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Thread: Support thumb pressure

  1. #1

    Support thumb pressure

    I recently cut my left thumb while cooking, which I'm even worse at than shooting. Last session with my P320 I was "babying" this thumb, not touching the frame at all. It normally rests against the takedown lever. This time my shots broke down and left at any pace but very slow. Am I relying too much on lateral pressure from my support thumb to stabilize the gun? How much, if any, pressure is normal here?

  2. #2
    S.L.O.W. ASH556's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArgentFix View Post
    I recently cut my left thumb while cooking, which I'm even worse at than shooting. Last session with my P320 I was "babying" this thumb, not touching the frame at all. It normally rests against the takedown lever. This time my shots broke down and left at any pace but very slow. Am I relying too much on lateral pressure from my support thumb to stabilize the gun? How much, if any, pressure is normal here?
    Yes, you are, or have been. You can impart forces with your grip to mask trigger pull issues. Heck, some even teach this. Support hand clamp force should be fingertips to palm. The thumbs should have minimal if any at all involvement in the grip.
    Food Court Apprentice
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  3. #3
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    Out of curiosity is it "wrong" to have support thumb pressure on the frame?

    I shoot exclusively Glocks and have smallish hands; even with the "more trigger finger" technique I still have a leftward bias which is especially prominent at 15+ yards and at speed. I have been experimenting with support thumb pressure and it appears to be working well for me. Is there any downside to support thumb pressure against the frame?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yute View Post
    Out of curiosity is it "wrong" to have support thumb pressure on the frame?

    I shoot exclusively Glocks and have smallish hands; even with the "more trigger finger" technique I still have a leftward bias which is especially prominent at 15+ yards and at speed. I have been experimenting with support thumb pressure and it appears to be working well for me. Is there any downside to support thumb pressure against the frame?
    In your case, yes, it would probably be bad because it would probably mask some latent trigger control issues you have. Work out your trigger control issues and then revisit the prospect of using your support hand thumb.

    A lot of people don’t exert pressure with their support hand thumb. Some do. Those that do, do it to help manage recoil, not prevent themselves from shooting left or right as the case may be.

    Shooting left or low-left is commonly indicative of sympathetic movement or pre-ignition push/flinch. It’s obviously happening because the target tells you such. Figure out which it is and correct it. If it’s sympathetic movement, HONEST dryfire will reveal it and help fix it. If it’s pre-ignition push/flinch, more live fire and “normalizing” the explosion happening in your hands will fix it.


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  5. #5
    Member EMC's Avatar
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    Kyle Defoor thinks it's ok to rest the "other strong" thumb on the frame:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcVHykd3zTU

    Go to about 1:40 mark where he discusses this.
    Last edited by EMC; 05-06-2019 at 08:27 AM.

  6. #6
    Site Supporter JohnO's Avatar
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    It is not a question of is it OK or is it masking something you are doing wrong. At this point in time you have altered what you normally do. You need to adapt and overcome. If that means cleaning up your trigger press so be it.

    I would recommend taking this time and dedicate it to SHO. When you go back to Freestyle the benefits will be apparent. Plenty of SHO dry fire then verify periodically with live rounds. During the dry fire you need to be hyper-critical of every nuance of your trigger press, hard focus on your sights before, during & after the trigger break.

  7. #7
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    With this target



    If I aim at the X I consistently hit between the 7 and the 8 on the left. No up or down just Left. If I aim at the 8 on the Right I consistently hit the bullseye. Maybe not exactly the X but in the ring. I can literally reproduce it all day long so I don't think I'm jerking the trigger on flinching.
    It doesn't matter which of my Glocks (19/26) I'm shooting the results are the same.

    This target



    Was shot with my 4006. As you can see even if its not a great group there's no Left or Right deviation
    It seems I only pull to the left with the Glocks.

    I said all that to say that when I consciously put pressure on the slide with my support thumb the problem goes away. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong to save my life.

    Any input would be greatly appreciated
    Last edited by Cypher; 05-06-2019 at 09:26 AM.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by ASH556 View Post
    Yes, you are, or have been. You can impart forces with your grip to mask trigger pull issues. Heck, some even teach this. Support hand clamp force should be fingertips to palm. The thumbs should have minimal if any at all involvement in the grip.
    With 781 views, here is the best (worst) example of this that I have ever seen:

    (Starting at 07:25)


  9. #9
    In my case, I was doing what @ASH556 and @spinmove_ describe: applyling an up-and-out force to the frame with my support thumb to counteract a down-and-in force from my trigger pull. This explains why I can shoot small holes in slow fire all day, but with any speed my shots err low-left. Even if I am not flinching / compensating for recoil, my support thumb can't supply consistent pressure at speed to counteract my bad trigger pull.

    I'm experimenting with thumbs not touching the frame and a trigger pull that FEELS "up and out", which in reality is probably closer to a straight-back pull. It works just as well slow, but I continue to work on my consistency at speed.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Wendell View Post
    With 781 views, here is the best (worst) example of this that I have ever seen:

    (Starting at 07:25)

    I fail to see what this has to do with support pressure on the frame...

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