Much of today’s literature about pistol shooting focuses on action shooting disciplines (e.g. IDPA, NRA Action Pistol, USPSA) and semi-automatic pistols. This isn’t surprising; with the advent of modern machining techniques and design, such pistols are very competitive, both in price and for sport, in addition to other benefits such as ergonomics and reliability.

Revolvers, long the friend of the lawman, cowboy, and outlaw, began to lose market share in the mid 1970s, and while the gun press still writes the occasional article that “this is the year of the revolver,” it is unlikely that we will see any such resurgence of the wheel gun, unless perhaps semi-auto pistols are regulated in some way to influence sales.

The number of shooting federations devoted exclusively to revolver competition is small (e.g. Cowboy Action Shooting and ICORE). With such diminished interest, the incentive to write about tips and techniques simply doesn’t attract the necessary advertisers who can pay for content. The list of big name authors on things revolver- Keith and Jordan with contemporaries Roper, McGivern, and Hatcher- are all long dead. Of today’s authors, John Taffin and Grant Cunningham are both well known for books and articles on revolvers, with Cunningham especially and explicitly writing about shooting technique (though his focus is on the two handed variety, which is of little interest here). Nevertheless, this is an explanation behind why it is difficult to get an easy answer to the question of, “how should I grip a revolver for one handed shooting?” The purpose here is simple: providing just such an answer to that question.

A brief note before starting out: in what follows, please don’t take the below as in any way dismissive of the double action revolver shooting crowd; if you work at it, like just about anything else, you can certainly be successful enough to either place or win an event. Joe Chang and Greg Markowski have demonstrated this in our sport. Moreover, according to very accomplished revolver shooter Fred Romero, in Police Pistol Combat (PPC) shooting, double action revolver shooting is the technique that the majority of PPC revolver shooters used (the discipline is now mostly dominated by semi-automatic pistols, in what few matches are contested today). Give it a try; it may work for you!

Nevertheless, it appears that many in the precision pistol community do not use the double action shooting technique, instead preferring single action shooting, which, for clarity, means cocking the hammer with your firing hand, aiming, and executing your trigger press from said hand to complete the shot process.

Of the single action revolver shooters, there appear to be two schools of thought: 1) the “two different grips” school, which advocates for choking up as high as possible on the stocks for slow fire, while using a lower grip on the stocks for timed and rapid fire in order to move the thumb for cocking a bit easier, and 2) the “single grip” school, that uses a centered grip for slow, timed, and rapid fire.

The benefit to using the “two different grips” method is that one can theoretically manage the recoil better in slow fire since the barrel itself will be better in line with the arm. And, since you may cock the hammer with your non-shooting hand during slow fire, one may find a higher grip more comfortable. The downside to using the “two different grips” method is that you may not remember to choke up or down on the stocks, depending on what you trained for during a specific course of fire. Also, learning two different grip styles adds complexity in a task that is already difficult. Lastly, the high grip style utilized for slow fire in this method tends to make cocking the hammer difficult (from the firing hand), which can lead to instability in your grip as you adjust your hand to compensate should you wish to cock the hammer from your firing hand (more about “breaking your grip,” below).

The “single grip” school has the benefit of being less complex, since there is only one grip position you need to learn. With this simplicity comes the necessity to find the proper stocks that fit your hand- the revolver has to fit your hand well enough that the motion you make with your thumb to cock the trigger does not negatively impact your grip cohesion between the fingers on the front strap and the breadth of the back strap in the palm of your hand at the base of the thumb. Specifically, the back strap should fit between the thenar and hypothenar/interdigital area of the hand, bifurcated on either side, by your stocks. In this way, a revolver should feel similar to a 1911 when located in the hand properly. However it feels to you, make sure to use the same gripping technique to locate your revolver in your hand for maximum control, focusing on both consistent and correct placement. Only after the revolver is located in your hand in a consistent and correct way, should you concern yourself with how comfortable the revolver feels in the hand (i.e. stippling). As crazy as that may sound, the rule is simple: it is more important to be correct than it is to be comfortable.

Regardless of which grip school you subscribe to, the next item to consider is how you will cock the hammer in timed and rapid courses of fire. The ability to reach the hammer with your thumb is a direct result of how you have gripped your revolver. Any tweaking you need to do to your grip placement will be the result of the distance between your hammer and thumb, along with the necessary motion required to cock the hammer. A successful approach here will be one that considers making the least amount of movement in order to cock the hammer (which you should also consider when determining where the thumb should rest between cocking the hammer and firing, too). After this point, there is some controversy. That controversy is on the matter of “breaking your grip.”

First, a description as to what “breaking your grip” is, generally: understood by degrees, to adjust your hand away from what is customarily required by you for a successful shot. A description specifically for revolver single action shooting: to allow grip pressure between the front strap (your fingers) and back strap (your palm) to relax such that the motion to move the thumb to cock the hammer can be made efficiently. Put another way, the trade-off is between 100% continuous, non-movable, stock and hand cohesion and, well, something other than that.

Thus, the two sides to this particular debate are either in favor of, or believe against, “breaking your grip.” A possible reason for the disconnect between these competing views likely stems from how hard you grip the revolver, your hand construction, and intrinsic finger dexterity. Such personal details will necessarily dictate your default state, and to some extent, the way you may be able to develop. Also, it may be the case that the experience you bring from other shooting areas influences your particular view, such as what is required for successful 1911 platform shooting coloring the remaining areas in which you participate.

Here, it is more important to practice what is most successful for you. Try both techniques, in so much as you can, and see which brings you better results. The shooter may be pleasantly surprised with his or her results after making a change between 100% grip tension and a grip with slightly less tension that allows more mobility to work the hammer with ease. Said another way: there could be revolver shooters who are successful shooting single action style without any change in grip tension when cocking the hammer; however, these people are likely very, very few.

These items taken together can dictate whether and how you will be able to manipulate the hammer with the grip that is best for your shooting. It is more important to determine, through experimentation and considered practice, what technique is most successful between your hand, equipment, and results on the target. Let results be your coach and modify accordingly.