Jack Weaver: Shooting thumb location...

[Mad Magyar]

I don't shoot revolvers too often, but notice how the "Master" positions his shooting thumb resting against the cylinder. From many previous discussions,
some consider this a "no-no" for a few reasons.
BTW, this is from a 1962 article...
Any thoughts or opinions being changed? I find my SS thumb more in a handshake postion...

 

[rcmodel]

Well, he won't have a bloody thumb from the cylinder latch barking it every shot, that's for sure.

And you can't fault the guys speed & accuracy, that's for sure too.

So, it must be good!

I've shot the hard kicking calibers that way for about 45 years now.

rc

 

[Mad Magyar]

RC, the fact that Jack W. became equally adept with the autoloader; I'm assuming the "high thumb ride" became natural for both.....
Oro, good pts....

 

[Oro]

Any thoughts or opinions being changed?

If my hands were that big - maybe

Take a look at the proportion of his hands and the gun. His hands are easily 25% or more larger than mine - I have a typical US male's hand - glove size Large. His hands are massive, and that must have played a big role in how he decided to settle on the grip he did.

In particular, try:

1) to see where the base of his thumb on his right hand is (imagine it from his thumb position - it's partially hidden by his left hand),
2) now look at his trigger finger - he's got the trigger on the pad of his 2nd phalangeal bone, not the 1st or even in the joint.

That's a massive reach. I'm not saying what he has to teach is not relevant because of that massive set of hands. In fact when I finally read what Jack Weaver said about gripping a handgun, instead of letting others interpret it for me, my shooting got much better. He's one of the true "gurus" of handgunning in my book.