The pistol shooting stance is the foundation of straight shooting, providing the support base for a steady aim.
There are three basic stances: standing, kneeling, and prone. Each of these has variations, as well as different versions taught by different pistol shooters. Here we will focus on the basic details of the standing stance as a basis for learning other stances.
Stance Goals
Your stance should achieve two major goals:
- Positioning your head where your eyes can focus on your target
- Supporting your arm to keep you stable and comfortable during firing and recoil
Achieving both these goals results in hand-eye coordination while aiming and firing.
To achieve these goals, let’s review the major points of a good standing pistol stance, working from the head down to the feet.
Head Position
Your head should be positioned to let you look at your target without eye strain or tension in the shoulder muscles used to raise your gun. Keep your head level as you look at your target. Tuck your chin in slightly for better alignment between the top of your head, your neck, and your spine.
Don’t droop your head forward, which is probably the most common error. This takes your head off the support base of your spine, shifting your center of gravity, placing strain on your neck and shoulders, and creating tension that can interfere with your aim and recoil.
Likewise, avoid tilting your head back or to the sides.
Shooting Arm Position
Your shooting arm should be stable enough to provide solid support and a firm grip, but relaxed enough to aim and absorb recoil without stiffness. The main checkpoints are your shoulder, your elbows, your wrist, and your fingers.
Your shoulder serves as the pivot point for raising your gun. To raise your gun, you only need to rotate your shoulder joint in its socket, rather than raising your shoulder blades, which involves a different muscle group. To use the correct muscle group, think of your hand as one end of a teeter-totter and your shoulder as the other, so that as your hand rises and grows lighter, your shoulder sinks like a counterweight. Avoid any sense of shrugging or hunching your shoulders. Your shoulders should feel relaxed, like you had just released a yawn or sigh.
Once your shoulder is in the correct vertical position, to maintain correct alignment, imagine that there is a straight line drawn down your arm from the “V” web of your thumb through your wrist, passing a point on the bump of your inner elbow that lines up with your trigger finger and the long bone of your inner arm (the radius), to the inside top of your shoulder. The integrity of this line supports your shooting and your absorption of recoil. The line should remain straight and untwisted. To get the correct feeling, you can practice swinging your arm freely up and down at your side like a pendulum, as if you were reaching up to shake hands and then dropping your hand again, noticing the groove where your arm lines up naturally.
Keep your shoulder at a comfortable distance from your body as you extend your hand in front of you. Don’t overextend past the point where you feel like you have good support from your body and shoulder for the rest of your arm. Don’t “push” the gun at the target in a way that makes you lean into it. (You do push the gun in the Weaver stance, but there you maintain balance and use a pulling motion with the nonfiring hand to balance the force, so this rule still applies there.)
Your elbow should lock to transmit force from your gun hand back into your body, but it should not hyperextend. Leave a little degree of bend, but not too much. It helps get the right angle if you keep your hand higher than your elbow in relation to your target, imagining the lower side of your arm is an inclined plane slanting down from your hand, pointing your elbow towards the ground behind you.
Your wrist should also lock to line your hand up with your arm, without hyperextending. Bend your wrist slightly down, so that recoil force will transmit from the web of your hand back towards your elbow instead of off to the side. In optimal position, your wrist should form a nearly flat surface with the back of your hand, with a slight natural curve extending out into your fingers.
Your fingers serve two functions. Your thumb and lower fingers help support your gun grip against your palm. Your trigger finger squeezes your trigger back into your hand, moving independently of the support base provided by your other fingers so as not to alter your aim.
Rest your trigger finger flat against the frame just above the guard.
Curl your lower fingers around the front surface of the grip so that the middle segment of each finger meets the grip. Grip slightly more with the middle and ring fingers than the pinky, since pulling with the pinky tends to make the muzzle dip. Pull the gun back against the support provided by your palm.
Raise your thumb higher than your trigger finger, letting only the middle joint touch the stock. Press only as hard as you need. Do not press with the tip of your thumb.
To firm up your grip, remove your trigger finger and tighten your grip until you feel a tremble. Then ease up until the tremble subsides.
With a good grip in place, place your trigger finger so that it contacts the trigger between the tip and second joint. Your grip should enable you to squeeze the trigger directly to the rear, directing the force back into your arm without disturbing the support base provided by your other fingers.
Free Arm Position
Your free arm should help you stabilize your balance while staying relaxed.
If you are using a one-handed grip, you can hold your arm in a balanced position against your side, rest it on your hip or belt, or rest it on a support.
If you are using a two-handed grip, hold the fingers of your nonfiring hand against the fingers of your firing hand. Depending on the exact grip and gun model you’re using (some models have special trigger guards for two-handed grips), you will usually hold your nonfiring hand so that the middle finger of your firing hand is stabilized against either your nonfiring index finger (Weaver grip, fist grip) or your thumb (palm-supported grip). Your nonfiring thumb can be over your firing thumb (Weaver grip), alongside your firing thumb (fist grip), or over the middle finger of your firing hand (palm-supported grip). Be careful not to place your nonfiring thumb in the rear of the gun, which can cause recoil injury.
Upper Body Relaxation
Relax the parts of your upper body that you’re not using to hold your weapon. This includes your neck, your free arm and the nonfiring side of your chest if you’re using a one-handed grip, your stomach, and your lower back.
Torso Inclination
Crouch slightly so that your torso inclines forward. In the point shooting method, a deeper crouch is used.
Knees
Bend your knees to a slightly unlocked position. If you’re in a stance with one shoulder closer to your target than the other, one knee will be somewhat straighter than the other.
Foot Position
Place your feet to distribute your weight evenly over both legs:
If you’re standing with your shoulders square to your target, set your feet about shoulder width apart, parallel to each other.
If you’re standing with one shoulder forward, place your rear foot about 45 degrees from the direction your front foot is pointing, forming a triangular support base with your feet.
Weight Adjustment
Your gun and the arm extending it have weight, which shifts your center of gravity slightly. Adjust the rest of your body to compensate.
If you’re facing your target squarely, shift your weight back towards your heels as you crouch and bend your knees, as if sitting into your heels.
If you’re standing with one shoulder forward, shift your weight towards your back foot, as if sitting into your back heel.
Stance Variations
The basic principles outlined above are generally applicable to different variations of the pistol shooting stance, with appropriate modifications. It is not possible here to cover all these in detail, but I will list them briefly for your reference and research.
There are several important variations of the basic standing stance:
- Standing with both shoulders square or nearly square to the target in an upright position. Here the feet are parallel.
- Standing with both shoulders nearly square to the target in a crouch, used in point shooting. This stance is useful at close range.
- Standing with the firing shoulder closer to the target, used in the pistol-ready position. In this stance, the feet are placed at an angle.
- Standing with the nonfiring shoulder closer to the target, used in the Weaver stance. Here the feet are again placed at an angle, with the firing arm held straight and the nonfiring arm held bent, as the firing hand pushes forward while the nonfiring hand pulls back.
- Standing with partial support and cover from a wall or another object. Here the nonfiring shoulder is placed closer to the target, with the nonfiring hand and foot braced against the wall for support.
A pistol can also be fired from a kneeling stance or a prone stance. These can also be done with support.
A kneeling stance is similar to a standing stance with the nonfiring shoulder forward, except here the knee on the firing side becomes the back leg and kneels on the ground to serve as the main support base for the rear of the body. The front knee remains bent and serves as a support for the nonfiring elbow. A two-handed grip is used. For additional support from a covered position, the nonfiring elbow can rest on a higher object instead of the knee.
In a prone position, your body weight is distributed over your whole body, with your feet splayed in opposite directions facing your toes away from you for lateral stability. Your head is held behind your weapon and between your arms as much as possible. Your gun is held in a two-handed grip with the arms locked as much as possible, with adjustments in arm bend made for higher targets. For additional support to place single shots, the gun butt may be braced against the ground.
Worthy Resources
US Army FM 3-23.35 (FM 23-35), Combat Training with Pistols, M9 and M11
Learn About the Types of Pistol Shooting Stances
Applegate Shooting Method
Pistol Shooting Grip: Proper Grip Technique
on June 1, 2012 By admin In technique Leave a comment
Share This
Pistol shooting grip technique is one of the points of difference among the major schools of marksmanship.
A one-handed grip has traditionally been taught in point shooting for close range combat, with a two-handed grip used for longer ranges. Recently the Weaver two-handed grip has become more popular at close range.
However, despite such differences, there is widespread agreement about certain fundamentals of proper grip, and a solid one-handed grip remains the foundation of a good two-handed grip. This article will review the most important shooting tip instructions for a basic one-handed grip, as a basis for developing other grip variations.
Grip Goals
A proper grip should achieve several purposes:
- Provide a stable support base for your shot
- Keep your front and rear sights alignedwithout pulling horizontally or vertically
- Enable you to move your trigger finger independently without moving the rest of your hand
- Direct the force of your trigger squeeze and recoil straight back into your shooting arm without bending your wrist
To achieve these goals, let’s approach the grip step by step.
When practicing your grip, you will find it easier to adjust your grip hand if you pick up your gun with your non-shooting hand, using your free hand somewhat like a holster. This way your shooting hand can make adjustments free of the muscular tension that comes from supporting the weight of the gun. Later after you get a feel for the proper grip, you will be able to spontaneously grip the gun correctly and make adjustments without help from your other hand.
When picking up your gun with your non-shooting hand, be careful to keep the muzzle pointed downrange.
When you spread your thumb and fingers apart, the part of your hand between your thumb and index finger forms a “V” shape. You will be placing the grip of your gun in this V. First, however, form the V without yet holding your gun in your firing hand. When forming the V, place your trigger finger slightly above your thumb.
Lock your wrist by bending it slightly downward. This helps direct the line of recoil force from the V shape towards your elbow and into your body, instead of off to one side.
Set your gun into the V of your hand. Place the V as high as possible under the barrel to maximize recoil control.
Your grip should be held vertically against the support provided by your hand. To achieve this, press down on the barrel with your non-shooting hand to pivot and push your grip until it rests flush against the padding at the base of your thumb and the dip in the middle of your palm heel.
Extend your fingers forward, comfortably relaxed without overextension.
Close your fingers, placing each one carefully in position.
Rest your trigger finger flat against the pistol frame, just above the trigger guard.
Close your lower three fingers so that they are touching each other with the middle bone of each finger resting on the front surface of the grip. Press slightly more firmly with the middle and ring fingers than with the pinky. Pressing harder with the pinky will tend to lower the muzzle.
Lift your thumb so that it is higher than your trigger finger. The only part of your thumb that should touch the stock is the middle joint, which should be held high against the stock. Keep the tip of the thumb turned up and away from the stock, since pressure from the tip can shift sight alignment. To avoid fatigue, only press with the thumb as hard as you need to.
Grip the gun by using your three lower fingers to pull the grip into the support base provided by your hand.
Your trigger finger should be positioned where it can comfortably pull straight to the rear without disturbing sight alignment. To achieve this, use your non-shooting hand to adjust the fit of your pistol to your shooting hand. Find a position where your finger meets the trigger between the tip of your finger and your second joint (depending on the length of your finger), without making contact anywhere else.
Once you find the right position, you should establish a tight grip for firm support during firing and recoil. To achieve this, first remove the trigger finger from the trigger and release the pistol from the non-shooting hand. Then tighten your grip until you feel a vibration. Loosen your grip slightly until the vibration goes away. You will now have a firm grip.
Practicing for Live Grip Applications
Of course during a combat situation, you will not have time to go through all these individual steps. These steps are intended for practice to familiarize you with the feel of a correct grip. Experience with this feeling will improve your spontaneous grip. As your instinctive grip improves, practice drawing your gun with one hand while maintaining a correct grip. Gradually increase your speed until you can quickly establish a good grip.
Two-Handed Grip Variations
After mastering the elements of a one-handed grip, you can apply them to improving your two-handed grip. A two-handed grip provides additional stability by bracing the fingers of the firing hand against the fingers of the nonfiring hand. This is especially recommended for shots at longer range.
There are several major two-handed grip variations:
- In the Weaver grip, the fingers of the firing hand are closed over the fingers of the firing hand, with the nonfiring index finger between the firing middle finger and the trigger guard, and the nonfiring thumb alongside the firing thumb.
- The fist grip is the same as the Weaver grip, except the nonfiring thumb is wrapped over the firing thumb.
- In the palm-supported grip, also called the cup and saucer grip, the nonfiring hand cups under the firing hand with the nonfiring fingers wrapped around the firing fingers the nonfiring thumb over the firing middle finger.
These grips can be adjusted for specific gun models. Some models have specialized trigger guards designed for two-handed grips.
When using any two-handed grip, to avoid injury from recoil, take care not to place your nonfiring thumb in the rear of the gun.
Worthy Resources
US Army FM 3-23.35 (FM 23-35), Combat Training with Pistols, M9 and M11
Handgun: The Grip
How to grip a pistol
Travis Haley on Handgun Grip
Proper Grip of a Handgun
Dave Sevigny gives tips on how to hold or grip a pistol
Article by: Roy Rasmussen
Mastering six basic elements: stance, position, grip, breath holding, sight alignment, and trigger control.
Successful pistol shooting depends on the ability to align the sight with the center of the target area and squeeze the trigger without disturbing that alignment. Developing this ability requires mastering six basic elements: stance, position, grip, breath holding, sight alignment, and trigger control. Here are some tips for beginners on how to develop these pistol shooting basics.
The methods outlined here are largely based on those which have been developed by the US Army. Be aware that there are different ways of shooting depending on the context, with a firing range or a military conflict being very different from a civilian gunfight. Different experts teach various methods for specific situations. The resources at the end of the article will point you towards some other popular shooting methods you can investigate.
1. Stance
Your pistol shooting stance provides a foundation for steady aim. The stance you adopt should position your head so your eyes can focus on your target. It should also support your arm comfortably while you aim.
- Standing square to the target in an upright position
- Standing square to the target in a crouch
- Standing with one shoulder closer to the target
- Standing with partial support from a wall or other object
- Kneeling
- Kneeling with support
- Prone
- Prone with support
Ideally you should practice from all these stances. When beginning, it is best to practice from one of the basic standing positions without support and master that stance before working on the others.
Here are some keys to a good standing shooting stance:
- Keep your head level, without tilting excessively in any direction.
- For the arm you’re using to aim your gun, keep your shoulder relaxed without overextension, and keep your elbow locked and your wrist stiff for stability.
- Keep the arm not holding the gun relaxed but stabilized. You can visualize resting it on an imaginary cushion against your side, or rest it on your hip or belt; or you can use it to stabilize your grip.
- Relax the upper-body muscles you’re not using to raise your weapon.
- Crouch slightly with a slight forward inclination.
- Unlock your knees. If you’re turned to the side, one knee will be slightly straighter than the other.
- Position yourself to distribute your weight evenly over both feet:
- If you’re standing facing your target squarely, this means placing your feet about shoulder width apart in a parallel position.
- If you’re sighting with one shoulder closer to the target, place your rear foot at an angle about 45 degrees from the direction your front foot is pointing, so that your feet form a triangular support base.
- Adjust your torso and lower body to compensate for the weight of your extended arm and the gun it holds:
- If you’re standing facing your target squarely, sit back a bit into your heels as you crouch.
- If you’re sighting with one shoulder closer to the target, shift your weight slightly towards your back foot by sitting into your back heel.
2. Position
Knowing how to position your stance towards your target is another important skill to master. The correct position for your stance will depend on what stance you’re using. As a beginner, you should practice in a simple position geared towards a target in front of you or off one shoulder. In advanced combat shooting, you practice pivoting to face a target positioned at different points around you.
Here is a basic drill to practice aligning your position with a target in front of you with one shoulder nearer the target:
- Assume a stance with one shoulder nearer to your target, with your body oriented 40 to 50 degrees off the target.
- To practice positioning your head and eyes, keep your eyes facing forward and turn only your head to see your target. If you have to strain your eyes, you’re facing your target from the wrong angle, and you should adjust your position.
- To practice positioning your arm, with your eyes closed, raise your arm a foot or two above horizontal, and then allow it to settle back relaxed into a horizontal position pointing at your target, while leaving your other shoulder and arm relaxed. After your arm settles into position, open your eyes to check if your arm and pistol are aligned with the center of your target. If you have settled to one side of your target, correct your alignment by moving your rear foot in the direction of the error, leaving the rest of your stance the same. Do not attempt to correct the error by moving your arm independently of your body, which will not fix the root of the problem.
3. Grip
A proper grip should provide firm support for your shot, enable you to move your trigger finger independently of the rest of your hand, and keep your front and rear sights aligned without pulling to the sides or vertically. It should also direct the force of your recoil straight back into your shooting arm without bending your wrist.
There are one-handed and two-handed pistol grips. Two-handed grips are recommended, but they are built on a one-handed grip, so even if you plan to use a two-handed grip, you should master the elements of a one-handed grip first. To develop the essentials of a good one-handed grip:
- Use your non-shooting hand to hold your pistol, being careful to keep the muzzle pointed downrange.
- Form the web of your shooting hand into a “V” shape by spreading your thumb and index finger, with your thumb held slightly lower than your finger.
- Bend your wrist slightly downward so that the line of recoil force will transmit from the V shape towards your elbow and into your body instead of off to the side.
- Set your pistol into your V, holding the V as high as possible under the barrel to optimize recoil control.
- Press downward on the barrel to pivot and push the grip to rest against the base of your thumb and the depression in the center of your palm heel.
- Stretch your fingers forward.
- Let your trigger finger rest flat against the pistol frame just above the trigger guard.
- Curl the lower three fingers, touching each other, so that the center bone of each finger rests on the curved front surface of the grip. Apply more pressure with the middle and ring fingers than with the pinky. Pressing too hard with the pinky will depress the muzzle.
- Raise the thumb to a level higher than the trigger finger, holding only the joint at the middle of the thumb high against the stock, with the end of the thumb turned up and away from the stock. Pressure from the end of the thumb can upset sight alignment. Apply only as much pressure with the thumb as needed, to avoid fatigue.
- Grip the gun by using your three lower fingers to press the grip into the support base provided by your palm.
- Use the non-shooting hand to adjust the fit of the pistol to the shooting hand so that the trigger finger is comfortably positioned to press straight to the rear without disturbing sight alignment, making contact somewhere between the tip of your finger and your second joint.
- When you find the right position, remove the trigger finger from the trigger, release the pistol from the non-shooting hand, and tighten your grip until you feel a tremor. Loosen your grip slightly until the tremor disappears. You should now have a strong grip.
4. Breath Holding
When you breathe, the movements of your chest can alter your sight alignment. To prevent this, practice breath holding when you shoot. Take a deep breath, exhale gradually, and then pause with your breath held in the exhalation phase while you shoot before inhaling again.
Work towards being able to hold your breath 20 seconds while you fire a series of shots. Remember to breathe deeply between shot cycles, or any time you have not fired a shot in over 10 seconds. If you find you need to breathe during a shot cycle, take a quick breath and continue shooting.
In advanced training, for shooting at multiple targets, you must learn to pause your breath at any point in the breathing cycle.
5. Aiming
Aiming involves two elements: sight alignment and sight placement.
Sight alignment is aligning your front sight with your rear sight, so that the top of your front sight is level with the top of your rear sight and your front sight is centered in the notch of your rear sight. If you notice your alignment is off, adjust your front sight until it is lined up correctly.
Sight placement is placing your front sight in alignment with the center of your target area. If you notice your front sight is not in the center of your target, adjust it until it is. Be sure to maintain proper sight alignment as you do so.
Focus on your front sight when squeezing your trigger. Your rear sight and your target should look blurrier than your front sight when your front sight is in focus.
6. Trigger Control
Learning trigger control is the last step in mastering basic shooting skills. A correct trigger squeeze pulls the trigger smoothly straight to the rear until the gun fires. Improper trigger squeeze results from jerking or flinching, or from overcompensating to avoid these errors.
To develop trigger control:
- Establish contact between your trigger finger and the trigger between the tip of your finger and your second joint (depending on how long your finger is), without touching anywhere else.
- Pull straight back in a continuous motion, avoiding pulling to the right or left or jerking. The natural tendency of a right-handed shooter is to pull left, so pulling straight takes practice. Jerking results from trying to “ambush” the target the instant it comes into sight, for fear of losing it from view before the bullet fires. This can be avoided by maintaining a continuous pull with the sights set on the center of the target. Some shooters overcompensate for jerking by gripping too hard with the heel of the palm, an error called “heeling” which causes the bullet to go high on the firing hand side of the target. Avoid heeling by maintaining a correct grip and a continuous squeeze.
- Continue the rearward pull to completion after the gun has fired, and release smoothly. This helps prevent the tendency to flinch in anticipation of recoil.
Beyond the Basics
After mastering these basics, you can move on to more advanced training, such as shooting from longer distances, shooting from different stances at targets in different positions, varying firing rate, shooting under different lighting conditions, and exploring different shooting methods. The resources below will give you some different avenues you can explore.
Worthy Ammunition
US Army Pistol Marksmanship Guide
US Army FM 3-23.35 (FM 23-35), Combat Training with Pistols, M9 and M11
National Rifle Association
United States Practical Shooting Association
International Defensive Pistol Association
FBI Firearms Training: The Shooting FBI
Article by: Roy Rasmussen
Pistol shooting grip technique is one of the points of difference among the major schools of marksmanship.
A one-handed grip has traditionally been taught in point shooting for close range combat, with a two-handed grip used for longer ranges. Recently the Weaver two-handed grip has become more popular at close range.
However, despite such differences, there is widespread agreement about certain fundamentals of proper grip, and a solid one-handed grip remains the foundation of a good two-handed grip. This article will review the most important shooting tip instructions for a basic one-handed grip, as a basis for developing other grip variations.
Grip Goals
A proper grip should achieve several purposes:
- Provide a stable support base for your shot
- Keep your front and rear sights alignedwithout pulling horizontally or vertically
- Enable you to move your trigger finger independently without moving the rest of your hand
- Direct the force of your trigger squeeze and recoil straight back into your shooting arm without bending your wrist
To achieve these goals, let’s approach the grip step by step.
When practicing your grip, you will find it easier to adjust your grip hand if you pick up your gun with your non-shooting hand, using your free hand somewhat like a holster. This way your shooting hand can make adjustments free of the muscular tension that comes from supporting the weight of the gun. Later after you get a feel for the proper grip, you will be able to spontaneously grip the gun correctly and make adjustments without help from your other hand.
When picking up your gun with your non-shooting hand, be careful to keep the muzzle pointed downrange.
When you spread your thumb and fingers apart, the part of your hand between your thumb and index finger forms a “V” shape. You will be placing the grip of your gun in this V. First, however, form the V without yet holding your gun in your firing hand. When forming the V, place your trigger finger slightly above your thumb.
Lock your wrist by bending it slightly downward. This helps direct the line of recoil force from the V shape towards your elbow and into your body, instead of off to one side.
Set your gun into the V of your hand. Place the V as high as possible under the barrel to maximize recoil control.
Your grip should be held vertically against the support provided by your hand. To achieve this, press down on the barrel with your non-shooting hand to pivot and push your grip until it rests flush against the padding at the base of your thumb and the dip in the middle of your palm heel.
Extend your fingers forward, comfortably relaxed without overextension.
Close your fingers, placing each one carefully in position.
Rest your trigger finger flat against the pistol frame, just above the trigger guard.
Close your lower three fingers so that they are touching each other with the middle bone of each finger resting on the front surface of the grip. Press slightly more firmly with the middle and ring fingers than with the pinky. Pressing harder with the pinky will tend to lower the muzzle.
Lift your thumb so that it is higher than your trigger finger. The only part of your thumb that should touch the stock is the middle joint, which should be held high against the stock. Keep the tip of the thumb turned up and away from the stock, since pressure from the tip can shift sight alignment. To avoid fatigue, only press with the thumb as hard as you need to.
Grip the gun by using your three lower fingers to pull the grip into the support base provided by your hand.
Your trigger finger should be positioned where it can comfortably pull straight to the rear without disturbing sight alignment. To achieve this, use your non-shooting hand to adjust the fit of your pistol to your shooting hand. Find a position where your finger meets the trigger between the tip of your finger and your second joint (depending on the length of your finger), without making contact anywhere else.
Once you find the right position, you should establish a tight grip for firm support during firing and recoil. To achieve this, first remove the trigger finger from the trigger and release the pistol from the non-shooting hand. Then tighten your grip until you feel a vibration. Loosen your grip slightly until the vibration goes away. You will now have a firm grip.
Practicing for Live Grip Applications
Of course during a combat situation, you will not have time to go through all these individual steps. These steps are intended for practice to familiarize you with the feel of a correct grip. Experience with this feeling will improve your spontaneous grip. As your instinctive grip improves, practice drawing your gun with one hand while maintaining a correct grip. Gradually increase your speed until you can quickly establish a good grip.
Two-Handed Grip Variations
After mastering the elements of a one-handed grip, you can apply them to improving your two-handed grip. A two-handed grip provides additional stability by bracing the fingers of the firing hand against the fingers of the nonfiring hand. This is especially recommended for shots at longer range.
There are several major two-handed grip variations:
- In the Weaver grip, the fingers of the firing hand are closed over the fingers of the firing hand, with the nonfiring index finger between the firing middle finger and the trigger guard, and the nonfiring thumb alongside the firing thumb.
- The fist grip is the same as the Weaver grip, except the nonfiring thumb is wrapped over the firing thumb.
- In the palm-supported grip, also called the cup and saucer grip, the nonfiring hand cups under the firing hand with the nonfiring fingers wrapped around the firing fingers the nonfiring thumb over the firing middle finger.
These grips can be adjusted for specific gun models. Some models have specialized trigger guards designed for two-handed grips.
When using any two-handed grip, to avoid injury from recoil, take care not to place your nonfiring thumb in the rear of the gun.
Worthy Resources
US Army FM 3-23.35 (FM 23-35), Combat Training with Pistols, M9 and M11
Handgun: The Grip
How to grip a pistol
Travis Haley on Handgun Grip
Proper Grip of a Handgun
Dave Sevigny gives tips on how to hold or grip a pistol
Article by: Roy Rasmussen
