Building from the bottom up, the first step to solid pistol marksmanship is a good grip.
Intricate and nuanced, pistol shooting – done well – is about sweating the small stuff. Not exactly college-leave linear algebra tough, it requires particular attention to where you focus when aiming, how you present the gun and the steadiness of your trigger squeeze. This is especially true in the beginning, before you program muscle memory to auto drive. At the base of it all, before you learn to concentrate on the front sight or how to break a shot like a dry twig, is a proper grip.
Often overlooked for sexier aspects, if you don’t have a solid handle on your gun you’ll never truly build the speed and accuracy of a proficient shooter. As hand placement on a baseball bat is the foundation of slugging, grip on a pistol lays the groundwork for marksmanship. And few men or women and speak more knowingly on the matter than Mark Redl.
Multiple practical pistol titles to his name, the professional shooter stresses the importance of accurate shooting starting from the ground up. Breaking it down step-by-step, Redl gives you the inside on how to properly grip a semi-automatic pistol so you have the most control over the gun and greatest potential for accuracy. Correctly executed, these simple tips should have you managing recoil better, shooting faster and placing more rounds where you want them to go.
An addendum to anything along these lines, it, of course, takes practice. But a little sweat equity perfecting your grip pays big dividends in the long run.
For more information on Colt, please visit: www.colt.com.
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You forgot to mention that the perfect grip for YOU is NOT necessarily the perfect grip for anyone else.
If I were to hold my thumbs in the position you hole your thumbs, I would not have absolute control of the handgun.
Thjank you, but I prefer to teach people that they need to find the BEST grip positions that make THEM a better, more reliable shooter.