"Interesting" grip advice...

[Doru]

Surf,

Sorry, I was actually referring to really only applying pressure on the front and back of the grip/frame, with only incidental contact on the sides of the grip.

Perhaps because as mentioned shooting technique at the time that John Browning creating the 1911, most (if not all?) handgun shooting was done with one hand.

Drew

[RancidSumo]

My dad was shooting a 1911 for the course that this was taught in. He stopped using the grip and switched back, in part, to the modern, thumbs forward, grip that I had taught him previously. He kept the weird gaps in in between the grip and his hands but changed up the thumbs because he said it caused the safety to dig into his thumbs every time he shot.

[FFK]

Thumbs and wrist are definitely from revolver days...i have seen the pinkie space on the strong hand used as an overexaggerated teaching tool but not as an actual real use shooting grip...it was used as a way to explain not to apply side-side grip pressure with the dominant hand to avoid heeling or milking

[John_Wayne777]

Surf,

Sorry, I was actually referring to really only applying pressure on the front and back of the grip/frame, with only incidental contact on the sides of the grip.

Perhaps because as mentioned shooting technique at the time that John Browning creating the 1911, most (if not all?) handgun shooting was done with one hand.

Drew

Exactly what John Browning had in mind when he designed the 1911 as far as grip goes is, I believe, more an article of faith than of fact. If by some chance he did write that down somewhere for posterity, I would say that John M. Browning knew a lot about building 1911's, but that today we know a lot more about shooting them than he ever did.

[mhanna91]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm9uG...eature=related

This video helped me with my grip. Haley demonstrates how contact on the sides of the grip influence the direction in which the gun recoils.

[Shadow1198]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm9uG...eature=related

This video helped me with my grip. Haley demonstrates how contact on the sides of the grip influence the direction in which the gun recoils.

This. An often overlooked aspect is the fact that most semi autos do not mechanically recoil in a perfect path straight to the rear (not slide movement but the recoil "impulse" you could say). There is always a little bit of oblique torque to the recoil impulse. I'm not an engineer, so I can't say exactly why, but I guess it has something to do with the mechanical construction and having uneven forces acting on different sides of the gun (extractor, ejector, side biased ejection port, etc). This is the reason you want equal side to side pressure to mitigate this oblique torque and even things out. The only thing I know for sure is, after studying the mechanics and physiology behind this stuff, I've come to the conclusion that you could write an entire book on all of the physiological aspects and intricacies in just the grip method of a handgun alone.

[rat31465]

From the description it almost sounds as if they are recommending using a "Dynamic Tension" grip which used to be taught pretty heavily in the 1980's...?

[Surf]

Surf,

Sorry, I was actually referring to really only applying pressure on the front and back of the grip/frame, with only incidental contact on the sides of the grip.

Perhaps because as mentioned shooting technique at the time that John Browning creating the 1911, most (if not all?) handgun shooting was done with one hand.

Drew

I agree Drew. As I mentioned back when Browning came out with the 1911 the majority of shooting was one handed and revolvers were more of the norm. However a revolver by design and how we grip it, was much easier to shoot one handed than a pistol. The revolver hand placement and grip didn't have the issue of the slide to worry about so generally the shooting hand was higher in relation to the bore.

So yes, the one handed 1911 shooting style relied heavily on the front to rear pressure. That is what you have with one hand and indeed Browning did a great job on the grip angle and width of the grip. Natural pointing weapon. However Browning was way ahead of the game with the 1911. Even though he didn't really anticipate the modern combat grip the 1911's design fits it like a glove.

Or maybe John Browning really was thinking way ahead of his own time.

From the description it almost sounds as if they are recommending using a "Dynamic Tension" grip which used to be taught pretty heavily in the 1980's...?

Yes it does.

Again for the OP, often times those who still use a revolver influenced crossed thumb placement often use a Weaver, or more commonly moved to a modified Weaver / Chapman style stance where they heavily rely on dynamic tension. Which is often why many shooters who first learn this style have crappy rapid follow up shots that are generally low and to the support side.

As in the pic posted on page 1, Front Sight still teaches and requires students to use this technique.

[glockkid88]

Found a pic of the thumb part at least.

I love this pic as proof of the crossed thumb grip thing because the damn pistol didnt go fully into battery! hahaha can you say limpwrist!

[Surf]

I love this pic as proof of the crossed thumb grip thing because the damn pistol didnt go fully into battery! hahaha can you say limpwrist!

Actually this modified Weaver / Chapman type of stance provides a very rigid abutment for the pistol to cycle against. I can't say for sure but not likely due to limp wristing as that fellas grip looks pretty firm and the wrist is very much inline.

Again I am not saying it might not be due to the lack of a solid grip, but just to be fair, the weapon might be in stages of recoil and cycle as the picture was taken, or perhaps the 1911 was having ammo, lube or its own unique problems with that particular pistol, which can be seen with poorly made 1911's that can cause them not going back into battery at times.