A grip I have not seen before

[76shuvlinoff]

The other day I was introducing my 19 yr old daughter to handgun shooting with a revolver. After a lengthy talk on handling, the differences between DA/SA and operation of this particular .38, we did a bit of target practice.

She is right handed and left eye dominate. I am left/left so it takes some thought when working on grip and stance.

About the third cylinder I noticed she had adjusted her grip on her own. Shooting DA using her strong right hand around the butt of the pistol she would cover with her left hand but pull the trigger with her left index finger. I tried to correct this grip and her shots would wander, she'd go back to it and put 6 center mass.

Has anyone else seen this?

- Mark

 

[Don357]

In my opinion, there is really no right or wrong way to grip a firearm, except those which do not allow the operator full control and a firm grasp on the weapon. I would encourage her to practice a "proper" grip, but if she is comfortable with, has good control, and is hitting her target with the grip she's using, I wouldn't make an issue of it.

 

[Bovice]

Interesting. I've heard that hand dominance could be a genetic thing, and I recall a long time ago in HS biology doing Punnett Squares and all, and learning about hybridization. Sounds like she may have a mix of righty and lefty... i.e. she's ambidextrous. Can she write with her left and right hand?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Some people search high and low for the proper grip and trigger pull to make accurate shots. If she's getting it done well with her method, who are we to change that?

 

[76shuvlinoff]

She writes right handed but as always had a very weak right eye coupled with astigmatism. Getting the proper eyeglasses and contact lenses has always been a bear. High school sports with a ball were basically impossible for her but she's a horse lover and they had an equestrian team so she got to compete for her school that way.
Even with little experience when she shoots a pellet gun or .22 rifle left-handed she is a decent shot. Right handed with a long gun doesn't work at all. This was our first outing with a sidearm. She embarrassed her mother...... and I'm still hearing about that from both sides.

 

[JRH6856]

The description of the grip suggests that she may have small hands and the pull distance is too long for her strong (right) hand. Essentially, she is using her right hand as a grip filler (sort of like a Tyler T-Grip) to shorten the pull. What gun is she using? She may do better with different grips.

 

[bigfatdave]

Ask her to try shooting left-handed in the first place. If the only way she can confidently operate the gun is to pull the trigger with the support hand, then you have a handSgun ... keep experimenting, something will work reliably and repeatably.

Try some different guns, too ... some time for her to experiment with a nice big bucket-o-guns and find out what fits, what doesn't, and what has controls she likes. The stereotype of "ladies should shoot revolvers" is silly, foolish, and needs to die, let her pick.

 

[beatledog7]

You say she's right-handed, but it's not unusual for a person to be mixed-handed. I have a brother who writes and eats lefty but is a natural righty in all sports. Maybe your daughter has this characteristic and will wind up being a natural lefty shooter.

Encourage her to do what works. If she's consistently hitting her POA with what might be called an unorthodox grip, maybe we should all try it her way.

 

[BCRider]

The description of the grip suggests that she may have small hands and the pull distance is too long for her strong (right) hand. Essentially, she is using her right hand as a grip filler (sort of like a Tyler T-Grip) to shorten the pull. What gun is she using? She may do better with different grips.

I'm thinking that this may be part of the issue as well. Do you have the gun set up with the rather fatter style grips for yourself? Or perhaps you're using the small "service" grips and she has larger hands which benefited by using this unorthodox grip?

Either way if she were to get into competitive shooting it would make it hard to shoot "strong hand" and "weak hand" one handed stages...

 

[76shuvlinoff]

Her hands are relatively small, the revolver in question is a Taurus 82 Service .38 with factory wood stocks. I picked it up to give the ladies around here something different to try than my semi-autos. They don't like the autos.

Since the girls have proven to be much more comfortable shooting the 82 than my bottom feeders, I am thinking about a 4" GP100 with .38 loads. If the GP100 reach is longer than this 82 we may have to look at something else.

I think with her vision issues she has simply adapted. I could probably watch her all day and not understand what's natural for her. I did have her shooting the .38 with either hand in a SA mode, the results were about equal. We will steer away from fat grips and hot loads. It was raining and we kept it to under 50 rds, next time I'm just going to zip it and watch for a while.

 

[VA27]

I think I'd try to get her to shoot left handed, if at all possible. Otherwise, as long as it's working for her, let it be.

I have mixed dominance. I'm left eye dominant, mostly right handed, but I can write and shoot a pistol with either hand. I can shoot a rifle left hand. I am hopeless with a bow or shotgun left-handed. Go figure.

 

[bigfatdave]

I'm somewhat ambidextrous, I write/shoot right handed, eat left handed, and am otherwise non-specific about which hand is for any given task. It helped a lot bach when I was a submarine engineroom mechanic. I can't shoot a rifle lefty, for some reason, I sort of understand the plight of the left-handed rifle shopper.

With a recent right eye injury, I found myself shooting handguns with my left eye, which resulted in some good targets punched with odd stance/grip. Experimentation is key here, I'd recommend a selection of .22lr guns and some time for HER to figure out what works, then move up to centerfire in a platform similar to whatever worked for her in .22 ... sticking to one gun and one load for a new shooter isn't going to help unless you get VERY lucky.
But there has to be a one-handed option if you intend your daughter to be able to use a weapon defensively, rather than just as a paper-punching toy.

 

[ATLDave]

So she was gripping with her right hand, but using her left to pull the trigger (and gripping on top of the right)? Could it be that the trigger pull was too heavy or long for her just using her right hand? Perhaps she was using some extra pull from her left arm on the trigger, pulling it back against the "fixed" base of her right hand. Did she use/need the same technique SA?

On the one hand, I believe in "do whatever works" as a basic philosophy for all athletic and semi-athletic endeavors. But recognize that, if she's using the opposite hand to get a good trigger pull, one handed shooting will always be a near-impossibility. She may or may not think that's important. If my supposition above is correct, why not just try something with a lighter pull?

 

[76shuvlinoff]

ATLDave

Yes she pulls the trigger with the "off" hand, I watched her do it on both sides. She says it "just feels better". I won't argue with her for now.

I lightened the trigger on this 38 when I got it because it's just for plinking to get both her and her mother into revolvers. They can run it one handed with either hand in DA mode.

 

[doc2rn]

Sounds like she may be right brain dominant, and forcibly using ambidextrous motillity. Not that uncommon, really. I used to say if its not broken why fix it? I would say let her shoot her way most of the time but follow up with some one handed drills to ingrain that muscle memory.

 

[hardluk1]

I have a wolff hammer spring on my old taurus 85 and trigger pull s DA 4 1/2lb SA is 2 lbs. I did this for some friends that used it for the CC class and my 2 daughters to learn about revolvers with.

I am also right hand, left eye handgun shooter and like you know its fine for your daughter to shot for a while like she is now but you must talk to her about it as she may not allways be able to use both hands. Try to find something she can get her right hand around to shot properly. Myybe something like a bersa 380 thunder. Light enough trigger pull and short enough reach. My youngest was haveing hard time with my model 85 at first and use a friends bersa. Some years later the bersa thunder 380 is her carry peice.

 

[RaceM]

If she consistently puts lead on target let her have at. After reading some posts on here I've decided to keep my wug shut & have my wife shoot her shotgun as is comfortable for her. She's got "bad" form, flying elbows, but she nails what she's firing at.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

One guy I met once said he shot like this, I think it's silly.