Instruction
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The role of the
front hand, used well, is to point the gun and provide front end control
A good front grip – note the index fi nger is extended (optional) and hand midway on forend
A good rear hand grip – note thumb wrapped around grip and pad of fi nger on trigger
without lateral stresses. Another important point worth making with regard to the rear hand is the position of the thumb, it must not ‘ride’ the safety catch (which invites a painful injury and reduces purchase and hence muzzle control) but should be well wrapped around the grip unless actually in the process of operating the safety (if you have one which is active).
Front hand position Front hand position offers more scope for personal expression, correct rear hand position is, in my opinion, more or less absolute. Common errors with regard to front hand position include holding the front hand too far out – which impedes the swing and also make it diffi cult to lift the gun easily. If the hand comes back too excessively, speed of swing may be increased but control is diminished (although the technique may be deliberately adopted on occasion on fast crossing shots in some circumstances). Now, don’t just take my word for any of
this. Try it. Pick up a gun, prove it empty, and engage an imaginary long crosser to your front. Experiment with a far extended front hand/straight arm, a mid-way hold, and with the front hand back on or near the action. You will discover how hard it is to swing and mount well with an extended front arm. You will also note how much easier it is to lift the gun and control the muzzles with the mid-way hold. My advice is to adopt an unstrained mid
40 | PULL! September 2010
position in most circumstances (unless you are compensating for a short stock, when it is acceptable to extend the front hand a little, or, a long one, when you may want to bring the hand back a little). If you shoot an over and under, look at the chequering on the forend – you can immediately see where the hand is intended to go. As far as side by sides equipped with ‘splinter’ forends are concerned, however, my favoured grip is ‘half wood and half metal – ie to the front of the grip with part of the hand on the forend and part on the barrels. This maximises control and pointability. If your side by side has a beaver-tail forend, just adopt the same grip as the over and under. Here’s my simple advice for the front
hand (again, I assume you are right handed). Half extend your left arm forward. The elbow should be slightly bent, the arm generally relaxed, the palm down, fi ngers forward and slightly splayed. Now, just rotate your hand anti-clockwise so the palm faces up. Make a clenched fi st, then relax the hand so that your fi ngers open without tension. Holding the proven empty gun with rear hand allow the forend to fall into the relaxed half-open hand. Bring the fi ngers round to create the grip. You’ve adopted a perfect front hand hold. Nothing complicated. Everything natural. One sees all sort of front hand holds,
meantime. Some positions are obviously eccentric, some arguably so. Some seem to hold the side of the forend rather more than
Extending the hand too far forward will impede the swing
the base. This may be a habit which helps with the swing and seems to aid the follow through, but it reduces lifting effi ciency. The whole body should be used to power the swing (as we shall discuss in a future article). The role of the front hand, used well, is to point the gun and provide front end control. The hands should not generate primary power for the swing (although they may help to promote good follow through). Should you extend the index fi nger of
the front hand? For what it’s worth, I tend to half-extend the index fi nger of my front hand. This has some pointing advantages without increasing tension too much. I suggest you experiment to discover what works best for you. We can, meantime, say that it is absolutely wrong to let any of the fi ngers of the front hand obscure the view down the rib. Another potentially bad habit, is what I call the ‘claw’ grip. In this, the hand is brought to the side of the forend (reducing support as discussed) with the index and second fi nger splayed apart. It looks awful, but it also reduces bio-mechanical effi ciency. The front hand needs to support the
forend well and should not be twisted excessively in my opinion. As with the rear hand, a good front hand position encourages the front elbow to fall into a natural unstrained position. My philosophy is that everything should happen as
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