HIGH ON THE GUN
Brian Enos: "It's important to get high up on the gun. Your support-hand index finger should be hard up under the triggerguard with firm contact. Some people think that's to stop you from pulling shots low--if you block the underside of the triggerguard, you can't pull the gun down--but for me the only reason I get hard up under the triggerguard is just to get all of my hand higher up on the gun. It's a physics thing; if you were going to hold the gun really low, like halfway down the grip, because the pivot point of the gun is so far from where you're gripping it, the gun has more leverage to flip its muzzle in recoil. Most of the reason for the high position of the hands on the gun is improved leverage.

Shown from the bottom, the support-hand fingers completely encase the master-hand fingers. Brian Enos (below), Dave Sevigny (right). Photo by Nidaa A.

"Let me make this clear: Within reason it doesn't matter how high the front of the gun flips. What's really important is the neutrality of the grip, that you don't interfere with the gun's inherent ability to return to the exact same spot every time. The gun will do that on its own if you just let it. Getting your hands high up on the gun is to get more leverage to control muzzle flip; the neutral grip is another thing. The higher up you get on the gun, the less the muzzle will flip, and that's a good thing, but it doesn't affect the neutrality of the grip. I think it's important not to mix those two concepts. You can have great sight tracking no matter how much the muzzle flips. With practice, your body learns to naturally return the gun to the same spot no matter how much it moves in between."

Dave Sevigny: "Really, I want to get as high up on the gun as I can without interfering with the slide. The higher the better. If I could, I'd put my hand on top of the slide to hold it down. Getting as high up on the back of the gun as you can with your strong hand assists recoil management. To see for yourself, try a few rapid-fire shots with a half- to three-quarter-inch gap between the top of your strong hand and the grip tang. Then correct your grip, get your hand up under the tang with no gap, and shoot again. The results will speak for themselves.

"For me, contact under the triggerguard with the support-hand index finger strengthens the wrist lock and grip and serves as a locator during the draw. This 'bridges' the points between the triggerguard and the bottom of the frontstrap with your support hand while overlapping the strong hand. So when taking multiple shots and transitioning the gun (moving it from target to target), everything feels rock solid."

(Left) Brian Enos believes one of the keys to a successful grip is having no contact by the thumbs along the side of the gun. The grip should happen strictly in the palms and fingers. Photo by Nidaa A. (Right) Dave Sevigny does touch the side of the gun with his thumbs and also considers that an important part of his technique.

SUMMARY
So as we've just seen, even among the very best shooters there's room for differences of opinion on technique. Brian Enos' viewpoint is that if you have a grip that doesn't interfere with the gun, the piece will track consistently, up and down, right back to the same spot. Dave Sevigny is much more of a "hands on" shooter whose grip is built around the concept of making the gun do what he wants. There is no right or wrong here. As both men's accomplishments show, either approach can work well. It's just a matter of which works best for you.

While we don't want to be mindless slaves to what has gone before as we develop our shooting technique, it's also important not to waste immense amounts of time reinventing the wheel. The knowledge of how to grip a handgun for the absolute best combination of extreme accuracy and speed is out there. We have only to reach out and take it.