Grip of your gun

A proper grip enables you to:

- Acquire the target quickly
- Stabilize your sight picture
- Maintain constant pressure on the trigger
- Control recoil and reacquire your target quickly

After making sure your gun is unloaded try the following at home before heading out to the range.

To acquire the proper grip, first pick up the gun with your strong hand making sure the muzzle of the gun is pointed in a safe direction and your trigger finger is along the side of the frame above and away from the trigger guard.

When using a semi-auto gun, the “V” formed by the thumb and index finger of the shooting hand should be as high as possible on the back strap. There should be no space between the top of the back strap and the web of the hand (the “V”). The thumb should be pointing toward the target along the other side of the frame.

Wrap the three lower fingers around the front of the grip with the top finger touching the trigger guard.

The support hand heel (non-shooting hand) should be nestled in the gap created by the shooting hand. The fingers and knuckles should wraparound on top of the shooting hand with the index finger touching the bottom of the trigger guard. Do not hook your index finger around the front of the trigger guard. The support thumb should be below the other thumb. Both thumbs should be pointing toward the target. NO TEA CUP

If your support thumb is on the back of the slide or your hand is too high on the grip when the slide cycles to the rear it can take a good chunk of skin with it, and from experience I can tell you it hurts!!

You will want to hold the pistol firmly, but without exerting so much pressure the handshakes or the muzzle drops. A wimpy grip (too loose grip) can cause you to almost drop the gun, can cause failure for the cartridge to feed or eject, or other malfunctions. You will find a death grip is exhausting, your knuckles turn white and it will do nothing to reduce the recoil. In the beginning a proper grip may feel uncomfortable and unnatural, but with practice it becomes automatic.

Wrists should be close together. There should be a straight alignment with the gun and your shooting hand wrist. If you need to cant the gun to the right or the left the gun may be either too small or too large for your hands. If the gun fits your hand properly and you have the proper grip, it will provide you with more control and stability. Your shots will be more consistent and it will help absorb the recoil.

The process is almost the same for the revolver.

Need some help? Join us on our pistol practice sessions and I would be happy to help.

Kim Campagna

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