A couple months or so back I fell in lust with and acquired a Sig P210A Target. Wonderful handgun. A work of art, firearms-wise, IMO. I love it.

Haven't been able to shoot that pistol worth a damn

Finally, after trying and trying and trying, with a laser practice thingy, to get it right, I decided me and the grips just weren't working out.

Then, don't know why, I found that if I applied a little bit of downward pressure on the left-hand swell in the grip with the base of the thumb on my strong hand, my aim steadied-down significantly. Particularly my unfortunate tendency to string vertically with this pistol.

Then, this morning, the penny dropped. Also shifted my entire strong hand's grip clockwise, so the swell on the back of the grip was further into my hand's pocket, more of the base of my thumb over that swell on the left side, and the barrel more in line with my forearm.

What a difference!

I just put 10-12 (laser) rounds 25' down range, one after the other--every one of them hitting w/in about a 1/2" or less of the "bull," with far less effort than ever.

Shooting for over 45 years and it took me that long to figure this out

What did you used to do? A pinch grip?

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyChryst:
What did you used to do? A pinch grip?

Don't know what a "pinch grip" is, but mainly the grip was oriented so the center was a bit more left in my hand.

Good for you . I normally prefer pistols that are good shooters for me when I grip them as I naturally would and tend to be a bit forgiving if grip is not perfect in every regard. But the P210A is a special pistol with not a lot of grip options so I can see why you took the time to finally figure out what works for you and that is terrific and very gratifying.

I've never shot a pistol that was quite so sensitive to grip positioning and tension. When (?) Hogue eventually comes up with grips I'll probably buy a pair to see if they solve the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Also shifted my entire strong hand's grip clockwise, so the swell on the back of the grip was further into my hand's pocket, more of the base of my thumb over that swell on the left side, and the barrel more in line with my forearm.

Not sure as to your meaning of “clockwise” but assume that you adjusted by rotating your right shooting hand to the left to better center the grip spine in the thumb / finger web and align the slide with your forearm?

Regardless, I had noticed your post and am trying the same with my new 220’s. As compared to my old 226, I initially was gripping the thinner profile 220 as one might extend to shake hands or grip a racket (at least as I was taught in the 70’s) - ie with the hand and fingers extending straight from the forearm. The 226’s width naturally forces me to deviate by sufficiently cupping the thumb and fingers to adequately grip the weapon and thus the grip spine more naturally finds the web. But the single-stack 220 allows me to keep the hand and fingers extended in a relatively straight line and thus the grip spine seeks placement more towards the thumb knuckle vs the center of the web.

This surprised me since the 220 felt better when I first picked it up in a shop; I like the feel of that thinner profile. But that advantage wasn’t benefiting my shooting.

The difference isn’t huge and I’ve got more to learn about the grip (and the .45 in general). But, I recently registered as a member mostly to say thanks!