When it is time to draw and use your concealed carry handgun, one of the more important aspects is establishing a quality grip on the handgun. Some instructors refer to this grip as your master grip. I don’t really care what you call it, I just believe you need to establish that quality grip.
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Your grip is the interface between you and your defensive handgun. Your handgun is an intimate object and without input from you, the handgun will do nothing. The better your interface is with the handgun, the more efficiently you will be able to drive the handgun to do what you want and need it to do.
A common issue I see with students is the difficulty they can have making precision hits or managing recoil for fast follow up shots because their grip is compromised. Often times, the poor grip begins when the student grasps the gun while it is still in the holster. With a less than optimal grip on the gun, when the gun comes out of the holster, the student is forced to either adjust the grip, or work with a grip that is sub par.
A poor grip can lead to difficulty in placing the trigger finger in the proper place on the trigger leading to poor precision. Too much finger or too little finger on the trigger can both be an issue. Add to that the possibility that a poor grip could make it difficult or impossible to deactivate a trigger block safety and you can see how a poor grip in the holster can lead to problems.
In addition, if the grip isn’t established properly, it can be difficult to place the support hand on the gun. This leads to poor recoil management and slower less precise follow up shots.
A poor grip can be a safety issue as well. If the trigger finger isn’t placed correctly while the gun is still in the holster it can easily drift to the trigger during the draw. The obvious possibility of a negligent discharge is certainly an unwanted outcome.
Your desire to fix your grip can also be a problem. I see shooters work to adjust their grip in two different ways which are both problematic. The first is the “flip it and hope” technique. When a student fails to get a good grip on their gun in the holster, during the draw stroke, they release the grip on the gun in an attempt to shift the hand on the gun. The potential outcome is pretty obvious, a loss of control of the gun and a possible dropped handgun.
The other way folks try to fix their poor grip is the “gun sandwich” technique. Shooters with a poor grip sometimes try to shift their grip while smashing the gun against their body. The gun is the meat in the middle of a couple of slices of you. The issue here is the fact that the gun almost always ends up pointing at some part of the shooters body. You are not a safe direction.
All of the problems of a poor grip can be mitigated by simply working to establish a quality grip on the handgun while the gun is still in the holster. A solid strong hand grip sets you up for success when it comes to drawing the gun, making precision shots from the holster, delivering rapid follow up shots, and keeping control of your handgun from a safety standpoint.
When it comes to gripping the gun while it is still in the holster I tend to see some relatively consistent problems with shooters that all can be easily corrected in the holster.
I describe the 8 points of the handgun grip that I start out most shooters with in this blog post titled “Get a Grip” and I talk about it in detail in the podcast episode included in the post. You can listen to it below.
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431 – MAG-30 Wrap up with David Maglio