Jun 4, 2013 - I have scientific proof that the “cup and saucer” handgun grip is bad and bordering on evil. You can find out if you're afflicted with this problem. Cup and Saucer does not provide nearly the support a full enclosed grip does. And in the case of a semi-auto, if there is an ammo malfunction or gun malfunction and there's blowby from the chamber, it goes right down the mag well. If it's the only way a shooter can grip a handgun, then by all means, it should not be discounted. The first bad shooting stance we will look at is the infamous 'cup-and-saucer grip', also known as the 'teacup grip'. This one shows up in a lot of movies and TV shows. This one shows up in a lot of movies and TV shows.

• Tea Cup Display Stand

This pistol grips needs to choke up. (Photo: Jeffrey Denning)The “V” notch in our hands—the web-like part in between the thumb and the pointer finger—should be up high on the back of the pistol grip, getting as near to the slide as possible. Keeping the hand up high on the grip will help align the barrel properly so the recoil can be better managed.Additionally, by holding up high on the grip, the rest of the shooting hand naturally goes to the correct place.

Specifically, the middle finger of the three-finger grip will touch the base of the trigger guard, and the index finger will naturally point along the frame of the gun into the correct index position. Put both thumbs on the same side of the gun. Good grip with the thumbs on the same side of the slide and away from the slide lock. (Photo: Jeffrey Denning)It should be rather obvious that when grabbing a pistol the support hand thumb should go on the same side as the shooting hand thumb.

Simple deductive reasoning shows that in order to make the pistol extract, eject and load shell casings and rounds, the slide needs to, well, slide back and forth without obstruction. Sadly, people who are not familiar with pistols or firearms in general tend to grab the gun and grip it any way they can. Sometimes this can get ugly.Although rare, I actually heard from a solid source about a guy that had to get seven stitches because he wrapped his support hand thumb around the back of a Sig Sauer and pulled the trigger. Face both thumbs forward toward the muzzle.

The infamous and incorrect cup-and-saucer grip. (Photo: Jeffrey Denning)Not only should the thumbs be on the same side of the pistol, but in order to make the most effective and efficient grip possible, the support hand thumb should face forward alongside the frame with the shooting hand thumb also facing forward. This is far better than a thumbs down, a thumbs crossed or a cup-and-saucer grip. Having the thumbs forward allows greater stability with the gun, which can help with both accuracy and recoil management. Keep your fingers together and up tight against the base of the trigger guard.

Correct thumbs forward grip. (Photo: Jeffrey Denning)I already mentioned that you should have your three-finger shooting hand grip up tight against the trigger guard. I rarely see this mistake, however, where a lot of pistol shooters can improve is keeping the fingers tight together and tight up against the trigger guard. Keeping the fingers together tightly gives them more strength. To best illustrate this, if you took one no. 2 pencil you could break it pretty easily, but if you put four pencils together it would be more difficult to break. Likewise, with your fingers close together it gives more strength, allowing better recoil management.

Tea Cup Display Stand

A thumbs down grip on a revolver may be advantageous. (Photo: Jeffrey Denning)Placing a finger in the front portion of the trigger guard does not give as good as control as one might think because it separates the three fingers of the support hand from the other finger, which lessens strength. It also creates an awkward shooting platform that does not transfer well to other guns, since some pistols have a curved trigger guard. If you are only doing static shooting, never shooting under stress, and not shooting as well as you potentially could then this odd-ball technique will do, but if not, you need to keep the fingers of your support hand grip together tight and touching the underneath of the trigger guard. Place your dominant thumb over the top of your support hand.

Top view of pistol grip on 1911. Note that the thumb is close to the slide. (Photo: Jeffrey Denning)Too often pistol shooters have the tendency to over-tighten the grip of their shooting hand. This can lead to an inadvertent malfunction that locks the slide to the rear when the magazine is still loaded.

To point, if the thumb of the shooting hand tightens towards to frame—a natural sympathetic movement when the trigger finger tightens and one that can be magnified occur under stress—the thumb can accidentally push the slide lock up, locking the slide back. To combat this, place the shooting hand thumb on top of the support hand thumb and about 45-degrees away from the pistol’s slide. I’d use this for all pistols. The only exception to this would be the 1911, where the safety is alongside the frame and allows a good resting position for the shooting hand thumb.Until next time, continue to hone your skills and keep adding to your tactical toolbox.Safety warning: Jeffrey Denning is a long time self-defense professional and any training methods or information he describes in his articles are intended to be put into practice only by serious shooters with proper training. Please read, but do not attempt anything posted here without first seeking out proper training.

In many of our previous posts, we have looked at various good stances to use when shooting firearms. In the next few posts, we will look at some of the bad shooting stances. Most of these bad stances are because of the influence of the movie industry and music videos.The first bad shooting stance we will look at is the infamous ' cup-and-saucer grip', also known as the ' teacup grip'. This one shows up in a lot of movies and TV shows.

In this, the shooter holds (cups) the pistol in his dominant hand and then rests the bottom of his handgun magazine in the off hand (the saucer). Click on image to enlargeAnd finally, the Alice character (played by actress Milla Jovovich) from the Resident Evil series of movies, also using the cup-and-saucer grip, this time with a revolver. You may see this grip used in a lot of other movies as well.This technique was once actually taught to revolver shooters in the Wild West (and sometimes called the 'palm supported grip'). The main reason it is bad with modern firearms is that the off hand provides almost no support against the recoil, which forces the user to aim the target again for each of the subsequent shots.

But in reality, all that was really shown was a little taste; a carefully curated glimpse designed to give players that very impression. Star wars battlefront 2 space to ground maps. From what I was able to play, there’s no doubt that Star Wars: Battlefront II is trying to address most of the issues from the original game.

Also, no matter how strong the user is, the recoil will make the user's hands separate and the off-hand needs to be reapplied after every shot. Additionally, if a cartridge is overloaded, the additional pressure has to be released somewhere, and in the case of handguns, it may forcefully eject the magazine out. If the user is using a cup and saucer grip, the off-hand will get a pretty nasty smack.We will look at more bad stances in subsequent posts.