Learned more about finger placement today.

"Same grip, same way, every time...=...consistency, one of the tenants of accuracy. Changing your grip can move your groups 2-3" 15 yds...or open them up by the same amount. Good comments regarding the support hand grip by a previous poster as well.

Good/great bullseye shooters of my past did not pick up the piece with the strong hand. Instead, they used the non-shooting hand to place the gun in the shooting hand precisely. For a combat shooter, this is ridiculous, but serves to underscore the importance of a consistent grip on the gun if you expect to shoot well...

The defensive shooting courses I've attended all stressed establishing a shooting grip on the gun, while still in the holster, before beginning the presentation stroke...consistently...but then I've already said that!

HTH's Rod
 
Hand size can cause problems. My friend has tiny hands and some handguns he ends up kind of twisting as he squeezes the trigger because he can barely reach it properly. I have XL hands and fingers that are abnormally long even for my hand size. There are many handguns where I would like to put less of my finger on the trigger, but just can't do it because of the angles involved.

Those of you with normal-sized hands are more blessed than you know. :)
 
I shoot the Beretta 90-TWO with similar issues. I think you are talking about trigger pull and sighting. I have to triangulate my front sight with the back sight to get a semi-bull's eye at 10 yards. Use your trigger finger up to the first joint and "squeeze" rather than "pull" and practice without anticipating the "bang". Let the firearm surprise you when it fires. You seem to be pulling the trigger "after" the first joint....or making the joint snap the trigger to fire. Relax, breathe up full, breathe out as you "squeeze" then hold your breath until the Beretta decides to fire. If your cluster is off to the left, adjust you rear sight slightly to the left.

Just suggestions for a range enthusiast with an issue on target! Wish you fun, skills and accuracy on the range!
 
If your cluster is off to the left, adjust you rear sight slightly to the left.
Click to expand...
For sighting in, you always move the rear sight in the direction you want your impact point to move, ie., if your groups are to the left of your point of aim, you'd move the rear sight to the right.

Best regards, Rod
 
The weak hand placement, the stance and the elbow corrections worked for me. Also, just keep looking forward and squeeze..don't pull. This is my grip now.

Weak hand being my left. That palm sits in the gap on the weak side of the pistol and I extend that thumb forward in front of the strong thumb. It really helps with recoil, steadiness and follow up shot placement. The weak hand should be about 45 degrees to the weak wrist and the gun but just do what works and feels natural.

Edit....this is a grip for semi-autos. Don't do this with a revolver or you may burn or lose part of your thumb. Never put any body part in front of a revolver's cylinder breach when firing.
 
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So I shoot revolvers competitively and I have really big hands so I have quite a bit of experience on this issue of shooting a revolver thumbs forward versus worrying about blast from the cylinder gap burning your thumb. I have shot more than 18,000 rounds from a revolver with my left index finger around the front of the trigger guard and my left thumb below and slightly forward of the cylinder on the crane. I have never been burned. Not once. I mostly shoot 38 special but I have also done 357 mag as well as .22 lr. You actually feel it the most with 22s. Something about that ammo makes for a little more cylinder gap blast. Especially if you are using lead nose. After shooting 200 rounds of 22 there is a slight soreness in the thumb that is gone in an hour. Index finger never feels a thing, but both are very dirty. I used to have an sp101 in 22 that had enough cylinder blast shooting that way that I would put a little piece of masking tape on my thumb and it would provide a little protection.
However shooting 38 special or 357 mag I never feel a thing. Nothing.
I did it a few times with my friends 44 mag and it was about the same as a 22 for cylinder gap blast.
My experience has been if your fingers are 3/4 of an inch away from the gap in any direction (forward, behind, side) you don't have anything to worry about.
I might get roasted by those who have never actually shot a revolver thumbs forward, but I'm speaking from extensive personal experience.
Sorry if I hijacked the thread, but I felt it was important to chime in on that. Back to trigger control.
 
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Thumb placement all depends on the size of the gun and the grips. You are a professional and I am not questioning you on that. A 38 or 357 can do seious damage if an appendage is wrongly placed in front of the cylinder gap. I'm not going to be responsible for telling somebody to do that even if it was their fault.
 
Rich 357 I wholeheartedly agree that placing your fingers on or directly next to the cylinder gap is going to feel like you hit your hand with a hammer. And folks should be careful of that. But in my experience with certain average or small calibers having a finger forward of the gap, but still low and an inch or so away presents small likelihood of danger. I'm always careful doing it with a new gun because each guns cylinder gap can be slightly different from the last, resulting in more or less cylinder gap blast. I also would not try it with a very large and high pressure caliber like 454 casull, .460 s&w or .500 s&w. When shooting those calibers you want to let the gun rotate back and up to deal with the recoil and not try to force the gun to stay on target in rapid fire. Thus no need for a thumbs forward grip.
 
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