Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Handgun Grip Angle: Practice, dummy!

I've recently come to the conclusion that, with few exceptions, handgun grip angle and so called "ergonomics" are just about the most pointless thing to consider when shopping for a pistol.

Why?

For two reasons.

1.  The new shooter.  If this is truly a new shooter, then he or she has little or no fundamentals to draw upon.  His evaluation of a grip angle may be done while gripping a pistol incorrectly.  We've all seen the actors in cop procedural shows that grasp handguns way too low on the grip, or even those actors that think it's good practice to put your thumb directly behind the slide of a striker-operated semiautomatic.  These are over-dramatized examples of improper grip... but if you don't know how you're supposed to hold a gun then how on Earth do you suppose you're going to know if it fits right when you are holding it?

2.  The serial gun buyer.  The guy who is looking for the "perfect gun."  The guy who spends $500-$1000 on a gun and runs it for half a dozen range trips before getting bored with it (or blaming supposed deficiencies of the gun for less than optimal results downrange), then spends another $500-$1000 on another gun, and another half a dozen range trips with that one.  This guy doesn't have 10k rounds through any 1 of his guns, and any one of his guns is barely past the break-in period before he's drooling over the counter at the gun store again.  This guy listens to the Glock "grip hump" bashing, all the praise for the 1911 grip angle, but probably couldn't tell you what gun was in his hand if you blindfolded him and tested him... with his own handguns.

I've seen phenomenal Glock shooters.

I've seen phenomenal 1911 shooters.

I've seen phenomenal CZ/Witness shooters.

I've seen phenomenal revolver shooters.

I'm worse than the people in any of the above 4 categories that I'm citing.  Heck, the revolver shooter I see regularly at the steel matches outshoots my times, using his revolver, and me using my XD.

I guarantee that there is a common thread with all those shooters above:  They all have tens or hundreds of thousands of rounds through the same gun or at least the same platform.  They all took classes using those same guns (though now they are the people that TEACH the classes).  And they spend more time practicing draws and magazine changes than they do learning about the latest Glock or 1911 blessing/curse/fad.

After tens of thousands (or even a few thousand, depending on practice techniques) of rounds, it doesn't matter if you're shooting a Glock with "an unnatural grip angle" or a 1911 that "feels like St. John Browning poured its blue steel goodness into your hand and it molded to your form..."  You'll have an instinctual feel for where your thumbs and hand webbing are supposed to have contact with your pistol.  You'll instinctively know how that relates to your sights, and how your hand should feel for presentation of the top of the slide to your eyes for targeting.

What matters, then, for gun shopping?

Access to control surfaces.  Slide release, magazine release, safeties, decockers, the ability to clear a jam quickly.  Do you have to release a positive grip on the pistol to accomplish any of these tasks?  If so, you need to consider a different platform.

I've watched my complaints about my XD vanish, one by one, for each thousand additional rounds I put through it.  I used to have a pretty strong dislike for this pistol, and even had apprehension about putting it back on my hip.  It's been up for sale twice with no takers.

Now, I just don't care what pistol I carry.  I could just as soon trade my XD for a 1911, a Glock, a Browning Hi Power, or a Beretta 92.  As long as I can run a few hundred or a thousand rounds through it to learn it intimately, it doesn't matter.