Check your grip

The number one mistake I see otherwise competent shooters make when out on the range is a faulty firing grip. I’m not talking about the people who wrap their thumb behind the beaver tail or use teacup hollywood weaver, the people I’m talking about today are the ones who know how to shoot.

I haven’t shot for the past week and when I picked up a gun to dry fire yesterday I realized that the most natural mistake for me to make was the same I had seen so many times at the range: my grip had become lax. Based on what I observe on a daily basis it makes sense to me that this is the probably the most perishable skill in shooting for a lot of people.

You should pay close attention to how you’re holding a gun before you even dry fire it, especially if it’s been a few weeks since you’ve picked up a firearm. Make sure your hand is high on the back strap but most importantly look for air. It seems very common to let a little pocket grow between the palm of your weak hand and the gun. You want as much contact as possible. If you take a look at the picture you can see that the weak hand not only meets the strong hand but is firmly planted on the gun. It may seem basic to some but it’s easy to lose track of, so if you’re having trouble out on the range be sure to double check your grip. Getting it right at the start will make your practice that much more helpful and that much less frustrating.

7 Comments

  1. I agree, the grip is the most overlooked of the basics of shooting, and many default to what they see on teeveee

  2. Funny. Just yesterday I was noticing that after I picked up a weapon and fired my first two shots, I would adjust my grip slightly before I followed up with my next two. Something about it was just a hair off, and I needed to get my grip just a little higher with my strong hand, and turned behind the recoil just a fraction to get the grip where it was “supposed” to be.

    I seemed to lose my precise grip during reloads too, just by a fraction and enough to be noticeable to me on firing, even if it was not noticeable in the results.

  3. Thank you, thank you. I know grip is important, that’s what everyone tells me, but as a new shooter, I’ve never had it explained in a way that I understood.

    It’s really nice to have it described and have such an excellent photo!

    This is exactly what I I needed.

  4. Do I see a sombody that has Garand Thumb in that pic? 😛

    Happened about two monthes ago to me, only finally starting to grow out…

  5. Not “weak hand” but “support side hand” .

    There is no weak side!

    I bet if you rotate your support side hand a little more and get that thumb pointing down range you will notice a great improvement in your muzzle rise control and faster follow up shots.

    Happy Shooting!

Comments are closed.