Working on Grip - one step forward - one step back

[wolfpengap]

I have been working on my grip 22 bullesye. In particular grip strenght - trying to increase it so as to reduce the size of groups. I found that I was having some low shots about 3 out of 10 being low. While dry firing I was trying to figure out what was causing the low shots. It seems that it maybe caused by me over griping on my pinky finger causing a dip in the front of the gun while firing. At this point I shoot 22 bulleseye with a SW41.

What type of strength are people using on their grips for 22? Are you using any significant pressure on your pinky, balace pressure compared to other fingers or reduced pressure or just rest it there like a thumb?

I do have an airgun on order - should I try to duplicate the grip pressure or change it for the air pistol?

Is their a good article on how to grip a 22 cal gun?

[Isabel1130]

I may not be an expert on this but having the same problem occasionally I am not sure it is your grip strength. I tend to shoot low if I do one of about three things. the first is hold the gun up to long and my sights droop. The second thing that can cause it is letting my wrist get floppy. The third thing, can be dropping my chin. Jim Henderson says that he holds the gun only as tight as he holds the hand of a small child when they are crossing the street. A lot of people use a death grip on the gun and think that gives them a firmer hold, but it can also cause your trigger finger to freeze up. Try dry firing with a lot of follow through, holding the sights or the dot on target after the trigger goes click and then watch your sights or the dot during live fire. Build up your arm and think about holding your wrist firm. Never wiggle your wrist to align the sights. Isabel

[wolfpengap]

Brillant - I think the dropping head is the at least one of the culprits and until this point never considered it. I tried reproducing it at home and sure enough the trig works. Thanks.
On the day I was just having low shots at 6 with great horizontal alingment I kept get those low shots. Everything felt good, the release, the follow through, even sight alingment but sure enough the scope was say no no no. The hole would be in out of the black at 6.


I do have problems with the front sight being not perfectly level. When I try to adjust/correct for it I tend to heel the shot. I do try to bring the gun from above the target and get the sight level in the process but it has been a problem to find the front sight too low. Correcting for it always seems a challenge. I probably should just start the process over.

[clark2245]

It looks like there could be a couple of things going on here. One starts with the front sight issue you reference where your sights are not staying aligned properly. When shooting open sights the primary thing your are concentrating on is the proper alignment of the front and rear sights. That sight alignment is your primary focus with your eye(s) and mind with the overall sight picture of how that lines up with the target in the background being of (sort of) secondary importance in what you are doing. The sights will move around relative to the target but that is normal. There is a strong tendency to try and get the shot off quickly when things look just right but you must resist this and just increase pressure on the trigger until the shot breaks. Accept your hold area, keep the front and rear sight aligned, and press the trigger straight to the rear.

You probably do not have a problem with too much or not enough pressure with one particular finger in your grip, but rather with changing things as you apply pressure to the trigger. The key is to do everything exactly the same every time. You are probably increasing pressure with the little finger, or others as well, as you increase pressure on the trigger causing the sight alignment change you noted in your post just as the shot breaks. It is especially easy to do this if you are trying to 'snatch' the perfect shot as above. Keep your grip pressure for all fingers the same as you squeeze the trigger. Brian Zins ( many time national champion) showed us how he can hold his right hand out and close each finger individually without moving any of the others at all. Not easy to do but he practiced it until he could do it every time because he knew it was an important part of the shot process. Hope this helps give you some ideas.

Clark