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Back when dinosaurs roamed The Plain, and I learned to shoot sidearms, I was taught to use a thumbs-down or "revolver style" grip, where the thumb of the support hand is placed over the thumb of the shooting hand.
To me, this technique has several important advantages over the high-thumbs grip that seems to be de rigour nowadays:
First, it is the same grip whether you shoot auto loaders or revolvers. Try to use a high-thumb grip with a revolver, and you can injure your support thumb via gases and debris escaping from the cylinder gap.
Second, how many times do we see shooters having function issues, where one of the suggestions is "make sure your thumb isn't hitting the slide release lever?" or "make sure your thumb isn't dragging the slide?" How about removing the possibility of that happening at all under stress, and tuck the darn thumbs away in the first place?
And finally, with some of the smaller conceal carry guns out there, a high-thumb grip places the support thumb danger close to the muzzle. If things get dicey, bad things can happen to that thumb.
I fully understand that the high-thumb grip is supposed to put more hand meat on the gun, and it does. However, I'm not at all convinced that whatever control is gained is worth the potential risks.
Does anyone else here use the thumbs-down grip? Or am I the only dinosaur left out there? :embarassed:
To me, this technique has several important advantages over the high-thumbs grip that seems to be de rigour nowadays:
First, it is the same grip whether you shoot auto loaders or revolvers. Try to use a high-thumb grip with a revolver, and you can injure your support thumb via gases and debris escaping from the cylinder gap.
Second, how many times do we see shooters having function issues, where one of the suggestions is "make sure your thumb isn't hitting the slide release lever?" or "make sure your thumb isn't dragging the slide?" How about removing the possibility of that happening at all under stress, and tuck the darn thumbs away in the first place?
And finally, with some of the smaller conceal carry guns out there, a high-thumb grip places the support thumb danger close to the muzzle. If things get dicey, bad things can happen to that thumb.
I fully understand that the high-thumb grip is supposed to put more hand meat on the gun, and it does. However, I'm not at all convinced that whatever control is gained is worth the potential risks.
Does anyone else here use the thumbs-down grip? Or am I the only dinosaur left out there? :embarassed: