Grip trouble

[N1YDP]

when i use the thumbs up grip i cant push in the grip safety enough to disengage it.should i get fatter grips or add finger grooves?

[11 Bravo]

You could curl your thumbs down in the strong traditional grip of generations of soldiers. As Mas Ayoob calls it, "the crush grip."
I'm a big supporter of keeping the thumb away from the safety and all fingers away from the slide stop. That may not be the uber-cool grip, but it works quite well for me.

[Spyros]

That may not be the uber-cool grip, but it works quite well for me.

With all due respect, I think this is not a good idea.

I believe you should use whatever grip you're already comfortable with. It's OK working around a problem in a particular gun at the range, to get some shots in, but if you're going to use a gun in a stress situation, you shouldn't have to think about your grip. OK given enough training you could change it, but why have a niggling doubt in the back of your mind, about what you might do, if and when..?

Of course the above assumes that the high-thumb grip IS what N1YDP is used to, as opposed to being the grip his competition friends say he should use. If the latter is true, well you get the idea...

To the OP, you can 'sensitize' the grip safety so that it works for you. The rule of thumb is that it should disengage when it's just short of half-way in. If it needs to go in further than that, you can file/stone it (carefully) to get it to work the way it should. If this still doesn't work, another safety with a bump pad at the bottom might work -- if the one you have doesn't have such a pad.

For the record, I use a high-thumb hold and have yet to find a 1911 with a grip safety I can't disengage, with any grip (or style of safety). My hands are a little bigger than average, but certainly not huge by any means.

[ncviking]

Just a thought:
Does the OP draw from a holster locked and loaded? With that, he might (would/ should) ride the thumb safety. Changing grip would change technique also.
We must ask first...which type of grip safety is on the pistol.

[N1YDP]

shooting idpa and uspsa.my rugr sr1911 has a bump on it and that works ok.but my ria dont,so i will change the grip safety and try that.

[Spyros]

The new safety will very likely require fitting, in the same place where you need to 'sensitize' the existing safety anyway -- that's if it needs to go too far inward, to disengage.

Just a thought.