Proper Grip When Using a Defensive Handgun
Paul CarlsonDescription
Paul Carlson of Safety Solutions Academy discusses how the fit of a handgun affects efficiency during a defensive incident. A handgun that fits properly absorbs recoil and allows for faster follow-up shots and more precision when you need it. Plus if the handgun malfunctions, that can be handled more easily as well.
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When it comes to dealing with a violent encounter, unfortunately as an armed citizen, we don't necessarily have very many choices in the situation itself. The criminal chooses the who, what, when, where, why and how. It's our job to be as ready as we can be for that situation. One of the ways that we can be ready is to make sure that we have a defensive firearm that is efficient as it possibly can be. We often talk about the function of that firearm. Maybe we talk about the capacity of the firearm. But very few people talk about the actual fit of the handgun and how that affects efficiency. A handgun that fits properly is going to absorb recoil more efficiently. It's going to allow for faster up shots. More precision when you need it. And if by chance that handgun happens to malfunction, you'll be able to take care of that more easily as well. So let's take a look at the three characteristics that can make a handgun fit well. The first thing we wanna take into consideration is the fact that the handgun is designed to be fired. When you get ready to fit a defensive handgun, make sure that that handgun is unloaded. You can see, we've got a clear firearm here. We're gonna go ahead and run the slide forward. You also wanna make sure that you have a safe direction to work in. Just in case there's some kind of an error that's made, you have that extra little safety measure in place. We need to be able to fire this handgun when we need to defend ourselves. And that means, we wanna make sure that we have our finger in the proper place on the trigger. When we put that finger on the trigger, we wanna use the pad of the finger, probably some place between the tip and that first joint. The heavier the trigger pull, the closer to the first joint you're probably gonna wanna have that finger. Proper placement gives you precision and faster follow-up shots. The next thing we wanna look at when it comes to the efficiency of a handgun, is to take a look at how that handgun fits into the web of our hand. We want that gun, the back strap of the gun, to be centered in the web of the hand. We can visualize this by taking a look at the front sight, and draw a line through the rear sight and up our arm. The best case scenario is for that line to continue on your arm, as far as possible. The farther it continues, the more the gun is going to be centered in the web of the hand and avoid the recoil in the movement of the joints of the thumb. We want this on the good, solid meat of the hand and into the bones of the wrist. The third thing we look for when it comes to the defensive firearm fitting properly, is we look for the ability to be able to manipulate controls. We wanna be able to make sure that we can press the magazine release, so that we can reload the gun when we need to. And we also wanna make sure that we can operate the slide stop, so that if we need to remediate malfunctions, we can do so. And all of that should happen without having to take our hand off of the gun or shift our grip. When you're looking for that defensive firearm, if you recognize the idea that you can't control everything about a dynamic critical incident but do take control of what you can control, you're going to find a handgun that fits better, is more efficient and will perform better when you need it most.
Positioning a semi-auto in the web of the hand and aligning with forearm bones is essential for SA operation. I learned from reading "Teaching Women to Shoot" (by Vicki Farnam and Diane Nicholl) that back when women were beginning to join the military or law enforcement they were simply issued a standard firearm, and it sometimes would not fit their smaller hand. So they twisted it a bit to be able to reach the trigger, which pushed recoil into their thumb joint. It not only hurts a lot, but it doesn't always provide enough resistance to hold the gun steady while the slide is moving. That, in turn, caused more stovepipe and misfeed malfunctions among those women than the other shooters. A really good thing to know if you are teaching a woman to fire a semi-auto! Those malfunctions are a good clue to check the fit and grip position..
While much of what was presented is standard instruction, I still disagree. While there are times when a possible threat has not been fully identified that the “trigger” finger should not be on the trigger, but too often I see in videos and portrayed on TV when an encounter is imminently anticipated that the trigger finger is not on the trigger. Allegedly to help avoid an accident. But the second or even microseconds required to move the finger to the trigger can be fatal. I have read that in those Old West gunfights, the fastest draw could still be killed since the time it took the first fired bullet to reach its target still allowed the opponent to get off his shot. Yes, the hero had the faster draw and fired first, but still died. That is not the outcome I had in mind. And, BTW, I have some arthritis in mu “trigger finger”. But pain or no pain, I still need to fire when and if required.
The title "Proper Grip" is a bit misleading. I was hoping to see PDN's recommendation for position of the support hand in a two-handed defensive grip. Good info, but "Proper Fit for a Defensive Handgun" would have been more descriptive of what this presented, in my opinion.
The video is very well done and has a great deal of good information. However, I do not agree with the placement of the gun in the hand so that it all lines up with the arm. In theory this makes since as it should give you the best control and shot recovery possible through recoil management. However, if you will take an honest look at the grip, when you line everything up as shown and then bring the pistol up to shoot, now don't bend the wrist, you will see that the sights are not in line with the eye. This will require that you twist or bend your wrist to enable the proper sight alignment to be achieved. Once you do this you decrease the control ability of recoil and the gun will not come back to the same position after each shot. If you grip the gun with about a 15 degree cant off the center of the webbing, the sights will align properly with the eye without having to manipulate the pistol. Also, after each shot the gun will return to it's "HOME" position after each shot without any extra manipulation, thereby permitting faster followup shots. I hope I have explained this well enough for people to understand. If not, I will gladly try again.
Your video is very informed & impressive I believe they will be helpful
Good video. I looked up Safety Solutions Academy and was surprised to find it in Ohio, assuming the shirt you were wearing is a work shirt, because the desert behind you is my neighborhood !
Outstanding video! The camera is right-on. Voice, clarity and simplicity of instructions are excellent. When and if the need arises, you only get one moment to get it right. These basic fundamentals of firearm ownership help make it happen.
Good video. I am passing it on to some friends that want to get into shooting. It will be a big help for them to getting into the shooting sports and learn self defense. Thanks for making the video.
my sportsman pistol permit is in the mail to me, need all the info i can absorb to help make a proper choice on my firearm purchase, this video filled another spot in that quest, thank you....
Great video, though I think grip across the rest of the hand is far more important than control manipulation for most carry guns. Generally speaking, you're not doing combat reloads off-duty.