Dulvarian
Member
Ok. This is not to start a flame war, this is an honest question because I don't see the grip angle issue the same way everyone else sees it, I think.
A lot of people talk about grip angles being a deciding factor on whether they like a gun or not. The way 'my daddy taught me' was to take a firm grip basically pointing at the ground with you finger outside the trigger guard. Raise the gun so that you are "pointing" at the target. By the time your finger is pointed in the direction of your target, you should have sight alignment. Dominant eye goes to the front sight booger hooker goes to the bang switch. Rinse and repeat.
I have never noticed grip angle on anything. My question is simply, if you picked up a gun that you had never fired before, is this how you acquire a target and shoot? The way that I learned seemed so perfectly natural to me that I have never needed to question it. It is how I teach other people when I am introducing them to handguns, and most people have found similar success using that method. I am not an instructor, just a friendly shooter.
Am I doing people a disservice to teach that way? I simply don't understand that there has to be a 'correct angle' for most reasonably sized handguns. (I consider heavy caliber handguns separately, nor would I allow a novice to shoot one anyway.) It isn't like a punch where you actually need to line up the first two knuckles for impact so that the two strongest bones bear the impact. Kind of along those same lines, most of my power for grip on the handle comes from my pinkies and ring fingers. For me, that alleviates tension in the middle finger, which puts pretty much no stress on my index finger. Changing the force of my grip is what gave me the opportunity to really focus on the proper engagement and pulling of the trigger itself.
So, not from a book somewhere (unless you wrote it), what are your opinions on the matter? If you have a 'preferred grip angle' can you explain why? And if you don't, does your experience seem similar to mine? Also along the same lines, based on the form of pretty much any auto I have ever fired, it is a completely different universe for grip angles on a revolver. I use the same method to shoot both autos and revolvers.
For the record, the only reason that I am asking is because I get so many questions from people, especially people looking at buying their first guns. I would like to draw on a larger knowledge base for input so I can provide better assistance to new shooters. I am not condemning anyone else's style, method, or preference. I simply don't understand the insistence that some people have on a certain grip angle.
A lot of people talk about grip angles being a deciding factor on whether they like a gun or not. The way 'my daddy taught me' was to take a firm grip basically pointing at the ground with you finger outside the trigger guard. Raise the gun so that you are "pointing" at the target. By the time your finger is pointed in the direction of your target, you should have sight alignment. Dominant eye goes to the front sight booger hooker goes to the bang switch. Rinse and repeat.
I have never noticed grip angle on anything. My question is simply, if you picked up a gun that you had never fired before, is this how you acquire a target and shoot? The way that I learned seemed so perfectly natural to me that I have never needed to question it. It is how I teach other people when I am introducing them to handguns, and most people have found similar success using that method. I am not an instructor, just a friendly shooter.
Am I doing people a disservice to teach that way? I simply don't understand that there has to be a 'correct angle' for most reasonably sized handguns. (I consider heavy caliber handguns separately, nor would I allow a novice to shoot one anyway.) It isn't like a punch where you actually need to line up the first two knuckles for impact so that the two strongest bones bear the impact. Kind of along those same lines, most of my power for grip on the handle comes from my pinkies and ring fingers. For me, that alleviates tension in the middle finger, which puts pretty much no stress on my index finger. Changing the force of my grip is what gave me the opportunity to really focus on the proper engagement and pulling of the trigger itself.
So, not from a book somewhere (unless you wrote it), what are your opinions on the matter? If you have a 'preferred grip angle' can you explain why? And if you don't, does your experience seem similar to mine? Also along the same lines, based on the form of pretty much any auto I have ever fired, it is a completely different universe for grip angles on a revolver. I use the same method to shoot both autos and revolvers.
For the record, the only reason that I am asking is because I get so many questions from people, especially people looking at buying their first guns. I would like to draw on a larger knowledge base for input so I can provide better assistance to new shooters. I am not condemning anyone else's style, method, or preference. I simply don't understand the insistence that some people have on a certain grip angle.
