The influence of grip strength on handgun marksmanship in basic law enforcement training

This study investigated the influence of grip strength on semi‐automatic handguns in basic law enforcement training. The grip strength and marksmanship scores of police recruits were measured. All the recruits underwent the same basic firearms training and about half the recruits were given a Grip Master to exercise with in the hope of improving their grip strength. The grip strength improvement was similar for recruits with and without Grip Master. Both groups significantly improved their marksmanship by the end of the training (97.46 to 113.48 for the Grip Master group, and 92.68 to 112.24 for the control group). The women’s scores were significantly lower than the men’s both at the beginning and at the end of the training (102.6 vs. 114.6 for females and males, respectively at the end of the training). This difference in scores appears to be due to a difference in grip strength. The influence of grip strength on marksmanship scores was small but constant throughout the grip strength range of the police recruits.