Holding a revolver when shooting

I gotta go with Bob. He's been around a while and has learned quite a bit. I may be getting old, but I can still learn from those senior to me.

Groo here
Many confuse "roll" with "slip".
Slip means the grip moves in the hand requiring you to adjust.
Roll is the flexing of the wrist combined with the lifting of the forarms.
The grip should be tight enough to stop slip.
Roll [ in magnums] usually can't be stopped ,it does need to be controlled .
This is "Riding " the kick , and once learned allows heavy loads to be shot easily

When I had my Super Blackhawk I just held it tight enough that it would not buck out of my hand. I was as strong as an ox, and I never had a problem.
I know that did not address your question, but ease up and don't over think it.
You will find your method by shooting your gun. Try different methods.

Thanks for all the replies, I'm getting better, starting to wonder if my age (85)has any thing to do with it . Got drawn for a cow elk tag, sure gonna try for it with my .44 mag

Seems, everyone wants to reinvent the wheel but, the fact remains the more you shoot the tighter the groups will get.
Steve

barber said:

Thanks for all the replies, I'm getting better, starting to wonder if my age (85)has any thing to do with it . Got drawn for a cow elk tag, sure gonna try for it with my .44 mag

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***
Power to you, Barber, 85 years young and going after elk with your sixgun. Keep up your practice and mix it with DRY FIRE. That your shooting improves tells me first and foremost that you are not fighting the gun. In other words, not choking it. Performance trumps theory. The .44 Magnum operates at a recoil level controllable with comfortable, repeatable grip pressure. Allows sustained fire. Thus, the .44 Mag accumulated a mountain of wins, championships, and records in handgun silhouette.

At the tender age of 85 there is no need to push practice beyond your stamina. Always finish practice on a high note. This puts muscle & mind at rest, and paints in memory a CLEAN SIGHT PICTURE, SQUEEZE and FOLLOW THROUGH.
David Bradshaw

Sir barber,

85 years old . and shooting a .44 magnum......
Respect !!!!!!!!

ADP3 said:

After 50+ years of shooting I'm still learning. A few years back I was shooting a friend's FA .454 offhand and shooting well with it too. I thought. After a cylinder full he advised me to grip tighter with my support hand than with my shooting hand. He had gotten this advice at a shooting school. I tried it on the next go round, and my 2"+ group shrank to 1 1/2". I've been following this advice since and have been shooting better as a result.

Best Regards,
ADP3

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I found this to be helpful for my self also, I was trying different grip options one day and this helped ME the most .

Still learning and I'm doing a lot better. Thanks again for all the replies

Groo said:

Groo here
Many confuse "roll" with "slip".
Slip means the grip moves in the hand requiring you to adjust.
Roll is the flexing of the wrist combined with the lifting of the forarms.
The grip should be tight enough to stop slip.
Roll [ in magnums] usually can't be stopped ,it does need to be controlled .
This is "Riding " the kick , and once learned allows heavy loads to be shot easily

Click to expand...

The confusion lies in the way it is worded. "Rolling in your hand" implies that the grip is slipping through your grip like a bar of soap and that is what some folks mean. Because they also speak of readjusting their grip after each shot. Some do that and that is fine but it is a real hindrance for fast shooting. "Rolling with your hand" would imply that the sixgun and hand are moving in unison. "Letting it roll in your hand" also implies that you have any control over muzzle rise. You do not, it's going to rise whether you like it or not. Allow it to happen or fight it, it's still going to happen. At least that's the way I read it.

The proper way is to not fight it but simply allow it to happen naturally. A big mistake some folks make is to try and shoot a heavy recoiling revolver the same way they shoot an automatic, with the isosceles or modern isosceles and that high grip/thumbs-forward crap, trying to fight against recoil forces. This makes for a quickly sore and fatigued shooter.

I learned some time ago that shooting a handgun (and applies specially to single-actions) means gripping firmly with the thumb, middle and ring fingers. The pinky, if you can get in in the grip, should not make a lot of force, because it tends to cause the hand to shake. I don't curl it under the grip because a long time ago I had a bad experience with a heavy load actually pulling it the wrong way and causing pain. In the Bisley grip, there's ample room for the pinky, but it makes no difference to me.

Analyze your targets. If you shoot to the right of the aiming point, you're pushing too hard with the thumb. If you shoot too far left, you're curling your middle and ring finger too hard on the grip, putting too much "finger" on the trigger. If you shoot down, you're twisting your wrist down as you squeeze the trigger. If you shot up, you're "breaking up", anticipating recoil.

I hard-wax the grips on my heavy-recoiling guns. This lets me get a firm, non-slip grip with shooting gloves. The "roll" then happens with the hand and arm, and I can return to my aiming point quickly. People who let the gun roll in their hand until it goes half-vertical need to restart their grip from scratch. Not good for a fast follow-up.

I found these downloadable targets, a while back, that may be helpful to you. They're geared towards pistols, but are equally useful for revolvers.

http://blog.gunlink.info/2012/03/04/free-downloadable-pistol-correction-targets