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This past week saw us in the Keystone State to shoot the state and regional Action Pistol matches. We combined that long drive with a trip to see family, so while the little P32 enjoyed the scenery back east, it did not get shot. A few people have asked me about gripping the P32 to allow speedy reliable shooting, so let’s take a quick look at that.
All guns really need the same things when gripped by a human. Stability that allows the trigger to be pulled at whatever speed you want without disturbing the alignment with the target. Some people accomplish this by “just gripping the gun.” That’s fine if it works for you, and depending on your hand size and proportions and whichever gun you are using, it may work out very well.
On the other hand, many guns will not work well for any given hand, so we need a method that allows for consistent performance. The strong hand should squeeze the gun on the front strap and back strap and the support hand should squeeze the side stocks of the gun. In this way, each hand acts like a vice and only squeezes towards itself. As small as the P32 is, this technique works well for me with my hands. I wear a size small glove for reference.
The real issue is the trigger. The gun is so small, and my hands are so big compared to it, that if I just try to put my finger on the trigger, I will sink it all the way through. That leads to all sorts of shooting issues and is not an effective way to fire the gun for me. Instead, I pull my trigger finger back so that only the first pad or so is on the trigger. This allows me to repeatedly press the trigger at high speed without inducing malfunctions.
In order to pull my trigger finger back enough, I also need to adjust where my strong hand falls on the stocks. I don’t wrap around the gun as tightly as possible. Instead, I pull my three lower fingers back just a tad. Pictures don’t really show this properly, but the idea is to create a tiny bit of space where my fingers wrap around the front strap.
With your hand size, you may have to play with these ideas to make them work for you. That’s half the fun of shooting though, taking an idea you have been shown and making it yours. And really, that’s what shooting effectively is all about. Until you make a technique your own, you don’t really understand it, you don’t own it. Once you own it, things really get interesting.
As far as the match goes, on the first day I had a failure to extract that cost me 5 plates. I’m not sure what happened as I was trying to clear it fast enough to shoot. I’ll clean the gun well and see if I can see anything. It certainly may have been a bad round, but the chamber might be a wee bit dirty too. That is two malfunctions with my main competition P30L, in over 13,000 rounds. Not the most reliable gun I have, but not bad.
On day two of the competition, I shot a little better and came in first High Master in Production Optics. I will admit, I’m starting to lose some of my competition drive. I’ve never really been a competition shooter, though I certainly enjoy a good competition. It’s just not something I can really devote myself to, so I’ll have to see what that looks like going forward.
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