Bisley Grip, Grip Technique?

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mike7mm08

Buckeye
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,709
Location
Milwaukee Wisconsin
I have a SBH Bisley grip in 480 ruger 4 5/8 inch barrel. I am trying to get serious about shooting it. I have adjusted to recoil of most of my loads. Not intimidated by the gun in anyway. Having trouble with my grip technique though. I don't what is "correct" or the most beneficial. Obviously I am gripping two handed. Shooting right handed. With my right hand I can get all fingers on the grip. I am slightly more comfortable dropping the pinkey finger under the frame though, and giving a bit more clearance between my middle. finger and the trigger guard. I also seem to be able to get a better grip around my right hand with my left hand when I drop the pinkey. I feel like I might be giving up some stability though by using this grip.

First bisley first bigbore handgun. Would like some advice from those with more experience. Trying to not develop any bad habits that are going to cause me problems in the future. Don't expect to be an expert marksman. Looking for whitetail vitals at fifty yards. Appreciate any advice.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,142
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
My best advice would be to find a couple of guys locally, who enjoy big bore handguns, with Bisley grips, AND who are accurate shooters to work with. Sometimes, it's hard to evaluate a proper gripping method unless you can personally see how it's done. And sometimes, due to different hand sizes & the "feel" a proper grip may be different for different people.

That said, I often teach that handgunning, & accuracy can be quite fickle in mating. First off, most of the time you are standing. That's the least stable of the body positions. Prone is the most stable. Why?
The more of the body that is braced, the less the body movement affects accuracy.

Next, gripping. The more you can have contact with the handgun grip, the better it is. A seriously bad example is the "cup & saucer" method. So, you are on the right track by wrapping both hands around the grip.
But hand size often dictates the hand POSITION upon the grip.
You have mentioned putting both pinky fingers under the grip, if I read it correctly. That may work, in YOUR hands. But again, without physically seeing your hands in the gun, it's harder to evaluate.

Try this;
That your right hand, get a comfortable grip, (to you) where your middle finger touches the underside of the trigger guard. Wrap your next 2 fingers around the grip, & see what kind of space you MAY have for your pinky. If your pinky is fully on the grip, good. If it's 1/2 or more off the grip, go under the grip.
Take your left hand, place as much of the heel of the hand in direct contact with the grip that is on the left side of the g/f as you can, comfortably. If done properly, it will make your left hand fingers naturally point downward in an almost 45 degree angle. It'll make your thumb (if straight) point towards the target. Wrap your thumb over on top of your right thumb, and wrap your fingers around your right hand. Your left pinky may or may not fit in the gap left by placing your r/h pinky under the g/f.

It's hard to type instructions, so I hope I'm clear enough to allow you to try this properly.

And, by all means, anybody else with any other methods or tips, chime in!
 
Joined
Dec 5, 2011
Messages
524
Location
FL
Mike7mm08: How tall are you. Assuming your hand size goes with your height and if you have medium-large sized hands (not talking NBA-sized hands!), you would probably benefit from thicker grip panels. So often shooters try to adapt to the gun rather than making the gun (grip) fit their hand properly. This will also reposition your knuckle away from the trigger guard.
 

mike7mm08

Buckeye
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,709
Location
Milwaukee Wisconsin
I am 5'8" large side of med large hands wear a xl glove. I have already addressed the grip. Had a pair made up and fitted by Gary Reeder. They are a fair bit thicker. Original panels sucked. Could never get a decent grip and the gun was always floating around in my hand. I have had no trouble with the trigger guard. Just a bit shy as I have gotten bite by other single actions in the past, hence dropping the pinkey being my default grip on any single action. Just wondering if I should try to retrain myself with this particular setup.
 

buckeyeshooter

Blackhawk
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Messages
856
Location
Ohio
mike7mm08 said:
I have a SBH Bisley grip in 480 ruger 4 5/8 inch barrel. I am trying to get serious about shooting it. I have adjusted to recoil of most of my loads. Not intimidated by the gun in anyway. Having trouble with my grip technique though. I don't what is "correct" or the most beneficial. Obviously I am gripping two handed. Shooting right handed. With my right hand I can get all fingers on the grip. I am slightly more comfortable dropping the pinkey finger under the frame though, and giving a bit more clearance between my middle. finger and the trigger guard. I also seem to be able to get a better grip around my right hand with my left hand when I drop the pinkey. I feel like I might be giving up some stability though by using this grip.

First bisley first bigbore handgun. Would like some advice from those with more experience. Trying to not develop any bad habits that are going to cause me problems in the future. Don't expect to be an expert marksman. Looking for whitetail vitals at fifty yards. Appreciate any advice.


I have a set of 44 magnum Vaqueros 4 5/8 stainless and a set of 44 magnum bisley vaqueros 5 1/2 stainless. I use them mostly for cowboy action shooting and use loads cronoing 850 fps with a 200 grain bullet. With these loads... both very comfortable. But, change to 300 grain loads at 1200 fps and the non bisleys still feel fine but the bisleys are very difficult to hold. The recoil is focused directly into the middle of my palm and it is hard to keep my hand from opening and controlling the gun. So for me, hot loads mean plowhandle. Bisley's don't cut the mustard. As a matter of fact, I have given thought to changing the grip frames to standard style.
 

Hondo44

Hawkeye
Joined
Apr 3, 2009
Messages
8,041
Location
People's Republik of California
I believe as Contender said above, if your hand fills the grip w/o curling the pinky under the butt, you'll have a more controlled gripping of the gun by not using the pinky underneath.

I don't like the Bisley grip because they're too small from front to back and turn sideways in my hands under recoil. Thicker grips makes it worse because they make the Bisley frame too rounded.

If the standard plow handle grip frame is too small for the recoil on my big bore guns, I switch to the SUPER blackhawk Hunter (which is 1/4" longer than standard grip) and has the round trigger guard.

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