My grip gets tighter and tighter until....

Hello guys,
I need some help with my grip.  Maybe some exercises to help with this.   When I'm shooting my 45 in sustained fire, my grip gets tighter and tighter with every shot to the point where it seems like my trigger pull is 100 lbs. and I shake to pull it.   I know, just stop gripping it so hard...LOL but I'm struggling with this.  Has anyone else dealt with this?  Can you suggest anything?   
Any feedback would be welcomed. 
Thanks,
Scott

You have to learn to stop doing this.  You also have to learn how hard to grip.  There is a point in your grip that the gun won’t move.  You can determine this by gripping lightly but placing your gun in wher you prefer gripping it, giving good trigger/finger placement and the guns sights come up to your eye when raised in your stance.  Then start shaking your hand up and down like the gun is a hammer.  At light grips you can feel it move.  As you tighten the grip with your three gripping fingers the gun no longer moves.  It can move the meaty part of the hand, but should return and not shift.  That’s how hard to grip the gun. Gripping harder doesn’t add to the performance.

Your grip should not change during a shot or string. You should grip the gun about midway between not hard enough and too hard. Not hard enough means the pistol moves in your hand. Too hard means the gun starts shaking or you can't maintain the same grip over a match. Grip strengtheners can help expand that range. 

You need to identify cues and indicators of what a good grip feels like and what a bad grip feels like. Then you need to check them before each shot. This can be done dry firing first, then do it live firing to make sure the gun isn't moving in your hand.

Visualize shooting strings with consistent grip.

Then move to sustained live fire but mentally pause between shots to double check that your grip is consistent. This should not be done with a timer and doesn't need to be done with 5 shots. It is not practice, you don't want to make checking your grip a habit that you do in matches. it is training to ingrain consistent grip without conscious thought. Only do it until you consistently don't need to adjust your grip between shots. Then practice Rapid Fire until you can shoot strings with a consistent grip.

You’re likely getting a lot of shots low left with a lot of fingertip pressure built up.

From my book:

TOTO….Finger Tips On, then relax them, Tips Off

Gives a front to back grip

Dry fire as you would live fire, stand, get your initial grip, rack slide, break the shot, rack the slide while maintaining your grip, take shot again. Your grip on each dryfire shot should feel the same. Once you pick up your gun from the bench, your don’t want to change your grip pressure. It should be like a firm handshake, not a death grip.

If you can get a copy of "The Pistol Shooter's Treasury", Bill Blankenship discusses how hard he gripped the pistol.

Thanks everyone for you feedback.  Heading to the range tomorrow to work on these things.
Scott

In BE we have five basic fundamentals; stance, grip, breathing, sight alignment and trigger squeeze.
You/we should work on each fundamental individually. When we are doing this we should have main focus on the individual fundamental and can sorta be paying attention to something else. The paying attention part is an awareness to another fundamental as we focus on the main fundamental we are training.
To train gripping it does help to know what a proper grip is! Let’s assume we know what proper grip of a 1911 is.
There are several methodologies of gripping a 1911. Which one is right? The one that works for you. I started out trained to only apply front strap and back strap gripping pressure. No fingertips or thumbs. I later graduated gripping the entire gripping surface with fingertips and thumb pressure. I’ve also shot medium grip pressure and tons of grip pressure.
They all work! You just need to be consistent whichever method you choose.
Best way to learn grip is dry firing on blank wall. Watch your sights as shot breaks. Are they staying in the same place or moving during the shot? Wrong grip position (even minute) and pressure changes will move front sight position as shot breaks. Also the grip fingers and trigger finger are supposed to be independent of each other.
Through dry practice we should see a level of proficiency. Hopefully the more you do it the better you get.
Ok, so now at the range. When shooting live fire it’s physical and mental. We are now introducing recoil and noise. If you shoot a lot, generally you become accustomed to it. If you are only shooting occasionally, it can be problematic. Mentally we can can experience flinching, jerking, or anticipation of the shot. Our brain isn’t happy about the recoil/noise and needs to get used to being uncomfortable and ok with it.
[list=ol1][*]So practice/train your grip dry firing.
[*]Go to the range and dry fire until you’re comfortably snapping in good shots; focus is on grip. 25 yds
[*]Load a single cartridge and fire the cartridge while focusing on gripping; 25 yds. Did sights stay aligned? Did grip pressure remain constant?
[*]Alternate between dry and live fire shots. 
[/list]
If you are getting positive results while alternating shots, shoot sustained fire; 5 good shots no time limit. Focus is on consistent gripping pressure. Yeah you need to be aligning your sights and squeezing the trigger, but let your subconscious do the work. And yes you need to pay attention to the front sight; is it remaining in place, or dipping as shot breaks.
It may take a little bit, but keep working at it.

Unfortunately most struggling shooters don’t dry fire, or they go through the motions of dry firing. And they typically go to the range and dry fire a couple shots then start shooting live fire. They do this over and over again thinking they’re going to get more proficient as a shooter. You have to do something different if you want different results. And be honest with yourself, I all too often hear someone talking about how good their trigger control is or mastered a particular fundamental and they’ve been a marksman/sharpshooter for several years. You can only get so far with natural ability. It’s up to you if you really want to get better. Don’t be an askhole
Jon

"Unfortunately most struggling shooters don’t dry fire, or they go through the motions of dry firing. And they typically go to the range and dry fire a couple shots then start shooting live fire. " Very True!


I have seen  novice shooters that claim to be dry firing at home , come to the range and when I tell them to dry fire they are just racking the slide and pulling the trigger. I think they are essentially practicing their jerking error. I tell them to concentrate hard on the dot or front sight to observe the movement the sight makes just as the trigger breaks. Most people with problems honestly think their dry firing is great and get very frustrated when it sucks. One that thing could help in such a case is loading a few dummy rounds in their gun then they see movement when the round does not go off.