson]

Even though I shoot a 9mm 1911 I grip the gun pretty tight. I find that if I don't, I can't get good enough results to even worry about trigger press and finer aspects of shooting. So for me anyway a tight grip is fundamental to shooting.

[spinmove_]

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.

Personally I perceive myself shooting better and faster when I grip harder with my support hand and loosen up a bit with my primary hand. But that’s how I “perceive” it. I may very well be imparting roughly the same ratio of pressure as you. In the past I’ve had a tendency to really over grip with my primary hand and get super lax with my support hand, so there’s that...

Your support hand allows you to go fast. Your primary hand controls your trigger and therefore your accuracy. I don’t know about you, but when I relax just a bit I find I’m able to just “do” something easier and better. That goes for anything, not just pressing a trigger.


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[JAD]

I use Cooper’s “grouse” grip with my strong hand and grip hard enough with my weak hand to tear up the skin on my knuckles.

[03RN]

Another way I use to diagnose grip issues is to see where the shooter is hitting.

Right handed shooter shooting left? More trigger finger and more support grip. I've watched groups walk around targets untill we dial in the shooters perfect grip and trigger finger placement.

[txdpd]

GM's are chasing fractions of second and are well beyond the point of diminishing returns, just because they do something doesn't mean it's necessary for the little people. There is no good reason to not take advantage of their hard work and experience but keep things in perspective.

How tightly or firmly a gun is gripped needs to be balanced with consistency. Telling a shooter to have a firmer or stronger grip when they do not have the endurance to maintain that level of grip through out a string of fire or shooting session, is counter productive to progress. There are ways to improve and work with a weak but consistent grip.

[gomerpyle]

Definitely share this opinion. I find I am more accurate with my VP9 - but find the sights on a G17gen5 returning more quickly. I suspect it is because of the Glock's square grip.

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.