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^ I find this to be grossly simplified and oftentimes inaccurate.
Finger placement on trigger is a variable that will necessarily change depending on the strength, physical size and other anatomic variables of the individual shooter's hand, and how those factors interact with both the physical dimensions of the gun and the specifics of its trigger path.
"How much finger" Steve Fisher gives a 1911 will be very different than how much finger Earnest Langdon places on DA/SA Beretta versus Tatiana Whitlock on a Glock.
The idea is to "finish flat," and how any one of our fingers achieves this with any one specific gun is something that is individually determined and unique.
This can even be affected by personal preference:
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^ "Correction targets" such as this needs to be used with caution.
One big thing to note is that these were originally spawned from single-handed Bullseye shooting at the 25+ yard line.
Using both hands as well as using the targets at closer distances can both introduce significant confounding factors into the target's interpretation.
Factually, relying too heavily on this target is often one of the biggest reasons why shooters making certain errors get stuck in a rut - they try to correct what "the chart/target says," when their actual fault lies elsewhere. ( Here's an article by the late
ToddG on P-T.com about the use of this target, with a few other very important considerations to keep in-mind:
http://pistol-training.com/archives/292 .)
If you're using the chart/target for corrections and you notice that you're not making any improvements, I would urge you to stop - and instead seek out live help from a good instructor or otherwise capable shooter instead, as you'll quickly find that the money you're spending in range-fees and ammo will rapidly approach the cost of a simple session with an instructor or class tuition.
There's also a more detailed target/chart that addresses potential vision/lighting induced issues, below:
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John "Shrek" McPhee has a very interesting take on the grip versus trigger interaction:
^ And this is something that - this being an SA Forum, we should all know that Rob Leatham has taught since the early oughts (
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread...er-Control&s=ec6389ad23ce27fb5d7ebf0a27c88fce).
McPhee places tremendous emphasis - rightfully so - on indexing and the grip:
And we revisit the "Pie Chart" handgun correction target, as a part of his presentation here:
With this as the follow-up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzKiAQaCpB8
As for how to achieve "the grip?"
The "thumbs forward" grip is the one that's in-favor now.
However, you'll need to realize that the "thumbs forward" descriptor is just that: and it actually covers a whole range of different specific techniques that each shooter tweaks (Vogel in the video above alluded to this, when he mentioned that he has some small cuts on the top of the web of his hand from the slide - there's actually scars there - where some guys with meatier hands can get really flayed open with the same). If you're interested in the grip, take a look at this thread on DC.com:
https://www.defensivecarry.com/foru...ning/132220-proper-grip-recoil-managment.html
- Specifically, take a look at this post of mine, and track out to that outlink so that you really get an idea of how there are small but important (and if you were to ask these shooters, they're critical) variations even among the top shooters:
www.defensivecarry.com
^ If you didn't get what's critical in that post, read it again, here:
With this article in
Handguns -
https://www.handgunsmag.com/editorial/tactics_training_combatg_100306/138866 - being probably among the most cited in the effort to train/re-train pistol shooters to the modern "thumbs forward grip, " we need to realize that even among the top-tier shooters, there are distinct differences in how they achieve and execute this grip. While a quick look in their direction may show that they're "thumbs forward," there's actual significant nuance/detail in their precise execution which may have each of the cited shooters doing very different things from another.
Robert Vogel's grip is also something that many shooters focus-in on:
This chapter is from the Panteao Productions title, Make Ready With Bob Vogel: Building World Class Pistol Skills. This video, and many more can be found her...
www.youtube.com
What Vogel doesn't mention in that video segment above is just how athletic he is, and that this plays a big factor in why his techniques work - for him.
Vogel made it plain to us that a serious shooter (and no, you don't have to be a competition shooter or other professional gunman to qualify: you can just be a serious hobbyist) should be able to crush-out a #2
Captains of Crush grip trainer. A big part of his technique hinges on raw strength and athleticism. (Similar to this, another relatively famous Ohio shooter, Chris Cerino
- Top Shot runner-up for both Season 1 and the All Stars - came around the class to demonstrate how much grip pressure he uses with his support hand...I simply said "wow."
)
To further this, near the 3:30 mark in the video, he talked about how he exerts inward force to lock-in the gun. This is done with not only the arm muscles, but also with the rest of your upper body muscles - pecs, traps, all of it.
I'm not a small guy - here's me with Vogel, from a class he taught in the spring of 2012:
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- but I was completely unprepared for what happened when he asked us to assume our normal shooting stance, dropping our support hand/arm, and to let him assume the support side duties while we "countered" his inboard torque with our weapon/dominant hand/arm. Yup, he just about toppled me over on my right side.
I know that I presented a lot of stuff, here, and to be honest,
KLGunner, I hope you know that I'm not trying to be negative either towards you or the information that you'd cited (which I actually think is good info.).
Rather, what I am hoping to bring out with all of this that I wrote above is that the individual shooter needs to figure out what works best for him/herself: to understand that breadth of knowledge is just as important as depth of knowledge.
Learn what works for these top shooters, and give their techniques a good and honest try to see if they work well for you. Adopt what works, and discard what doesn't. We're all different, and what works for another person may work the same, better, or not at all for you.
