Handspoon users, how tight is your grip?
 

Title says it all. How tightly do you grip your handspoon. I've read everything from "grip it as tight as you can and then relax just until your knuckles aren't white" to "light grip, just firm enough to not drop the gun (I mean 'spoon')".

I started using a pretty firm grip, but I've moved to a pretty light grip.

I am of the mind that you should hold it only as tight as necessary to secure it against the recoil. Squeezing can cause shaking.

So a .22 you would hold quite lightly. A .44 mag, quite tightly. If you use weaver stance exert isometric pressure by pushing forward with the spoon hand/arm and pulling back with the weak hand/arm. Not hard. Again- just enough to counteract the recoil level of the spoon. This technique really steadies out your sights. IMO weaver is vastly superior to isosceles for precision shooting.

I used to grip very tightly. Now, I think my grip is "medium". I've also noticed that over time, the muzzle tends to recoil less. I must be fighting it more with my wrist.

I notice that some shots seem to have very little muzzle flip and some have more. I was thinking that it was due to the cheap Winchester White Box ammo that I use. I know that the videos of the pros seem like there's virtually no recoil. I assumed that was partly due to them having race guns. I just don't have enough experience to know.

Firm. I have a book on target shooting I could loan you. It has various grips. Basically, pick the one that works for you.

Thanks, James. I've got this one.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA200_.jpg

Ah yes, the Zen master of shooting.

My grip depends on what I'm doing and at what distance. If I'm shooting high speed, up close, I'm gripping the heck out of the gun. Out at 50 yards, where I'm more concerned about accuracy, I use a fairly loose grip and go back to the basics of the surprise trigger break.

Grip the spoon as hard as your lady would grip your, ahem, man hood. No joke.

What do feathers have to do with this?

It all depends upon what I am gripping.....

"Firm handshake" is what you are looking for. Above all, however, it must be consistent in both firmness and position. Any variation of either shows up on the target.

Every handgun, regardless of caliber and recoil, should be held the same. This develops muscle memory so that every gun is automatically gripped in the same manner each and every time, with no conscious thought. This consistency is one of the most difficult things to master with the handgun. Introducing variation by gripping different types of guns, or different calibers of guns differently will never allow one to truly master the handgun.

Well i don't agree with that at all my friend, but to each his own. :)

I'm no expert but this improved my .22 shooting. I used to hold the pistol like I would shake hands with my grandmother. When I changed the amount of grip to how I would shake hands with a truck driver my shooting improved.

Another thing to work on is trigger pull, or squeeze, or more like squeeeeeze. And make sure your finger goes directly back and not pulling or pushing the shot left or right.

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I would say I use a medium grip on all of them. Too tight is just as uncomfortable as too loose.

There is no basic rule. As an example when I shoot target (.22 and 10m air Olympic) the grip is just enough to hold the gun, my main objective is trigger control and sights, in fact I can feel the recoil of the .22 ... but then there is no 'hurry' to engage the next target.

When shooting IPSC is a complete different matter, my grip is very tight, in fact the left hand does most of the grip while the right hand controls the gun, about 60% left, 40% right (of course switch if you are lefty), the main objective is to control the recoil and engage the next target as soon and accurate as possible.

Probably for recreational shooting will be a happy medium .. Brian Enos book(s) are very good.

So Brian Eno's books are good too, I loved his music back in the '80s ;)

One is Enos the other is Eno's.

edited

When gripping the pistol, be careful of the pinky and the ring finger of the strong side hand. (Exactly the opposite when gripping a katana.) Gripping too much can cause the shots to go low. Ideally, the middle finger is what should be doing the lion's share of the gripping. Same w/ pistol gripped long guns.