Tips about Holding a Handgun Properly

Holding the gun properly affects the outcome of your shot, no matter how accurately you aim or correctly you hold the rest of your body. There are a number of different opinions about the correct method of holding your firearm, all will agree that one of the problems associated with shooting a handgun is there’s far less gun to hang onto, unlike other types of firearms. You can’t lock it into position using your shoulder like you would a rifle. There’s no using your cheek to aid keeping firing accurate, You simply have your shooting hand and the use of your other hand to help support it.

Since the hand you hold the gun in also has to perform the action of shooting, using your other hand as an aid is almost necessary for accuracy. Forget what Rambo and other action figures do, if you want to hit your target, two hands are better than one. Your primary hand is your dominant hand. You should hold the grip of the gun in the web of that hand apply slight pressure to the front and back of the grip. You keep the middle finger, ring finger and pinky finger curled around the grip with the fingers slightly under the trigger guard.

Put the palm of your other hand, the support hand, on the opposite side of the grip and wrap your fingers around the grip to the other side, nestling the heel of the hand in the gap left by the shooting hand. At this point, most shooting experts will agree with the position of the hands. The real controversy comes with the positioning of the thumbs.

Some experts tell you to point your thumbs downward, others say up and still others say downrange. The most important tip here is to keep your thumbs from interfering with the slide on the gun. You also have to remember to keep your hands relaxed and don’t white knuckle the grip. One expert suggests you think of the grip as a cute little chipmunk that’s angry and wants loose. You want to hold it tight, but not kill the poor animal.

The hardest part of shooting the gun is to maintain constant tension on the trigger, while you press down with the trigger finger. It’s difficult at first to get your trigger finger to act independently of the other fingers. However, using your whole hand to squeeze the trigger can cause your shot to veer downward and toward the direction of your dominant hand. Your support hand can prevent some of the movement, but practicing using your trigger independently can improve your accuracy tremendously.