Grip Enhancers ~ Joel Park

Posted by Joel Park on Feb 27th 2022

The hand placement and grip pressure you use when shooting your handgun is vital for shooting fast and

accurately. However, if your hands get sweaty or wet the chances you will be shooting as well as you

could be are very low.

Even if your firing hand is sweaty, most shooters are still able to hold onto the gun well enough. The real

issue appears when the support hand is not able to stay locked onto the back of the firing hand. This

results in the firing hand doing extra work trying to control the gun to make up for the work the support

hand is not doing. This issue can occur to varying degrees; the firing hand can slide within the support

hand or in some cases the hands can slightly separate during recoil.

No amount of extra grip pressure will compensate if you’re not able to keep your hands dry. Grip

enhancing products are designed to repel moisture and perspiration while keeping your hands dry.

Application is simple, dry your hands with a range towel the best you can, then apply your grip enhancer

of choice to your hands. When doing this, pay extra attention to the back of your firing hand and the

front of your support hand. After applying, let your hands dry for a minute or two and you will be ready

to shred.

I have a quick test I often do on the range to make sure my hands are dry enough before shooting. I

loosely make my firing hand into a fist, then grip the fist firmly with my support hand. If I have any issues

with my support hand staying locked onto my firing hand, I am not ready to shoot yet.

There are a number of grip enhancing products on the market. After switching between them daily for

several weeks, I do not have a strong preference of one over the other. The products are all a little

different, while accomplishing the same thing. Regardless of the product you prefer, they all need to be

shaken before use.

The ProGrip and DAA Gripz products are very similar. They are both gel-like and come in containers that

can easily fit in a pocket. Both of them provide a mess free application.

Petzl and Liquid Grip are more of a liquid, but feel like lotion. They don’t feel like they dry out my hands

as much, but are slightly messier and the containers are a little less convenient. The Liquid Grip is unique

in that it almost feels tacky when it dries.

I strongly believe all shooters should try at least one of the grip enhancing products for a few weeks and

keep one in your range bag. I also make sure to apply grip enhancer during my dryfire practice, so I build

consistency between at home dryfire, range practice, and matches.