The Grip is often overlooked when it comes to the presentation and shooting of the pistol. A great many people just grab and pick up the pistol, then apply the other hand and begin to shoot, then wonder often why the impacts are not getting better. I often state in my basic pistol classes, that the pistol is the hardest firearm to shoot well. There is a great many reason's for this and one of them is that unlike others, you are only connected to the pistol with your hands with no other support, (Hovering out in front of the body). So, the better we can make our grip on the pistol the more it will help with consistency, as well as, manage recoil for a follow up shot.
I will address shooting a semi-automatic in my view, because this is the most common pistol used today, (I will follow this up with picture's, once I get a new camera). Note, that understanding this is critical, especially for a new shooter, befor they spend there hard earned money on a pistol that is not correct for them. Just because it is easy to conceal does not mean it can be shot well. As, always the firearm rules will apply. First, with an uloaded firearm (only you know that it is unloaded after you check), point in safe direction, then feel your grip with the strong hand. Does it fit in the palm of your hand? Does your hand sit high against the "tang" of the pistol? Is there room for your support hand?
Now lift the pistol up with a one hand grip, and obtain good sight alignment, now look down at how the pistol sit's in your hand, is it in the "V" or off to one side? The rule of thumb is, that it should line up with the "V", for good support, the real trick is, how does it line up with the Ulna and Radius of the arm? In essence you want your wrist locked, and the bones supporting the pistol. Then you have good structure, which in turn will give your consitency. Now, this is the "perfect" way, however we are all built differently, with different hands and build, but we will disuss this in a second. I don't want you to change anything, I want you to feel how it fits in your hand now. Next, only after you of course ensure that it is unloaded. I want you to put your trigger finger on the trigger, and apply slight take up (tension), don't shoot it, just put tension on the trigger. As, you apply pressure, is there any added pressue on your front strap fingers? Look at your trigger finger on how it address's the frame of the pistol. Does it make contact with it? Do you really have to reach for the trigger? Do you have to "fight" to draw your finger into the trigger for the sweet spot? Does your overall strong hand stay in contact with the pistol front/back strap? Next, as long as can be done safely, dry fire the pistol. Nice and slow, press the trigger to the rear till it breaks, then hold it. How does it feel, is your finger "cramped to make it go off? Look at all the same, remember we want the shot to break with out changing anything and this is where it all begins, the grip. All the above is sizing, can you make any pistol shoot well, sure. But, with the correct pistol you will shoot great and appear easily, why struggle?
One of the biggest issue's I see people have, is when they grip the pistol, they "torque" on left grip panel, with the tips of there fingers (they shoot low/left). We want the pressure of our strong hand to press the front strap of the pistol back into the back strap into the palm of the hand, STRAIGHT back. You want the hand high, create a bubble of skin under the "tang". Now, take your thumb and point it up. This will open the void that needs filled. Take your support hand, where the ball of your thumb meets hand and lay that high on the grip, then point the thumb toward the target, along the slide. This will cause the support hand to cant foward, and lock the support wrist. Now the support hand fingers should wrap around the strong hand fingers, and grip more of a side to side. Apply tight grip, just as you would if swinging a hammer. I find that if you concentrate on applying more "pinky" pressure it helps tighten the grip. I do not advocate placing the support hand index finger on the trigger guard, the reason why, is because unless your get trained properly, you will be steering the pistol off target, then you are compensating for a problem that shouldn't be there anyway.
The hands can only do so much, so let us bring in some help. I find that if you press the pistol out all the way, you have more of a tendancy to "rock" in your grip. But, if your just slightly break it back toward your chest, your grip will tighten (try it with a piece of paper and have someone pull it out). This is called a chest press, and brings in the pectoral muscles and the deltoid muscles. Which gives us even more control, especially with recoil management. next time on the range, Shoot three rounds like normal. Then apply the chest press principles for 3 shot's. You will find that you will have more control over the pistol and shoot a tighter group.
The next thing to do to help with the grip, is improve your stance. What many people do not realize is that if you really want to focus on something, human being bend over a little, (watch people and you will see it is true). This increase's our focus. So, if we bend into the shot, get our chest just ahead of our belly button (push butt out), we are getting more of our body behind the pistol (mass weight), and we increase our focus which means better front sight control. This will assist you in managing recoil, as well as, increase balance, which in turn tightens your grip on the pistol.
Stay alert, articulate well, train often.
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