In this clip, I look at Gripping the pistol. I show several common grips to illustrate what we get as far as recoil mitigation.
Evolution of Grip
Our hands are our only physical interface with the pistol. The greater contact we can maintain with the pistol, the better off we are. Here are some pictures of commonly taught grips.
As part of Jeff Cooper’s Modern Technique of the Pistol, the gun hand thumb rode on the safety and the off hand thumb rode on top of the gun hand thumb.
By keeping the gun hand thumb on top of the safety, the likelihood accidental actuation is reduced.
Curled thumbs is a commonly taught grip and it is fairly universal. It doesn’t lock the safety in position and, like the API grip, it doesn’t fully surround the butt of the pistol.
This is a so-called ‘flagged thumbs’ grip as taught by such notables as Louis Awerbuck, John Farnam and Tom Givens.
Generally, guys teaching this interface focus on the off-hand applying pressure to the front strap of the pistol. Also note that in all three of the pics posted so far, the offhand wrist is, more or less, in the same position as the gun hand wrist.
Here’s a pic of the ‘thumbs forward’ grip most often associated with Mod Iso. I actually learned this grip coupled with a Weaver body position. You start to have 360-degree contact around the butt of the gun. In competition, you’ll often find guys running this grip with little to no contact between the thumbs and the side of the gun, attempting to maintain as relaxed, or neutral, a grip as possible.
In this pic, the off side wrist is cammed fully forward and the thumb is even further forward than previously. This is my normal interface with the pistol.
I have sacrificed some abuttment of recoil [gained by having the base of the off hand make contact with the base of the gun hand] but have gained stability by increasing contact with the left side of the gun.
Sort of a tangential discussion to one of Grip is Stance. There used to be endless debate about stance. You don't hear near as much about it as you used to, which I think is a great thing but nowadays there can be such an 'anti-stance' impulse that some things get overlooked.
Anyway, here's [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZOO0JF1gVQ]my take on stance[/ame].
Evolution of Grip
Our hands are our only physical interface with the pistol. The greater contact we can maintain with the pistol, the better off we are. Here are some pictures of commonly taught grips.
As part of Jeff Cooper’s Modern Technique of the Pistol, the gun hand thumb rode on the safety and the off hand thumb rode on top of the gun hand thumb.
By keeping the gun hand thumb on top of the safety, the likelihood accidental actuation is reduced.
Curled thumbs is a commonly taught grip and it is fairly universal. It doesn’t lock the safety in position and, like the API grip, it doesn’t fully surround the butt of the pistol.
This is a so-called ‘flagged thumbs’ grip as taught by such notables as Louis Awerbuck, John Farnam and Tom Givens.
Generally, guys teaching this interface focus on the off-hand applying pressure to the front strap of the pistol. Also note that in all three of the pics posted so far, the offhand wrist is, more or less, in the same position as the gun hand wrist.
Here’s a pic of the ‘thumbs forward’ grip most often associated with Mod Iso. I actually learned this grip coupled with a Weaver body position. You start to have 360-degree contact around the butt of the gun. In competition, you’ll often find guys running this grip with little to no contact between the thumbs and the side of the gun, attempting to maintain as relaxed, or neutral, a grip as possible.
In this pic, the off side wrist is cammed fully forward and the thumb is even further forward than previously. This is my normal interface with the pistol.
I have sacrificed some abuttment of recoil [gained by having the base of the off hand make contact with the base of the gun hand] but have gained stability by increasing contact with the left side of the gun.
Sort of a tangential discussion to one of Grip is Stance. There used to be endless debate about stance. You don't hear near as much about it as you used to, which I think is a great thing but nowadays there can be such an 'anti-stance' impulse that some things get overlooked.
Anyway, here's [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZOO0JF1gVQ]my take on stance[/ame].
It's called a hand gun, sonny, not a hand
