SHOOTING GRIP & STANCE

1 00:00:00,375 --> 00:00:01,876 How you stand and grip your 2 00:00:01,876 --> 00:00:05,463 pistol is one of the first things you should work on as a new gun owner, 3 00:00:05,714 --> 00:00:10,218 and it provides a foundation for being able to control how much a handgun kicks. 4 00:00:10,719 --> 00:00:12,762 We call this recoil control. 5 00:00:13,096 --> 00:00:17,392 I'm Julie Golob of Team Smith Wesson here with my advice to help you with your grip 6 00:00:17,642 --> 00:00:20,020 and your stance. Let's start with stance. 7 00:00:20,562 --> 00:00:23,023 I begin with my feet at least shoulder width apart 8 00:00:23,273 --> 00:00:27,068 with my strong side foot in my case, my right foot, a step back. 9 00:00:27,193 --> 00:00:30,113 This provides a solid base for me to build on. 10 00:00:30,488 --> 00:00:34,868 Next, I start adding little bends to my body, starting at the ankles, 11 00:00:35,076 --> 00:00:38,830 moving up to my knees, and then bending forward at the hips. 12 00:00:39,456 --> 00:00:42,876 When I extend my arms, I activate the muscles in my back 13 00:00:42,876 --> 00:00:46,546 and shoulders, making sure I don't lock my elbows. 14 00:00:47,255 --> 00:00:51,468 All of these little bends in my body end up serving as little shock absorbers 15 00:00:51,718 --> 00:00:57,432 and combined to help me keep my weight forward on the balls of my feet. 16 00:01:01,436 --> 00:01:04,898 If there's one thing you take away from this video, it's 17 00:01:04,898 --> 00:01:09,277 to make sure you don't straighten and lock your joints. 18 00:01:09,736 --> 00:01:12,489 It's very common with new shooters, especially women, 19 00:01:12,739 --> 00:01:14,657 to lock their elbows and knees. 20 00:01:14,657 --> 00:01:18,745 And when you do this, you end up leaning backward and the recoil controls 21 00:01:18,745 --> 00:01:21,164 you, not the other way around. 22 00:01:21,831 --> 00:01:23,541 Now, let's talk about grip. 23 00:01:23,541 --> 00:01:26,711 I use a high thumb's forward grip when I shoot. 24 00:01:26,961 --> 00:01:30,965 It starts by getting a good grip with my strong hand high along 25 00:01:30,965 --> 00:01:34,344 the upper portion of the grip where the back strap of the pistol 26 00:01:34,928 --> 00:01:37,388 making a V with my strong hand. 27 00:01:37,806 --> 00:01:41,226 This v is where I'll make contact with the pistols backstrap. 28 00:01:41,226 --> 00:01:45,563 Again, my grip is nice and high because the lower 29 00:01:45,563 --> 00:01:49,567 I grab onto the pistol, the more this handgun is going to kick. 30 00:01:49,692 --> 00:01:51,111 We don't want that. 31 00:01:51,111 --> 00:01:54,906 This pistol also has manual thumb safeties and I like to ride them 32 00:01:54,906 --> 00:01:57,784 by keeping my strong hand thumb right along the top. 33 00:01:58,284 --> 00:02:01,663 This keeps me from bumping them on accidentally and also helps me 34 00:02:01,663 --> 00:02:03,331 keep my high grip, too. Win, win. When 35 00:02:04,332 --> 00:02:07,544 I grasp the firearm, I make it a point to keep my trigger 36 00:02:07,544 --> 00:02:10,672 finger straight and outside the trigger guard. 37 00:02:11,256 --> 00:02:13,967 I wrap the rest of my fingers around the front of the grip 38 00:02:13,967 --> 00:02:18,096 and I use them to pull the grip into the palm of my strong hand. 39 00:02:19,180 --> 00:02:21,349 Now it's time to bring that support hand into play, 40 00:02:21,349 --> 00:02:24,936 and this is sometimes the hardest thing to get used to for new shooters. 41 00:02:25,061 --> 00:02:28,148 I start with extending my support hand in front of me 42 00:02:28,398 --> 00:02:30,900 and add another shock absorber. Bend at the wrist. 43 00:02:30,942 --> 00:02:32,277 Keeping your arms straight 44 00:02:32,277 --> 00:02:36,281 with your hands so that your fingers point downward at a 45 degree angle. 45 00:02:36,364 --> 00:02:37,991 Now it's time to meet up my hands. 46 00:02:37,991 --> 00:02:41,035 And when I place my support hand on the grip, I do so 47 00:02:41,035 --> 00:02:44,122 in a way to eliminate any space between my hands. 48 00:02:44,831 --> 00:02:48,418 The base of my left hand thumb where it meets up with my wrist is going 49 00:02:48,418 --> 00:02:53,464 to fit right into the space underneath where my right thumb meets my right hand. 50 00:02:53,715 --> 00:02:56,801 My left hand's index finger makes contact on the pistol’s 51 00:02:56,801 --> 00:02:58,595 frame right underneath the trigger guard. 52 00:02:58,595 --> 00:03:01,431 As I wrap those fingers around my strong hand grip, 53 00:03:02,432 --> 00:03:05,476 where I pull the grip into my palm with my strong hand. 54 00:03:05,476 --> 00:03:07,604 I grip differently with my support hand. 55 00:03:07,604 --> 00:03:11,691 I think of my left hand as a vise, and I use it to clamp my support, 56 00:03:11,691 --> 00:03:14,152 hand fingers together and onto the grip. 57 00:03:14,736 --> 00:03:18,239 This grip, combined with my stance, allows me to shoot everything from 58 00:03:18,239 --> 00:03:22,493 soft shooting 22 rim fire up to large caliber revolvers 59 00:03:22,869 --> 00:03:26,956 and the more powerful the firearm, the more aggressive I stand and the harder 60 00:03:26,956 --> 00:03:30,460 I grip in order to manage the recoil as best as I can. 61 00:03:31,419 --> 00:03:33,463 Try it out and see if it works for you. 62 00:03:33,463 --> 00:03:35,465 Let us know in the comments section below. 63 00:03:35,465 --> 00:03:38,051 Hit that like button and subscribe if you haven't already. 64 00:03:38,176 --> 00:03:41,804 And you can always check out Gunsmarts dot Smith dash Wesson dot com. 65 00:03:42,055 --> 00:03:44,474 For more.