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View Full Version : How can my wife strengthen her hands/arms to rack the slide?



randypollock
03-09-2011, 03:09 PM
So my petite wife 105 lbs 5'2" is getting into shooting with me. She has a few revolvers .22, .38, .357 and can shoot them all and qualified with a Ruger SP101...but she wants a pistol like everyone else. So she purchased a cheap 9mm Sccy (I'm not here to debate the purchase as many people would love to do) mainly because she was able to work the gun.

But she watched this video last night http://www.youtube.com/user/limalife#p/u/4/kbayNc6D9HY and she is annoyed that she is too weak to work all the other guns that we own.

What can she do to strengthen her hands and arms to be able to work most of the semi autos out there?

TAP
03-09-2011, 03:17 PM
Here is a great explanation (written by a woman) of some things that may help.

http://www.corneredcat.com/RunGun/rack.aspx

John Ralston
03-09-2011, 03:28 PM
One of the grip exercisers you can get from the sporting goods store work well - have her try them out and pick the one that she can do 5-10 of. Have her work up to 20-30. No need to do them daily, but it will help a bunch, and you can do it while sitting on the couch.

randypollock
03-09-2011, 03:30 PM
I'm emailing her the website and will pick up the grip exercise gizmo in town.

So is it all in the hands? I have never really thought about it.

jslaker
03-09-2011, 03:30 PM
Here is a great explanation (written by a woman) of some things that may help.

http://www.corneredcat.com/RunGun/rack.aspx

+1. Cornered Cat is a great resource for women interested in shooting. It's written with such a great, encouraging tone.

jetfire
03-09-2011, 03:34 PM
People would be amazed at the difference doing pushups makes in upper body strength. There's even an iPhone app called 100 pushups that puts a person on an incremental strength building program.

Godzilla
03-09-2011, 03:35 PM
I have had a few shooters (men, women & kids) have a difficult time trying to "PULL BACK THE SLIDE"

The easy and most comfortable way to rack a slide is to:

1. Hold the slide with either your fingers or hand.
2. Push the grip with the opposite hand.
3. Let go of the slide and let it slap back.

This method takes the strength needed in the wrist and allows a shooter to push instead. Many people have looked up and said "why didn't I think of that?"

It might solve her issues. Good luck.

jslaker
03-09-2011, 03:38 PM
So is it all in the hands? I have never really thought about it.

I really think it's as much about technique and getting the gun in close to your body and using leverage to your advantage as anything. Your support hand only has to grip tightly enough to generate friction with the slide; what strength is involved is going to generally be generated by your upper arms.

Like mentioned in the Cornered Cat link, I think a lot of the issue is that a lot of shooter's have always gotten by simply manhandling the slide and don't know any differently. I really think most people are ultimately capable of racking the slide of most semiautomatics given proper technique and barring medical disability.

MTechnik
03-09-2011, 03:58 PM
Is it the hand strength or the arm strength that she lacks?

randypollock
03-09-2011, 04:03 PM
Is it the hand strength or the arm strength that she lacks?

It worked out great today because we was both at home for lunch and she tired to rack my SA Range Officer and my Para PDA 9mm she couldn't do either one. When I watch her it's hard to tell where the weakness is..it could be both. If I had to choose I would say arm strength.

MTechnik
03-09-2011, 04:11 PM
It worked out great today because we was both at home for lunch and she tired to rack my SA Range Officer and my Para PDA 9mm she couldn't do either one. When I watch her it's hard to tell where the weakness is..it could be both. If I had to choose I would say arm strength.

Besides pull-downs, and curls in the gym.. push ups and pull-ups...

Has she tried punching the bottom end of the gun? Usually folks visualize holding the bottom of the gun, and pulling the slide. What if she got a good grip on the slide and punched out with the hand holding the pistol grip.

John Ralston
03-09-2011, 04:23 PM
It worked out great today because we was both at home for lunch and she tired to rack my SA Range Officer and my Para PDA 9mm she couldn't do either one. When I watch her it's hard to tell where the weakness is..it could be both. If I had to choose I would say arm strength.

Not that I doubt you, but look at the size of the muscles in her arm. I am sure she could pick 30 lbs off the floor using only one arm, since that isn't much of a task, but squeezing something like the slide of a gun while doing it is a bit different. Just my opinion though. Also, if you strenghthen your grip, some forearm strength is gained as well. A good, strong grip is also benefical in controlling a gun.

Keeping it close to the body, as mentioned above, is definitely a benefit.

randypollock
03-09-2011, 05:15 PM
I'll give these are try and the first thing we will try is getting the gun close to her body.

BobM
03-10-2011, 06:24 PM
Randy, thanks for bringing this up, my teen-age daughter has the same problem and I've been at a loss as to what to have her do.

randypollock
03-10-2011, 08:07 PM
Randy, thanks for bringing this up, my teen-age daughter has the same problem and I've been at a loss as to what to have her do.

So far the suggestions haven't solved the issue with Gerri, but we are continuing the strength exercises mentioned and I hope that she can "muscle" up enough to help with the close body approach at racking the slide.

Bob let me know if your daughter does any better.

John Ralston
03-10-2011, 08:52 PM
One thing that came to mind is to have her try a sports glove (batting, golfing, etc) and see if some of the issue isn't the tenderness of her skin. At least with the glove she can give it all she's got without worry off tearing off some flesh. Might help to further diagnose what the real issue is.

randypollock
03-10-2011, 09:07 PM
Another good suggestion. I'm hoping this weekend to find the time we can practice some of these ideas.

I will video the attempts and then post them next week.

jslaker
03-10-2011, 11:36 PM
I will video the attempts and then post them next week.
Great idea. Hopefully we can help.

Pistol Shooter
03-13-2011, 08:41 AM
+1. Cornered Cat is a great resource for women interested in shooting. It's written with such a great, encouraging tone.

+2

There's a lot of good information for both men and women shooters at Cornered Cat.

Has your wife read Cathy's instructions and tried them Randy?

randypollock
03-13-2011, 08:53 AM
We have looked over them and hopefully Monday evening we will get a chance to video her trying some of them out. This weekend has been to crazy to have any time.

JulieG
03-13-2011, 12:44 PM
Try this with an empty gun, no ammo.

Have her turn her body about 45 degrees into her gun hand. The hand with the gun still stays pointed "down range" even though her body is turned. She should hold the gun so that the butt of the gun is level with her waist line, slide parallel to the floor. Then have her make a "C" with her support hand and clamp it down on the back of the slide. The support hand is going to stay in place. With the support hand gripping the slide (HARD), have her push forward with her gun hand sharply and strongly while holding the slide with her support hand in place. It's almost like a sharp jerking motion, the punch technique mentioned above. Using this technique she should be able to rack the slide after giving it a try.

Locking the slide to the rear can be a real challenge with a heavy recoil spring and small hands. I struggle with my shorter thumbs on some handguns. One way to get the slide locked to the rear is to insert an empty mag that will lock the slide back. Once its locked open, just take out the empty mag.

Hope that helps!

randypollock
03-13-2011, 12:58 PM
Thanks Julie,

She will be please to see you posting to help her (not the guys aren't special) but well your Julie aka rock star to her.

JulieG
03-13-2011, 01:06 PM
Thanks Julie,

She will be please to see you posting to help her (not the guys aren't special) but well your Julie aka rock star to her.

Thanks, Randy. I am honored. If for some reason my explanation wasn't clear let me know!

Mike Honcho
03-14-2011, 05:38 AM
What about trigger fingers? I've seen females resort to using both index fingers to pull the double-action trigger on an M9.

randypollock
03-14-2011, 05:09 PM
Weather here has prevented us from being outside to practice this...hopefully I will post again later this week (with video)

jslaker
03-14-2011, 06:01 PM
What about trigger fingers? I've seen females resort to using both index fingers to pull the double-action trigger on an M9.

I had this with a female friend and a P226, but I honestly think it was the gun being far too large for her hands as much as anything. I do think it's a valid concern, though.

Shellback
03-16-2011, 12:42 PM
Good info in this thread. My wife and I are working on the same problem currently. I think we may have the same problem of brute strength versus technique when I was demonstrating it for her. Last night practicing racking the slide, magazine changes and basic gun manipulations she was barely able to rack the slide on a Glock 19.

The 2 times I've taken her shooting we focused on grip, sight alignment and trigger control while I took care of loading/unloading and handling of the weapons. Now we're moving on to her taking more control of the gun.

Best words I've heard in a while last night, "Maybe I should take a basic shooting class." :D

dookie1481
03-16-2011, 01:12 PM
Good info in this thread. My wife and I are working on the same problem currently. I think we may have the same problem of brute strength versus technique when I was demonstrating it for her. Last night practicing racking the slide, magazine changes and basic gun manipulations she was barely able to rack the slide on a Glock 19.

The 2 times I've taken her shooting we focused on grip, sight alignment and trigger control while I took care of loading/unloading and handling of the weapons. Now we're moving on to her taking more control of the gun.

Best words I've heard in a while last night, "Maybe I should take a basic shooting class." :D

Irish, if she takes a class locally, please let me know. My GF wants to start shooting too and she would love having someone to go with.

David Armstrong
03-16-2011, 01:24 PM
Something you can do with guns that have an exposed hammer is simply cock the hammer before racking the slide. That takes up a lot of the pressure.

Someone may have already covered this, but:
Grasp firearm grip panels firmly in strong hand (assume right) with barrel pointed to the left, horizontal to the body. Grap slide with left hand in an overhand grip to the rear of the slide so that both thumbs are on the same side (closest to body). Drive the points of the thumbs toward the opposite elbows.

Shellback
03-16-2011, 02:14 PM
Irish, if she takes a class locally, please let me know. My GF wants to start shooting too and she would love having someone to go with.

Absolutely! Looking at first taking the NRA Basic Pistol class, maybe even First Steps, and moving on from there. There's a class on 4/23 for BP ($75) that we're looking at getting her into with this guy http://www.safetyfirstfirearmtraining.com/SafetyFirst/Home.html. I don't know anything about him but on the NRA site he's the only one who pops up with classes in our area.

I'll shoot you more info via PM.

randypollock
03-17-2011, 08:09 PM
Thanks for all the tips guys.

Here is my post and video of my wife Gerri trying the tips.

There was success!

http://rphoto.me/ie8oc1

Thanks everyone.

jslaker
03-17-2011, 09:18 PM
Great effort.

A pointer - it looks like she's still making most of the effort with her weakhand arm while anchoring her SH arm. Have her try it the other way around. I generally anchor my SH forearm against my side, with the push coming primarily from that side. My weakhand arm does flex inward some, but most of the movement is from the stronghand side.

She also looks like she may be starting to hesitate toward the end of the slide cycling, which could be making things more difficult for her. You want to keep continuous pressure on the gun until the slide hits its rearward stop and "slips" past your weakhand. The gun will keep going forward a bit, and that's totally okay. The gun deals with far more abuse when cycling a live round, so it's not going to hurt the firearm.

Great job, and I'm sure she'll be able to get the hang of it in time. :)

randypollock
03-17-2011, 09:27 PM
Great effort.

She also looks like she may be starting to hesitate toward the end of the slide cycling, which could be making things more difficult for her. You want to keep continuous pressure on the gun until the slide hits its rearward stop and "slips" past your weakhand. The gun will keep going forward a bit, and that's totally okay. The gun deals with far more abuse when cycling a live round, so it's not going to hurt the firearm.

Great job, and I'm sure she'll be able to get the hang of it in time. :)

Yes she gets nervous that the slide is going to pinch her so she gets slow on the slide. Time should help with that. I was proud of her for trying number one then getting over the first hurdle

jslaker
03-17-2011, 09:33 PM
Yes she gets nervous that the slide is going to pinch her so she gets slow on the slide. Time should help with that. I was proud of her for trying number one then getting over the first hurdle

Yup. Might be worth pointing out that, paradoxically, you're more likely to get pinched if you lose momentum and the slide cycles forward with your hand still in the way than if you punch through, get your hand out of the way, and let the gun do its thing after the slide slips out of your hand.

But again, it's great that she's willing to try. Keep experimenting and she'll figure out something that works for her.

randypollock
03-17-2011, 09:48 PM
I'll tell her that...also the suggestion to pull the hammer back first could help. As you can see on the video with the 45 she had an easier time once she racked it the first time and the hammer was back for the other times.

jslaker
03-17-2011, 10:04 PM
I'll tell her that...also the suggestion to pull the hammer back first could help. As you can see on the video with the 45 she had an easier time once she racked it the first time and the hammer was back for the other times.
I watched the video on my phone and couldn't see the hammer, but that would absolutely help. Most of the resistance comes from the mainspring, so precocking the hammer compresses the mainspring and makes the slide quite a bit easier to manipulate.

randypollock
03-17-2011, 10:12 PM
The glove helped some but it was just a garden glove so she was annoyed that it was awkward with the fingers.

I saw this company in American Handgunner http://gripswell.com/ does anyone know anything about them or is there a good glove maker for shooting?

JulieG
03-22-2011, 08:28 PM
YAY!!!!! That's just awesome!!! :)
Please give her my congrats!

mrozowjj
03-23-2011, 01:04 PM
I want to preface this post with the information I'm not any instructor but I end up taking a lot of people relatively new to the range because I'm a member at a private range. (A lot of "Can you take me and my wife shooting?" kind of things.)

Based of everything said so far this probably isn't the problem with the OP's wife but is something to think about on the general issue of people having difficulty racking the slide. When I'm taking someone new a lot of them are very ginger with the gun because they are afraid of damaging the gun by being rough with it. This includes not wanting to slam the magazine in hard enough to seat it properly, not wanting to put enough force on the slide release lever to actually release the slide, and slide manipulation in general. I've watched a few ride the slide very slowly and end up with the slide not closing completely.

Once I explain to them that they aren't going to damage the gun they seem to overcome this mental hitch.

randypollock
03-23-2011, 01:32 PM
I agree about the handling of the firearm. Gerri is better about that now, but she still on occasion hold it with more care than needed. I have told her that she can't break it and like was said that has helped.

I am looking forward to the weather getting better so we can go to the range and she can practice with loaded magazine.

Tamara
03-26-2011, 11:51 AM
Grasp firearm grip panels firmly in strong hand (assume right) with barrel pointed to the left, horizontal to the body. Grap slide with left hand in an overhand grip to the rear of the slide so that both thumbs are on the same side (closest to body). Drive the points of the thumbs toward the opposite elbows.

Follow those instructions and you'll get tossed off any range in Christendom for muzzling the person in the lane to your left.

Bad advice, Dave.

jslaker
03-26-2011, 12:05 PM
Follow those instructions and you'll get tossed off any range in Christendom for muzzling the person in the lane to your left.

Bad advice, Dave.

Turn body 90 degrees first. Problem? ;)

Tamara
03-26-2011, 03:02 PM
Turn body 90 degrees first. Problem? ;)
At least then the only elbow you can blow off if you slip will be your own.

(Seriously: Go grab your blue gun and game this out for yourself. I am aware of at least one person who gave themselves a spectacular "racing stripe" and missed winning a titanium elbow by a tiny fraction of an inch in this manner.)

jslaker
03-26-2011, 03:11 PM
(Seriously: Go grab your blue gun and game this out for yourself. I am aware of at least one person who gave themselves a spectacular "racing stripe" and missed winning a titanium elbow by a tiny fraction of an inch in this manner.)

The muzzle should end up pointed and moving away from the elbow the way it works for me. YMMV, I suppose.

Tamara
03-26-2011, 03:32 PM
Yes, but it starts off with the elbow in front of and just above the muzzle.

I mean, the consensus these days is that the old-school "pinch check" is a little too unsafe because it puts a finger in front of the muzzle; this "across-the-body slide rack" puts half your arm there.

Sure, if you do it right, you keep your forearm and elbow above the bore axis and your finger out of the trigger guard, but since it's possible for practically anybody to run the slide while keeping the muzzle properly downrange, I just fail to see the purpose in propagating one with such potentially disastrous consequences if you fumble it.