- Location
- North of Toronto and South Carolina
I'm the guy who was complaining about my Elite II: inconsistent.
Another guy fired it: he was consistent.
Flinch or grip?
Remember the thread last week?
Anyway I retired the grip some instructor taught me.
I worked on fixing my own grip and stance. I worked on left-hand placement and thumbs. And left-hand pressure.
About two hundred rounds later, I had my new grip. Accurate. No flinch. Gun recoils more linearly-so reset is faster.
Delightful.
I shoot the occasional flyer, but I'm getting lots of holes in black.
Moral of the story. It's probably not the gun. It's probably you. And, a change in grip style makes a huge difference.
I think that since hands, fingers, wrists, arm length, etc. are different for everyone, there is no one perfect grip.
Here's the advice that worked for me. It's from the Glock FAQ site:
Grip & Stance - Dale Rhea
Shooting fast and accurately is a learned skill. You can learn it. You can go as far in this sport as you let yourself. The only barriers to your progress will be mental ones you construct yourself. If you say, "I can’t do that" or, "I will never be that fast," that will be true. However, all you need to do in order to be successful in this sport is to practice and to have a positive attitude.
If you are determined to improve, practice some part of your pistol craft every day. While practicing, make every shot count for something. Work on either your accuracy or your speed during each practice session.
Don’t over-practice. You may have heard about competitors who expend thousands of rounds in practice, but for a beginner, fifty rounds per session may be more than enough. If you get tired or lose focus, quit. Don’t just rattle off shots down-range because you have the ammunition. Practice ammo is not free: you want something more than spent brass to show for your investment. Save that ammo for tomorrow.
Grip, stance and balance are the foundation of success in shooting sports. If you are using one of those shooting-school stances with a fancy name, a stance that looks like it came from Mechanics Illustrated, forget it. I’ll show you how to build a personal stance and you can call it anything you like.
Grip
Start in a safe place with an empty pistol and a target.
Put the pistol in your strong hand, with your trigger finger pointing straight down-range.
Wrap your middle finger up tight under the trigger guard allowing no gap between your finger and the trigger guard, or between your fingers.
Place the heel of your weak hand as far back as possible on the pistol grip, laying it against the heel of your strong hand. Wrap your fingers over your strong hand fingers, with your index finger pressed tightly against the bottom of the trigger guard with no gaps between the fingers.
Place your weak hand thumb against the pistol just below and parallel to the slide. Place your strong hand thumb on top of your weak hand thumb.
If you are using an antique 1911-style pistol (sic) , place your strong-hand thumb on top of the thumb safety.
If you place your thumbs too high on the pistol, they may interfere with the action of the slide and cause the pistol to malfunction.
If you place them too low, they may interfere with your trigger finger when you are pulling the trigger.
With your strong hand, you should have a firm, but not tight, grip.
Your trigger finger should be somewhat relaxed.
Seventy percent of the total grip should be applied with the weak hand.
Rotate your wrists slightly down and forward, gripping the pistol as if to keep it from flipping up during recoil.
The Stance
In GSSF matches there is no movement so there is no excuse for not having a perfect stance.
Stand squarely facing the target with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Move your strong side foot 6 to 8 inches to the side and then 6 to 8 inches to the rear.
This should feel almost too wide, but it will give you a good base for resisting recoil and moving the pistol quickly from target to target.
Keep your arms slightly bent and almost relaxed, they will act as shock absorbers for your pistol, and allow you to recover from recoil very fast.
Apply pressure to the pistol from each side as if you’re trying to compress it.
Do not apply pressure from the front and back, as called for by the Weaver stance, this pushing and pulling with your hands interferes with your ability to control the trigger & restricts the side-to-side movement necessary to quickly acquire subsequent targets.
Now bend forward slightly at the waist, placing your shoulders a little in front of your abdomen and putting your weight on the balls of your feet.
This should be a very comfortable, natural stance. The pistol should come up and point at the target without any correction. You may have to make small adjustments in your grip and stance until the sights align naturally and you feel balanced.
If you have the grip and stance right, the pistol will come right back to the target after recoiling.
Another guy fired it: he was consistent.
Flinch or grip?
Remember the thread last week?
Anyway I retired the grip some instructor taught me.
I worked on fixing my own grip and stance. I worked on left-hand placement and thumbs. And left-hand pressure.
About two hundred rounds later, I had my new grip. Accurate. No flinch. Gun recoils more linearly-so reset is faster.
Delightful.
I shoot the occasional flyer, but I'm getting lots of holes in black.
Moral of the story. It's probably not the gun. It's probably you. And, a change in grip style makes a huge difference.
I think that since hands, fingers, wrists, arm length, etc. are different for everyone, there is no one perfect grip.
Here's the advice that worked for me. It's from the Glock FAQ site:
Grip & Stance - Dale Rhea
Shooting fast and accurately is a learned skill. You can learn it. You can go as far in this sport as you let yourself. The only barriers to your progress will be mental ones you construct yourself. If you say, "I can’t do that" or, "I will never be that fast," that will be true. However, all you need to do in order to be successful in this sport is to practice and to have a positive attitude.
If you are determined to improve, practice some part of your pistol craft every day. While practicing, make every shot count for something. Work on either your accuracy or your speed during each practice session.
Don’t over-practice. You may have heard about competitors who expend thousands of rounds in practice, but for a beginner, fifty rounds per session may be more than enough. If you get tired or lose focus, quit. Don’t just rattle off shots down-range because you have the ammunition. Practice ammo is not free: you want something more than spent brass to show for your investment. Save that ammo for tomorrow.
Grip, stance and balance are the foundation of success in shooting sports. If you are using one of those shooting-school stances with a fancy name, a stance that looks like it came from Mechanics Illustrated, forget it. I’ll show you how to build a personal stance and you can call it anything you like.
Grip
Start in a safe place with an empty pistol and a target.
Put the pistol in your strong hand, with your trigger finger pointing straight down-range.
Wrap your middle finger up tight under the trigger guard allowing no gap between your finger and the trigger guard, or between your fingers.
Place the heel of your weak hand as far back as possible on the pistol grip, laying it against the heel of your strong hand. Wrap your fingers over your strong hand fingers, with your index finger pressed tightly against the bottom of the trigger guard with no gaps between the fingers.
Place your weak hand thumb against the pistol just below and parallel to the slide. Place your strong hand thumb on top of your weak hand thumb.
If you are using an antique 1911-style pistol (sic) , place your strong-hand thumb on top of the thumb safety.
If you place your thumbs too high on the pistol, they may interfere with the action of the slide and cause the pistol to malfunction.
If you place them too low, they may interfere with your trigger finger when you are pulling the trigger.
With your strong hand, you should have a firm, but not tight, grip.
Your trigger finger should be somewhat relaxed.
Seventy percent of the total grip should be applied with the weak hand.
Rotate your wrists slightly down and forward, gripping the pistol as if to keep it from flipping up during recoil.
The Stance
In GSSF matches there is no movement so there is no excuse for not having a perfect stance.
Stand squarely facing the target with your feet shoulder-width apart.
Move your strong side foot 6 to 8 inches to the side and then 6 to 8 inches to the rear.
This should feel almost too wide, but it will give you a good base for resisting recoil and moving the pistol quickly from target to target.
Keep your arms slightly bent and almost relaxed, they will act as shock absorbers for your pistol, and allow you to recover from recoil very fast.
Apply pressure to the pistol from each side as if you’re trying to compress it.
Do not apply pressure from the front and back, as called for by the Weaver stance, this pushing and pulling with your hands interferes with your ability to control the trigger & restricts the side-to-side movement necessary to quickly acquire subsequent targets.
Now bend forward slightly at the waist, placing your shoulders a little in front of your abdomen and putting your weight on the balls of your feet.
This should be a very comfortable, natural stance. The pistol should come up and point at the target without any correction. You may have to make small adjustments in your grip and stance until the sights align naturally and you feel balanced.
If you have the grip and stance right, the pistol will come right back to the target after recoiling.
