Tell me if any of these “trigger control” tips sound familiar to you…
“It’s a delicate control!”
“Don’t pull it… press it!
“No…it needs to be constant pressure!”
“No, no, no…you need to caress it and whisper sweet nothings to it so it will move straight to the rear!”
I’ve been shooting for the majority of my life and I’m officially raising the “B.S. flag” on the myth of how you should pull the trigger on your handgun for maximum control – and the first lesson you must understand is to…
“Trigger Control” Has NOTHING To Do With Your Shooting Speed & Accuracy – And I Can PROVE It…
Ok, think about this…
If you put your pistol in a bench vise and slapped the trigger like it “owed you money”, what would happen?
You sights would not be disturbed and the round would go exactly where you wanted, right?
Sooooo… what if you had too much or too little finger on the trigger?
BAM! Dead center!
And what if you tried to push or pull the trigger to either side as you pulled the trigger?
You can’t do it! The gun doesn’t move!
The bottom line is this – if you’re aim is straight, but your bullets are off the bulls-eye – it’s NOT because you pushed, pulled, mashed, slapped, or scrunched the trigger.
The only reason you’re missing your target is because of your “weak grip strength”!
The #1 Secret To “Gunfight Grip Strength”
(And Why You’ve Been Taught All Wrong!)
Ok, most likely, you’ve been instructed (or seen some guru) tell you that the key to being deadly accurate with your handgun is to…
Grip your gun with about 60% of your hold strength coming from your your “shooting” hand, and about 40% from your “support” hand.
But there’s a problem here…
You see, in a real gunfight – where you’re shooting under stress – there’s no way in hell you’re going to be holding your gun with a 60/40 split of your grip strength, because I promise you…
… it’s going to be 100%/100%!
In fact, I’ve tested this “60/40” theory with myself and my students for years by using a great tool that measures grip strength, called a hand dynamometer.
So for instance, let’s say that someone’s max (100%) grip strength is 100 lb. (which, at 60%, would make their strong hand target grip strength 60 lb.).
First, I have students squeeze the dynamometer to 60 lb. – looking at the readout – for several repetitions.
Then I ask them to squeeze the dynamometer to 60 lb. again… but this time, without looking!
The reading consistently shows that every shooter will typically squeeze somewhere in the range of 30 – 50 lb.
In other words… if a consistent “60-40” grip equals consistent groups, then this method is officially a non–starter!
How To Turn Your Hands Into A “Human Vise” To Dramatically Increase Your Speed & Accuracy
That’s right, make your hands into a “vise grip” and you can finally do whatever you want with that trigger — show it who’s boss!
The key is to train your grip as much as you train your shot!
There are lots of ways to do it, but here is the technique I use and the one I recommend to my students…
This uses some simple tools you can use (even when you’re driving to work, watching TV or at your kid’s soccer game), like…
“Grippers”: Hand exercisers, and even squishy foam “stress balls”, simulate gripping your gun and work the same muscles.- Wrist Gyro: This handy gadget uses an internal gyro and by rotating it in a circular motion, generates muscle tension. (It takes a little while to get the hang of it, but stick with it!)
“Grippers”: Hand exercisers, and even squishy foam “stress balls”, simulate gripping your gun and work the same muscles.
As far as “how” to use these tools, you should be doing “grip strength” exercises about three times a week.
(I do Monday, Wednesday and Friday while driving home from training.)
First, be sure to warm up with the stress ball or other gripper tool with each hand for about 3-5 minutes.
Then move to the wrist gyro – as long as you can stand it – alternating hands and changing your grip angles to use different muscles.
Follow this routine and you’ll no longer have to “fear the trigger”.
In the movie “Hannie Caulder”, professional bounty hunter Robert Culp teaches shooting skills to Raquel Welch AFTER he has her build her wrist strength by suspending a small rock tied to a string that reaches from shoulder height to the ground. The other end of the string is tied to a 1-inch wooden branch (dowel rod) about a foot long. He instructs her to hold the device out in front of her -and alternately turning over hands – repetitively twist the rod to wind the string up around the branch lifting the weight from the ground up to shoulder level. Not allowing the rock to fall – reverse the process to slowly lower the weight back down to the ground. He tells her do countless repetitions until the exercise became effortless. She asks “then – I’ll be ready?” (to shoot the gun), and he replies “then we’ll get a bigger rock”. I’ve used this same basic exercise approach to help shooters strengthen their wrists, forearms, (and other) muscles. Start with light weights and gradually increase the load over time. Benefits overall pistol grip – especially for those with weaker wrist strength – while reducing failures to eject (common with some new women shooters).
As a sabreman in college, we trained forearm/grip strength by starting at the tip of the weapon and slowly “spidering” up until we got to the basketguard and then reversed the process. I had incredible grip strength after that!
Wow! That’s a great tip L! For those of us without sabers (I don’t think my Guardian machete will work. hahahaha)… what would be a good replacement to use this exercise with?
I’ve been doing at least 50 push-ups on my knuckles for nearly 40 years. I assume this is just as good ?
DO the pushups on your fingertips and the grip strength will be multiplied.
How about milking cows ?