The Crush Grip
Dr. John Woods 09.27.17
“There are many theories on how hard to grasp your handgun. I’ve heard, ‘Hold the pistol as you would a quail; firmly enough it won’t fly away, but not hard enough to crush its tiny bones.’ I’ve often heard, ‘Grasp with 40 percent strength with your firing hand and 60 percent with your support hand.’
“After almost 60 years of shooting handguns and 44 years of teaching others to do so, I must respectfully disagree.
So says one Massad Ayoob, a nationally-recognized handgun shooting trainer and personal defense expert.
That quote came from one of Ayoob’s recent articles in a shooting magazine regularly printing his articles on handgun handling and shooting. To say that he is a bit of an authority on the subject would be a gross understatement.
Ayoob went on to describe in detail exactly how to grasp a handgun for maximum control. Though not credited with the technique per se, he describes his recommendation for grabbing a handgun as the “crush grip.” To read his description it is literally a white-knuckled, white-fingernail firm grip upon the shooting implement.
I have myself noted trying various degrees of tension upon the grip of a handgun to achieve the best hold when shooting. Sometimes especially with semi-auto pistols a sort of “death grip” is essential to the proper function of the slide action of the pistol upon firing.
A case in point was a phone call I received from a hunting and shooting friend who had recently purchased a new Glock 43. Upon firing the pistol, he was highly disappointed in the function of the new gun. It would not cycle the slide properly to eject the empty case upon firing.
I immediately questioned the intensity of his grip on the 43, which brought forth a scoffing laugh. I told him to put a gorilla grip on the pistol next time and report back to me. A couple of days later he called to report that the firm grip cured the 43’s ailments. Of course the Glock had no ailment at all, but the shooter did. Now I am held in high esteem by this nimrod shooter for my suggestion.
So, as Ayoob said, secure a “crush grip” on your handgun and you will magically discover better shooting in terms of overall control as well as downrange accuracy.
