How To Strengthen Your Grip On Your Gun
How tight are you able to grip your gun when shooting? It takes good grip strength to hold a handgun properly and control it through all phases of taking the shot – something that can suffer with age or even ailments that affect the young like carpal tunnel syndrome (from computer usage).
Getting the proper grip on your handgun is critical, whether revolver or semi-auto, for a number of reasons. In the case of a semi-auto, your gun can even malfunction if you do NOT have good grip strength to stabilize the gun as the slide cycles.
Personally, I feel that you should grip your handgun as tightly as you can without causing any trembling or discomfort and still be able to manipulate the trigger consistently. On my XDS with those cheese grater grips that come on it, that’s tough because it hurts! The solution was to install Talon Grips, btw.
Having a strong grip can be a safety issue on more powerful guns yet it is even important for a .22. Never underestimate the value of a proper grip on your gun.
Further, if you are shooting a semi-auto, you need grip strength to rack the slide easily and consistently without the help of special tools or techniques.
3 Ways A Stronger Grip Helps
We will presume you already know how to grip your gun; if you don’t, I cover that as a fundamental of shooting in my IFR 4X Pistol Shooting Accurizer System™ or see your local instructor.
First, pretty much every gun in existence needs a stable platform: whether it’s a rifle, shotgun or machine gun on an aircraft, if the gun platform is not stable and predictable the round is difficult to consistently place on target.
Having the gun securely held in your hands and supported with a proper body stance is how we achieve that “platform”, so obviously if that gun can wiggle around in your hands as your are pressing the trigger back your accuracy will suffer.
A strong, stable grip will allow the gun to remain stationary as the trigger is pressed rearward.
Second, a strong grip is going to help ensure that the gun sits in your hands the same way every time. With the short barrel axis of an handgun, a small change can have a greater impact on where the bullet hits. A strong grip, practiced regularly, should result in consistency.
Third, many shooters do not practice or think about “follow through” which is, in fact, one of the fundamentals of proper shooting technique. Just because the round is fired does not mean you are done!
You need to control that weapon after the shot to not only assure proper (semi-auto) weapon functioning but also both shot placement and a potential follow up shot. A weak grip will result in the recoil causing gun movement sooner and more pronounced than if held tightly.
Thumbs Forward?
Many shooters are taught – again mostly but not strictly with semi-autos – a thumbs forward grip. Optimally, the gun is held by clamping with the fingers and NOT using thumb strength (you want to avoid pushing down with your thumbs with this grip).
Unfortunately, with inadequate grip strength this will not work well. An alternative is the “crush grip” advocated by Massad Ayoob years ago and still sometimes taught today.
Breaking Your Grip
Some shooters find themselves having to “re-grip” the gun between shots, even if they are not consciously aware of it. This is typically seen when a shooter does not grip the gun tightly enough and maintain that tight grip throughout the shot sequence.
This is called “breaking your grip” and can affect accuracy as well as time between shots which can be crucial in a self defense engagement.
Bottom line? The more pressure you can exert with your grip the more options you have for a proper grip.
How To Strengthen Your Grip
As mentioned above, age is not the only culprit in killing our grip strength. Young people who spend a lot of time in repetitive tasks such as computer usage (this includes that God-awful texting some youth cannot go 5 minutes without) yet also activities such as piano playing.
Fortunately it is not that difficult to improve your grip strength, nor does it take a lot of time out of your schedule. In fact, most of the exercises that will strengthen your grip can be done while watching TV at home or even sitting on the bleachers watching a child or grandchild in a sporting event!
Let’s look at a couple of options:
Kootek Hand Grip Strengthener
The Kootek Hand Grip Strengthener is a more traditional approach to grip strengthening working the entire hand at once. It’s a simple device, not much to go wrong.
Fit should be fine for anyone other than a child: Ergonomically designed and it fits well for all hand sizes, perfect for men and women, seniors and even teens. One review says – and I remember these old ones –
“Much better than the old style metal grip strengthener, I have one hand stronger than the other so it’s really great to be able to adjust the tension needed for each hand”
The product gets great reviews on Amazon and is available for just a few bucks here: Click here to learn more
Finger Strengthener and Hand Exerciser
This 321 strong grip is a different approach, mentioned for Guitar, Piano & Therapy yet I hope you can see why I thought this could be good for pistol shooters who want to improve their grip as well.
Clamp down with your hand, then try to exercise your trigger finger independently for a potential improvement in trigger control as well. Could be a two-fer here!
The company claims the best physical therapy rehabs use this tool for surgery recovery, carpal tunnel treatment, and arthritis relief.
This product also gets great reviews and has a 100% lifetime satisfaction guarantee.
It’s a little more expensive than the Kootek as you might expect, yet still pretty inexpensive, Click here to learn more