Thoughts on properly gripping a 1911

I have never ridden the thumb safety with my strong side thumb when shooting model 1911s and I have never accidentally deployed the safety when shooting.

If I try to ride the thumb safety on my particular model 1911 pistols, I do not always depress the grip safety sufficiently even if it has a "memory bump". That produces a failure to go bang that had actually happened to me on multiple occasions as opposed to some theoretical failure to go bang resulting from not riding the safety lever.
 
What a bunch of self proclaimed "experts", "professionals", and "teainers" say if completely irrelevant. How to hold a 1911, or any other gun is much more of a matter of what is natural, and comfortable to the individual. Keep trying to change them to be "correct" to some fictitious standard can do more to frustrate than improve.
What's important isn't form or style. What's important is that you hit the target, where you aim, consistantly.
 
It does not matter to me how you shoot your pistol .Enjoy!

For carry in a holster like a Summer Special,I don't want a skateboard size safety.I use the JMB /Colt/GI style safety. Its still perfectly fine for a landmark to place my thumb. Resting on top of the safety ensures it is disengaged.

There is another key benefit to having the thumb above the safety.It clears the real estate of the left grip panel so thr heel of the left hand can be placed on the left grip panel. The left thumb poits downrange,and the left hand fingers initially point approx. 45 deg down toward the ground.The left index finger contacts the underside of the guard. The left hand clamps the left grip and the right hand.

Left thumb over right thumb does not permit the heel of the left hand to be placed in full contact with the left grip panel.

You can shoot the gun however you want,but the grip the champs teach provides for a stable ,controlled gum under recoil. That translates to faster accurate shooting.

Here is a link to WW2 GI training. I notice the instructors rest the thumb on the safety.

https://youtu.be/jP7J-JNSUu4

Some good points

https://youtu.be/7HgpAhO-uwI
 
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By way of some perspective, a number of years ago I used to make occasional trips to Rhode Island, and I wanted to be able to carry. Rhode Island is one of those states for which it's easier for a non-resident to get a permit than for a resident. But, they require a marksmanship qualifier, to be fired in front of a certified NRA or police department instructor.

Their criterion is a score of 195 out of 300 possible, firing 30 shots at an Army-L target at a distance of 25 yards. The black on the Army-L target is 5" in diameter. Obviously, you don't have to keep all the shots in the black to score 195 -- you could put them all in the 7 ring and still have a cushion. (The 7 ring would be about a foot in diameter, maybe 14 inches.)

I shot it using my "incorrect" grip, using a new Para-Ordnance 12.45LDA that I had just bought and wasn't familiar with, and scored somewhere around 250 or 260 IIRC.

Army-L target: https://www.pistoleer.com/shooting-targets/dod/
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Your way obviously works for you. Proving my point, each individual shooter will end up having an individual style. BTW, since we are in the bragging mode, my Illinois CCL range test, very similar to what you describe, best possible score of 300, was shot my way, and I scored a 300-21X.
 
I think the ww2 instructional has their thumb below the safety. For me the best 1911 setup would be a small GI safety. If the extended safeties help so much with recoil by providing downward force at the pivot point, more people would be using safeties on the modern striker pistols or having a ledge/shelf built in on the grips contour.

What do they teach nowadays? When should the 1911 safety be disengaged? How hard should you grip? Where should your thumb rest on?

Beginners are going to grip the 1911 hard while riding the thumb safety and disengage too soon at the holster. Add that to poor trigger discipline and they themselves a situation all because they want to pull some crazy split times on a bad guy
 
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I find that having the thumb on top of the safety increases the chances of getting cut by the slide during recoil. Ask me how I know this.

Also, sometimes I shoot Hopalong Cassidy/Roy Rogers style. One in each hand. I do not practice quick draw with my 1911s any more (I quit carrying 1911 maybe 20 years ago). Target shoot and occasionally rabbit hunting.

I am left handed, and my thumb rests on top of my middle finger as it wraps around the grip.

I don't care if all those superior beings says it is wrong or not. It works for me.

When I took my CCW course in 1995, the instructor made comment on the range that I was the only one shooting groups. All 50 shots were covering 4".
 
From TxFlyFish:

I might not be as experienced on 1911 but I do know riding the safety is relatively new. I’m not sure if proper or correct is the right term for a gun that’s been in use for over 100 years, most of which wasn’t riding the safety. Ambi and front slide serration used to be cool too...and here we are
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The high thumb grip came to prominence sometime after WWII. It was most popularized by Jeff Cooper and was taught at his first school. So we're talking the 1960s or 70s maybe. But it's not brand new by any means. When folks began doing that I don't know but likely after the tear drop safety replaced the small original GI safety.

For Cooper it was brought in as a way of making the 1911 more of a combat pistol than a service sidearm. It went with Cooper promoting cocked and locked carry, Condition One. When drawing the gun the thumb went to swipe the safety off. Should you decide not to disengage the safety at that moment you kept the thumb on the safety ready to disengage it. That's where riding the safety began, well actually not because it predated Cooper. But it was the way it's promotion began by Cooper.

But some folks hands can't do it.

tipoc
 
Sharkbite said:
With a 1911 type pistol, the firing side thumb MUST ride the safety.
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Why MUST the strong hand thumb ride the safety?
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For me and mine:

1. Firing hand thumb rides safety if do-able (given hand size). Provides better recoil control and positive "every time" repeatablity.

2. Support hand thumb pointing straight forward along the frame, indexing on some stamped verbiage I can feel.
 
Under the safety.
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Going back and looking close,I notice the safety is the old original WW1 small safety,maybe 1/2 in long and 3/16 wide.Its purely a control button,and there is nothing to rest the thumb on. Resting the thumb is moot.
The relative thumb positions of the instructors was approx. thumb forward position.HMMM I wonder why the safety itself was modified with the small shelf and flange?A place for the thumb to ride?? Evolution?
Admittedly in combat shooting may well be done one handed.The other hand might be busy with a 5 gal can of water,or an ammo can or wounded troop.Or a radio.Or the reins of a horse.Or a sabre.
Those with two free hands are often better served by a rifle.

I also understand for many folks,the 1911 is about bullseye shooting.That is their focus.Sight picture and gradual trigger squeeze. That is not wrong.Its a perfectly wonderful form of shooting.

The discipline of fast (very fast) accurate (not 10 ring,but effective) shooting does not allow time for a bullseye trigger pull. The trigger gets jerked.Recoil recovery time is minimal. The modern two handed grip ha evolved for shooting faster than 1/2 second per shot,accurately.

A trigger jerk works if the grip holds the gun still.

The winners generally use the grip that works for them,and that's today's two handed hold.

You may certainly do whatever makes you happy. It works good enough for you.
 
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When thinking of a proper grip I thought back when I went with friends to a golf driving range , I was a baseball player and you can't swing at a golf ball like you would swing at a baseball or for that matter a tennis racket . So I guess there is something in a proper form , style or grip. If your shooting good with your style keep doing it but if your having problems the try the different grips .
 
Strong hand around grip, support hand under strong hand with support thumb against frame, strong thumb over support thumb under safety. works well for me. hdbiker
 
Not claiming to be a great shooter by any means, especially now, I'm pretty bad, but after almost 46 years of shooting, and at one time being "pretty good", IMHO there is way too much thinking about how to grip a gun. I've watched a lot of youtube videos and some of them I've tried the downright odd ways some of the people in them grip guns and my hands must be totally different than theirs are, as a lot of them are downright uncomfortable, and gripping a gun insanely hard as many people do is just crazy to me. But then again, I'm one of those people who don't keep a gun that "limp wrists" when I grip it the same way other guns are gripped. If it's not a break in thing, it's gone, no matter how pretty it is. I'm not a fan of excessive "texturing" of the grip, either. I used to have crazy strong grip strength, and don't have it now, but I don't see the need to have sandpaper like grips and over the top checkering like some people seem to desire/want/need. I got rid of my F&N FNS-40 for two reasons, I decided to get out of .40, but mostly because of the grip texture, which IMHO, is over the top.
 
Two handed: thumbs forward, pad of thumbs (thenar eminence) on the grip, & a firm grip. Helps with the pistol returning back to “home”.

One handed, either hand, thumb down. I like to do a slight inward tilt.

Since the trigger weight is only 3.5 to 4.5 pounds, the grip is not as tight as I would have in a revolver with a 10-13 lb DA trigger, particularly with a 454 Casull, 460 or 500 Magnum.


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Strong hand, regardless of gun type, is high, and if there's a safety that's large enough, thumb on top of that and clamping down on it to force the gun as deeply into the hand as possible.
High thumb opens up space on the frame for the weak hand, so the latter can contribute more to a two-handed grip; neither hand has to grip the gun tightly when both hands are contributing close to equally, and that allows the trigger finger to be limber.
Weak-hand wrist is rotated forward and down, so the wrists are working in different planes; if the wrists are parallel, they can be "broken" together by recoil, while rotating the weak wrist aligns the bones in an "X" that's mutually supporting.
 
Sharkbite said:
Gunsite
Frontsight
Thunder ranch
Smith and Wesson academy
Blackwater
Jerry Miculek
Rob leatham

The list goes on of professional trainers that teach to ride the safety on a 1911. Your “ive been doing it different for 40 years” does not make it “correct”. Which was the OP’s question.

“I was taught it in the Army 40 years ago”, also doesn't cut it.

Teaching PROPER 1911 shooting is becoming a lost art, but those of us that have an extensive background in doing just that, insist on riding the safety UNLESS some physical deformity prevents that for happening.
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Another expert, Massad Ayoob prefers to curl the thumb down, thumb over thumb in what he calls a "crush grip" although he does describe the attributes of the thumb over safety BUT, he also opines that a lot of it depends on how the gun fits YOUR hand.

Most of us here shoot different platforms. Who has a striker, a SA/DA, SA, safety, no safety, etc. and shoots them all?...How many have a Beretta 92 and a 1911 ?..the safety is released in a different direction, the Beretta up and the 1911 down. So, IMO, developing a grip that is consistent and compatible with all the handguns you shoot may be the best idea
 
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