Grip Strength

[dalto]

I have never been really confident with my grip. It has been technically correct but my results have always been poor.

For the past couple of weeks I have been using one of those gripmaster things whenever I had idle time. I went to the range yesterday and was suprised to discover a huge impact in such a short time.

My recoil control is improved, my support hand no longer slips and my accuracy with follow-up shots is 100% better.

 

[navyguy]

I used to keep one in the car and squeeze it when I got stopped at lights etc. I got to where I am to be able to squeeze about 15 lbs over my weight on a bathroom scale. Try that out and see where you are. Squeeze and hold for 3-4 seconds.

 

[Charlie]

An alternative grip strengther:
Tie a 1/4 dia. rope about 2 ft. long to a 3/4 inch by 10 inch wooden dowell (run it through a hole in the center of the dowell), tie the other end to a 15 lb. weight, then rest your elbows on your thighs while sitting and roll up the weight on the handle and then unroll it. Do that a half dozen times a day and your forearms and grip strength will improve very quickly!! Up the weight or repetitions as necessary.

 

[SIG_Fiend]

If there is one thing I have learned when it comes to handguns, when you actually start looking at all the physical mechanics of the "how" side of things you can actually go into extreme detail as there is really a lot going on. It's also amazing how a few very simple "little" changes can have such a drastic effect on how well you're running the gun. The thing I've found that has helped me the most is really paying extra attention to how everything feels. Keep playing with techniques and mentally recording how things feel and the differences. Once you find that sweet spot and get it right for the first time, remember to pay attention to how everything felt. It's one of those things, once you've done it right and felt how to do it right, if you ever screw up and get it wrong, you'll feel it immediately and be able to correct the problem more easily and be able to self diagnose what's causing any failures/deficiencies. We can explain the basics behind the how, grip pressure "percentage", basic positioning of hands, arms, whole upper body platform, etc but, the bottom line is everyone is different. Since everyone is different, some of these things will change from person to person and so everyone's sweet spot will be different. For example, look at a lot of the top handgun competition shooters out there and you will find that many if not most of them have their own unique techniques for doing various things, yet many of them are at the same competitive performance level because they have really perfected what techniques work the best for themselves.

Evan, if you'd like, I'd be glad to meet you at Lone Star or Best of the West sometime and provide you any pointers I may have. I'm still learning myself (the learning never stops IMO), but I've found various tricks that have worked for me and helped me improve drastically compared to how I shot just a few years ago. Just let me know.