Grip Guide

Science has shown us that even the smallest thing can produce amazingly complex and gigantic results. That theory is referred to as “The Butterfly Effect”. A butterfly flaps its wings on a flower in Africa. The flapping stirs up pollen that causes a caribou to sneeze. The sneeze startles the massive herd and causes a stampede. The stampede generates a wind that causes a change in barometric pressure along the coast. That change in pressure causes a storm that turns into a hurricane that eventually devastates a Caribbean island. All because of a little butterfly.

Why am I telling you this? Two reasons, really: a) if we want to stop hurricanes we need to kill all the butterflies and b) one seemingly small thing completely changes how your gun works.

I’m talking about your grip on the gun itself. A bad grip on a gun will have a massive impact on your shooting accuracy, recoil, rate of fire, target acquisition and, most importantly, the reliability of the gun in the first place.

After careful scientific examination and study, I pulled the following statistic out of the air: About ⅔ of your shooting performance comes from the grip. You can quote me on that.

Let’s start with recoil. With a bad grip, the entirety of the recoil is transferred to and absorbed by your wrists. Not as much of a problem if you’re shooting a revolver. It’s a big bad problem when you’re using a semi-auto pistol. With a proper grip the recoil is mostly absorbed by the slide and spring. There will still be some force on your wrists and arms because, hey, physics are physics.

So when the recoil is absorbed mostly by your wrists what happens? For starters, the gun jumps up higher. Now you have to work harder to put the gun back on target. You’ll have to readjust your grip because of how much it jerked. Because the gun itself was flying back, the slide doesn’t have as much force pushing it so there’s a good chance it won’t be able to eject the spent brass and/or strip a new cartridge from the magazine. That leads to stovepipes and more.

There’s a somewhat colloquial term for this phenomenon: “limp wristing” and it’s the first thing any gun expert will tell you when you say the gun is giving you trouble. “Check your grip. you’re probably limp wristing”

Ah, what you’re doing is referred to by many as “The Hollywood Cup” and outside of “Gangsta Sideways”, it’s probably the worst way to hold your gun. The problem with the Hollywood Cup is that you’re essentially shooting one handed. Yes, many guns are heavy and if you’re really needing an extra hand below the gun to hold it up then you might consider buying and/or trading yours in for a different gun.

You should be using your dominant hand for this. For the purpose of this guide, I’m going to assume you’re right handed. If you’re left handed, then just swap what hand I’m talking about, you rebel.

First thing, grab the gun with your right hand. Fingers on the handle, index finger as FAR away from the trigger as possible. Most people, myself included, put the index finger up on the slide. Your hand should be as high up on the handle as you can manage without getting in the way of the slide moving. Your right thumb should be pointing in the same direction as the barrel and laying against the gun just below the slide.

Now take your left hand and wrap it around the front of your right fingers. Your left thumb will also be against the gun below the slide. With your left hand pull back so that your right fingers are pushed harder against the grip of the gun. If your hands look like the pictures to the right then bravo, you’ve got it. 

Great question! You don’t want to grip it so hard that your hands are shaking or so loose that it goes flying out of your hand when you pull the trigger. The ideal way is to squeeze until your hands start to shake then back off just until they stop. There you go. Essentially, you’re squeezing the hell out of that thing.

From here on out, it’s a matter of stance and trigger control. Practice this grip and get comfortable with it. I think you’ll find now that your shooting will improve drastically. Remember to keep those thumbs forward for improved recoil management and have fun at the range.

Or go and check out some of our other guides.