Posted by douglas on August 29, 2000 at 16:15:04:
I know that the firmness of the grip has a direct impact on your ability to smoothly apply gentle trigger pressure. Am I correct that the grip on a free pistol should be almost non existant, but that the grip of the pistol itself should envelop the hand tightly, making any sort of grip on the pistol by the shooter unnecessary?
Posted by Nick Nicolini on August 29, 2000 at 17:53:56:
this is from Nygord's notes @ nygord-precision.com
Grip Pressure
We get a lot of questions regarding gripping pressure. How hard do you grip a Free Pistol? An Air Pistol?
While every individual is different as to grip strength, amount of body mass (to absorb recoil), etc., there are some guide lines. The "grip" that you take on a pistol must be:
Constant
Adequate to hold the pistol securely during firing
Allow free and indepenent movement of the trigger finger
It is this last factor that often causes the most problems. If you are "squeezing the sap" out of the wood on the grip of the gun, you will have a very difficult time moving the trigger finger with any finesse. For this reason Free Pistol grips are constructed to require a bent wrist. The more you must depress the hand and thereby take the wrist away from a straight position, the less force can be applied to the grip. This in turn forces you to grip more lightly and thus free the trigger finger for more subtle application of pressure to the 20-50 gram trigger weight of the Free Pistol. As you move up to higher trigger weights, the grip angle becomes less obtuse and finally you get to something like the Colt .45 Government model with a trigger pull of 4 lbs. (1800 grams!) and the gun is constructed to be held with an almost straight wrist.
So, start out gripping the Free Pistol with about the same pressure you would exert during a handshake with a young girl - not a "limp fish", but not so hard as to cause any discomfort!
Posted by Andre on August 30, 2000 at 05:28:11:
Hi! I agree with Mr. Nygord's article (although I hardly have the credentials to disagree with him). My coach tells me that the Grip on a Free Pistol should be light, just firm enough to keep the gun steady. I myself like a very tight grip on my Free-Pistol. Just be careful not to make it so tight as to cut your the blood circulation in your hand, making your trigger finger numb and getting off terrible shots. I did that for a while!
Posted by Rob Potter on August 30, 2000 at 06:23:30:
It is most important that you hang on to the grip. The strength of your grip should be average to firm - but it must remain constant for each shot during the match. Trigger pressure needs to be heavy enough so that you are not afraid of the trigger - therefore in very cold conditions you will probably need 100gms or so, and in hot conditions 50gms would be fine. It takes a very experienced and confident shooter to succesfully use a light trigger (less than 20gms). Also, make sure that the trigger shoe is set in a position so that you are pulling straight back (the part of your finger touching the trigger is at right angles to the barrel line) at the point of discharge.
Posted by David M on August 30, 2000 at 08:43:00:
Over the years I have come to believe that there is actually two distinctly different styles for Free pistol grips,depending on what trigger weight you shoot.
Firstly, the Russian style with the oversize grip, in the TOZ-35 style, using a light to very light trigger 20-40 gms. Some shooters even have the trigger lighter, as low as 6 gms (but that light is dangerous).
The oversize nature of the grip does not allow your hand to hold it very tight nor allow your fingers to wrap around it or apply pressure with your fingertips.
These grips use a technique of lightly held and lightly triggered so that the mussle tension in the whole hand is fairly even. There is even a pulsing technique for the supper light trigger where the shooter lightly pulses the finger tip on the trigger while in the aiming area until the shot breaks. These light triggers and large grips were and are still used by many Russian and Eastern European shooters but the technique requires years of practise to master.
The other grip style is a smaller grip, possibly with finger grooves, that you can comfortably hold it firmer, it may allow you to wrap your fingers around the front of the grip, but still has the large palm shelf with lots of support. With this style of grip, a heavier trigger works well (60 to 150 gms.), Again with firmer grip pressure the heavier trigger still leaves the overall tension in the hand fairly even.
The heavier trigger is easier to control in a competition when the nerves increase tension and also in the cold when you lose finger feel for light triggers.
This style is now used by many shooters, including the Chineese team who use about 120 gms on their triggers.
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