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I've fenced with both French and pistol grips, and I prefer the pistol grip. In epée the French grip is more beneficial if one is taller and long-limbed. These requirements allow pommeling to be executed to its finest. Otherwise, pommeling is strongly discouraged in epée (or at least by my instructor) for the opponent can easily disarm and/or control the blade through envelopment. The pistol grip does promote a more muscular approach, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be used that way. I like pistol grips because there is security in feeling the entire grip in one's hand and one can also still use finger control. Just because the pistol grip embodies the idea of brute fencing, doesn't mean one has to fence in such a manner. One can still have good point control and tight movements with a pistol grip as well as a French grip.

All three are nice, but i'm just more adapted to the French and Pistol grips. Pistol grips for foil and French for Epee.

KaedenReoden, i'm not exactly sure what you mean by no "feel" with a pistol grip, and I know I don't speak for all the other pistol grip fencers but I can assure you a simple disengage or soft beat is rare to get a touche off of me with and the handle of the weapon doesn't play too much of a factor into what attacks are more effective, anything short of being unproficient with said grip of course.

I can see the pistol grip only being a hinderance if the said fencer controls his/her blade with any other fingers other than his/her thumb, index and middle (mainly thumb and index) which functions the same way the french and italian grips do, minus the tilt in the wrist (which is why I use the pistol grips in foil). Perphaps it's just the way you've seen people use the pistol grip? (I know many i've seen tend to want to use the movement of their entire arm as opposed to the proper way being the slight movements of the wrists, if not even just the fingers.)

im an epee fencer and i personally prefer the itallian viscontti pistol grip. it fits nicely in the hand and when it comes to point control, as long as u hold it right, it works fine. when it comes to french grips...well....i hate them. with a french grip i find its hard to take a good parry with it, it is easily knocked out of ur hands by a hard parry and theres a lot of problems parrying fleches. i also like in fightinjg and i find that the pistol grip is not very good for in fighting situations. i would personally g with the pistol grip, but keep in mind that there are many many many different kinds of pistol grips. there are the russian, belgian, italian visconti and a lot more lol.

yeah, im sorry, i screwed up a bit in there. i like in fighting and the pistol grip is great for that, i find it hard to in fight with a french grip lol, sorry about the mix up there! xd i would personally go with the pistol grip lol. i love them! oh yeah, the russian grip is horrible! ur grip might as well be a box lol

Damn russian grips. xp No worries about the mix up.. and to tell you the truth, im not as good at in-fighting with a french grip either, but my friend Marcus (who's lucky for being a lefty) is very good with using a french grip all around. Though the last time I fenced him, he seriously whored out the flick and i've still been one of the few able to consistantly beat him (usually by 1 or 2 points in a 15 touche bout)



Sabre grip? Might as well just say Sabre in general. biggrin As far as Zik grips go, I know they're my favorite for epee. I love the BIII and the G series but the only complaint I have with Zik grips is that they're very prone to breaking easily if they are stressed in any way, shape or form, and they can be quite pricy.

I guess i'm just rough with my gear. razz