Hi Anthony,

I was reading the classic book of the great Percy Stanbury.

About the left hand grip he said:

"The left hand has an entirely different sort of grip which varies from loose hold through which the gun can slide to a firm nip between fingers and thumb, but not using the palm of the hand to grasp the gun.
....There should be no weight in the palm of the hand....The best left hand is indeed really a "nip" between thumb and three fingers"

What do you think
Should not one feel the weight of the shotgun in the left palm ?
When one looks at some shooters the gun seems like rested on the hand

A followup question. In videos you constantly open and close the fingers on your left hand before shooting. Is there a reason for this or is it just a habit?

fritzele74,

I will leave it to Anthony to answer the questions you have put to him personally, but I will comment, if I may, because I knew Percy Stanbury from 1960 until he died. He taught me to shoot, therefore I feel somewhat qualified to respond to your questions.

You should remember that Percy shot a side-by-side shotgun for everything whether the targets were game, sporting clays, trap or skeet. The left-hand grip (he was right-handed) that he used was with the left fore-finger in contact with the under side of the rib and his thumb, second, third and little fingers supporting the barrels in loose contact (as you have said). The reason for the loose contact was because he slid the barrels through the fingers and thumb bridge as he mounted his gun to the firing position.

You have to remember that the English way of shooting a side-by-side was (and still is) not to use the fore-end at all for gripping purposes. The fore-end on English guns is there to secure the barrels to the action. The barrels were held, supported and pointed by the left hand.

I don't know which of the books you have by Percy Stanbury and Gordon Carlisle. If you refer to the one entitled "Clay Pigeon Marksmanship" (my copy, personalised by Percy for me, was printed in 1974)..........the top photo on page 71 shows the late Bert Dewbury (with his black and white spaniel) holding his sxs barrels well forward of the fore-end as I have described. This is an excellent example of Stanbury's teaching.

If you refer to the bottom photo on page 94 you will see Stanbury's assistant, Michael Rose, holding the fore-end of an O/U as Stanbury advocated.......lightly in the fingers and not with the palm with the fore-finger under the fore-end. Richard Faulds is a very good current-day example of shooting the "Stanbury way".

fritzele74,

In the interests of historical accuracy since Stanbury's book does not identify the people photographed therein by name (although I knew most of them very well), the person in the photo on the top of page 71 is the late Jack Kidwell and not the late Bert Dewbury. I apologise for my mistake. Unfortunately most of my friends are now "late" .

Thank you very much old diabetic for this very interesting answer

You are most welcome.

You may find the following video clip of interest in which Dougie Florent, owner of the Oxford Gun Company, talks about Percy Stanbury and his gun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPaK9PLPvac

Loose grip in front hand. Resting in palm of hand. No tension in muscle of hands or arm

I do the same thing to ensure my fore hand is relaxed and to relieve tension overall (learned from Anthony's DVD and some other world class shooters).