Trigger reach and acceptable grip

[Sig_Fiend]

With your gun hand, are you squeezing from the middle of your fingers (middle phalanx) on the front strap? Or are you squeezing more from your fingertips (distal phalanx) on the side of the grip?

Fingertips squeezing the side of the grip could cause issues, and I'd say is fairly common.

I liken it to grip method with grip trainers. You don't close them like most think you do. The proper method for those is more of a "C" shape with the hands, forcing the thumb forward while bringing the middle digits of your fingers backwards, like this:

https://youtu.be/jeiJv-zhCjM?t=145

[YVK]

I found that whenever I shot right with DA trigger, it was because trigger reach felt too long. I then tried to compensate by rotating the hand around grip towards the trigger to get a better leverage.

The unintended consequences were hooking up trigger with my trigger finger (right handed) and pulling the DA shot to the right. My usual solution is to keep the grip more neutral along the axis of a gun and learn to pull trigger with lesser purchase.

[Cool Breeze]

I am almost certain that grip centered in the forearm was some some sort of old school way of doing things that has no bearing on contemporary shooting. Additionally, with modern stances, there is no way this is possible with your gun held closer to center body squared off to the target.

[Clusterfrack]

@tlong17,

If you can't reach the trigger, that's a problem. I agree that your trigger should break when your 2nd finger joint is at 90 deg. However, where you press the trigger on your finger doesn't matter very much. I press in the middle of the pad on G19 and P07 size guns, but in the 1st joint on my LCR, LCP, and G43.

What does matter a lot is your grip, and I think that's more important. Some people gravitate toward small gripped guns like 1911s because they can wrap their hand around it fully. However, a modern thumbs forward grip works best with a larger grip. See my post, and look at how much of the left-side grip is exposed. My firing hand fingers don't wrap very far around the grip, which promotes fore-aft gripping with that hand.

If you're trying to adjust your grip to align with your arm bones, this is probably the problem. You don't have to do that, and I certainly don't.
...
EDIT--ONE MORE THING: If you have a really tight, high grip where your web is pressed very hard against the underside of the beavertail, your hands are effectively larger. I've seen people gain significant finger length by doing this. And the bonus is that you have a much better grip.

[tlong17]

I am almost certain that grip centered in the forearm was some some sort of old school way of doing things that has no bearing on contemporary shooting. Additionally, with modern stances, there is no way this is possible with your gun held closer to center body squared off to the target.

I’ve honestly never even looked at or diagnosed this until I started trying to learn why my misses were high in DA.

I put my G19 back in my hand to see if I grip it any differently on the draw and I hold it the exact same way as the px4, even though it has a shorter trigger reach. My 365 is deeper but it’s also much slimmer.

[tlong17]

I found that whenever I shot right with DA trigger, it was because trigger reach felt too long. I then tried to compensate by rotating the hand around grip towards the trigger to get a better leverage.

The unintended consequences were hooking up trigger with my trigger finger (right handed) and pulling the DA shot to the right. My usual solution is to keep the grip more neutral along the axis of a gun and learn to pull trigger with lesser purchase.

I tried exactly this in your last paragraph and had much better results. It doesn’t “feel” like I have enough finger on the trigger for DA but the performance is better than when it put more finger on to feel better. Another case of feelings lie I guess.

[tlong17]

With your gun hand, are you squeezing from the middle of your fingers (middle phalanx) on the front strap? Or are you squeezing more from your fingertips (distal phalanx) on the side of the grip?

Fingertips squeezing the side of the grip could cause issues, and I'd say is fairly common.

I liken it to grip method with grip trainers. You don't close them like most think you do. The proper method for those is more of a "C" shape with the hands, forcing the thumb forward while bringing the middle digits of your fingers backwards, like this:

https://youtu.be/jeiJv-zhCjM?t=145

I think I’m using mostly middle of fingers but I’ll have to pay more attention in dry fire to see. Haven’t considered that. My fingertips look pretty white in those pictures!

[JTPHD]

I believe the necessity of having the bore in alignment with the forearm is more important with one-handed shooting and is also a remnant of the Weaver stance. Langdon just released a video about one-handed shooting and demonstrates around the 5 minute mark that the gun won’t be in alignment with your forearm in a modern isosceles stance.
https://youtu.be/MFOSsFDTEKU

[awp_101]

I am almost certain that grip centered in the forearm was some some sort of old school way of doing things that has no bearing on contemporary shooting. Additionally, with modern stances, there is no way this is possible with your gun held closer to center body squared off to the target.

I believe the necessity of having the bore in alignment with the forearm is more important with one-handed shooting

The first time I remember seeing the “align the barrel with your forearm” technique was a WWII 1911 training film and all shooting was done one handed.

I agree it’s difficult to do in a modern stance.

[tlong17]

I believe the necessity of having the bore in alignment with the forearm is more important with one-handed shooting and is also a remnant of the Weaver stance. Langdon just released a video about one-handed shooting and demonstrates around the 5 minute mark that the gun won’t be in alignment with your forearm in a modern isosceles stance.
https://youtu.be/MFOSsFDTEKU

I just watched that last night and thought the same thing!! This has made me feel better about pushing ahead.