proper shooting grip

[dfalcon217]

Another great grip vid by Dave Sevigny Team Glock. Ha first strips the Glock then explains the grip at 1 minute 30 sec

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LvJzFdcYSag

This is how I shoot and show people how to shoot my XD40 Service

[IndyMatt]

This is really timely because I am changing my grip to a straight thumbs grip. I find everything natural except the damn wrist cant. I tried it and when I grip the gun, I get pain back in my elbow area. I think most of it was because I had my elbows bent with me forcing my wrist forward. I think if I relax the forward pressure on my wrist it will be better. Any tips on this? This is not natural for me at all.

[Bycyclist]

Originally Posted by IndyMatt

This is really timely because I am changing my grip to a straight thumbs grip. I find everything natural except the damn wrist cant. I tried it and when I grip the gun, I get pain back in my elbow area. I think most of it was because I had my elbows bent with me forcing my wrist forward. I think if I relax the forward pressure on my wrist it will be better. Any tips on this? This is not natural for me at all.

Can you post up a pix? Are you "locking" your elbow? The wrist does cant down, but I don't think its supposed to cause pain. Is your support hand fairly high up on the gun, so like on an XD, the support thumb is just below the slide, thumb pointing forward at the target?

[Pugs]

Originally Posted by IndyMatt

This is really timely because I am changing my grip to a straight thumbs grip. I find everything natural except the damn wrist cant. I tried it and when I grip the gun, I get pain back in my elbow area. I think most of it was because I had my elbows bent with me forcing my wrist forward. I think if I relax the forward pressure on my wrist it will be better. Any tips on this? This is not natural for me at all.

Both elbows should be straight without being "locked."

If the elbows are locked out, you're using your muscles to maintain that position and you're fatiguing your arms and are susceptible to muscle tremors that'll affect aim.

If the elbows are bent, you're not using the skelatal structure of your arms to support the weapon and control recoil, you're using your muscles which aren't as stable and can fatigue.

Pain in the elbow sounds a bit like tendonitis or some other soft-tissue injury. That can definitely be the result of the extra stress involved in tilting the wrist that far forward with the elbow bent. I tried it and I actually could feel a little tweak in my elbow.

My advice would be to straighten the arms. You can see my arm position in one my earlier posts in this thread. This is what works for me, but your mileage may vary, of course. And keep in mind that I'm self-taught and not an instructor.

[IndyMatt]

I guess it is when I cant my wrist so far forward that the top part of my hand is level with my forearm. Basically I think the cant of my wrist is too far forward. I will try to get some pictures.

[jbrodsky]

awesome thread!..

[Loves2Shoot]

If you notice in the photos the arms look straight, but if you look closely the elbows are bent more out than down. This allows you to use your shoulders to absorb the recoil and not your elbows. If you drop your elbows, you will get more muzzle flip and it will stress the elbow joints more.

If you look at yourself as a machine and forget about what "feels" right you will start to "get it." Once you get some practice in, it will not only "feel right," but also actually work better.

[warbass]

I think this info ought to be a sticky.

[TylerSpilker]

I always heard "grip until your hand starts shaking, then ease back until it stops"

I am going to try the boobies approach as you called it and see how it is, even though my style has always worked well for me.

[Pugs]

Originally Posted by TylerSpilker

I always heard "grip until your hand starts shaking, then ease back until it stops"

I am going to try the boobies approach as you called it and see how it is, even though my style has always worked well for me.

Yeah,

I think that Massad Ayoob also advocates a very hard grip, and obviously, he is an experienced and accomplished shooter.

In the same vein, though, Jim Furyk is a very experienced and accomplished golfer, but I don't think that anyone, even him, would advocate that a novice golfer should pattern their swing after his.

I think (if I remember the article properly) Ayoob advocates a hard grip, even if it causes your hand to shake, because in an adrenalin charged situation you're going to have to deal with the shakes anyway so you should get accustomed to it in practice.

I disagree. I think that you should train in the manner that gives you the greatest accuracy and then practice it over and over and over again until it becomes muscle memory and you don't have to think about it. When you're in an adrenalin charged situation and analytical brain functions start to go away, your body will do what it's been trained to do.

As an example, I mentioned earlier that I have a martial arts and wrestling background. I've been thrown and fallen countless times in practice. I've practiced relaxing my body, absorbing impact, landing on meaty parts of my body, and rolling with the inertia that it's second nature to me. When my wife and I were t-boned in our car and the vehicle rolled, I walked away with only scratches because when it happened, I relaxed, absorbed the impact, and went with the inertia. My wife tensed up and strained some neck muscles because she fought the impact and the rollover.

When higher brain functions go away, you fall back on your training. Make sure that you're well-trained in the right things, and that is what you will do when the adrenalin dump happens.