Teach me the need for beaver tails? How does slide bite happen?

[Sanch]

I don’t understand the need for beaver tails because I’ve never had slide bite before. I mostly shoot glocks. I think I have a fairly high grip on the gun. But don’t get close to having the slide bite my hand. I’m guessing it has to do with hand size and maybe people with huge gorilla hands need it more? Just wondering!

[David S.]

I don’t understand the need for beaver tails because I’ve never had slide bite before. I mostly shoot glocks. I think I have a fairly high grip on the gun. But don’t get close to having the slide bite my hand. I’m guessing it has to do with hand size and maybe people with huge gorilla hands need it more? Just wondering!

Yup

[Le Français]

A very high grip (which of course is the only proper way to grip a handgun for fast and accurate shooting) or a fumbled grip on the draw that leave part of the web of your hand in the way of the slide (even just a few millimeters on one side), can result in slide bite without having huge or meaty hands.

It’s happened to me (very, very rarely) with Glocks, and I wear L gloves.

A more pronounced beavertail would probably help smooth out imperfections in fast grip acquisition from the holster, but I have found that practice works too.

[Artemas2]

I'm on the opposite end. I can't figure out how you don't get slide bite with a glock

Glocks with no tail, Hks, and even the Cz P09 (which has a beavertail), along with many others are all no go's for me
this was after 1 bill drill with the P09
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[GearFondler]

51270

You should lube your slides with Neosporin.

[Jim Watson]

I am not subject to hammer or slide bite but I have seen some "railroad tracks" from a PPK.
I was showing off my P210-6 to a friend. He shot it three times and handed it back, saying "You might want to wipe the blood off your gun."

[RJ]

Learning to shoot in 2014 I took a very basic "introduction to handguns" at the Sandy Springs Gun Range in GA while I was living in Atlanta. One of the gun was a Glock which upon shooting, gave my wife a severe bite / cut in the hand. As I recall, there was no "beavertail" of sorts on that gun. I shot it without issue but distinctly recall it felt "odd" (as compared to all the other guns we shot, and we shot a half dozen or more).

Anyway, fast forward and I am slightly more knowledgeable (but not by much) than I was. These days I shoot my Gen 5 G19 without issue, but it may be due to the redesigned beavertail added to the gun, vs. the model we shot several years prior.

At any rate, I grip the gun pretty high, and don't have any problems. Size M hands may help.

Random pic from the web to use as an example of a Gen 5 Glock:

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Compare with random photo of Gen 3 G19:

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[Stephanie B]

I am not subject to hammer or slide bite but I have seen some "railroad tracks" from a PPK.

You could slice meat with the bottom edges of the slide of a PPK. I used a mill file to round off the bottom edges of mine and made it mo-bettah. ;)

[NPV]

Hand size is only a part of it IME. I have medium sized hands and have experienced slide bite with 1911s, Glocks, and others. Sig P series are pretty much “bite proof” though.

[Vista461]

I used to get a couple railroad tracks craved into my hand after a day of quals on with my Gen 3 G22.

[PNWTO]

My 19 without any back straps or a GFA doesn’t touch me; but my 43 leaves kisses and the 17 and 20/21 frames take skin after a few mags. Go figure.

Data point: I wear XL gloves in most brands.

[Btp2332]

I’m lucky I guess I have gen 3,4,5 Glock’s never got bit.

[Duke]

Beavertail earning its worth....and saving my fat hand from some level of doom


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[Navin Johnson]

I don’t understand the need for beaver tails because I’ve never had slide bite before. I mostly shoot glocks. I think I have a fairly high grip on the gun. But don’t get close to having the slide bite my hand. I’m guessing it has to do with hand size and maybe people with huge gorilla hands need it more? Just wondering!

Are you just looking for people to reply to you so you can have attention? You just joined and you're asking a question that's easily covered by any kind of Google search.....

[JAH 3rd]

The one thing I wish my M&P 2.0 had is the beaver tail (?) of the 1.0. For me, the 1.0’s beaver tail helps to secure the pistol in my hand. That bit of the frame in the web of my hand is missed in the 2.0. I know S&W had their reason for eliminating it, but I for one miss it.

[MattyD380]

You could slice meat with the bottom edges of the slide of a PPK. I used a mill file to round off the bottom edges of mine and made it mo-bettah. ;)

The beavertail itself on my PPK could break skin after a box or two. It was angled down just enough so it really poked into the flesh. I guess it's preferable to the slide cutting railroad tracks into your hand.

Caveat: I'm not necessarily a PPK hater. Mine was very accurate, small, DA/SA and reliable within certain limits.

[Rosco Benson]

Hands differ. I can shoot a Glock without a beavertail without getting cut, but I like a Grip Force Adapter. The narrow tang of a GI grip safety on a 1911 will make the web of my have sore in fairly short order. For me, a proper high-sweep beavertail is so much more comfortable that I consider it a necessity.

Rosco

[Cory]

My G17.4 will cut my hand open without using the medium beavertail backstrap. With the backstrap I'm fine. I do not have large hands. I wear a size medium mechanics glove. My grandfathers old Colt woodsman 22 cut my hand the first time I shot it too.

I think having a high grip, or especially having high thumbs really make the difference. My 92s don't bite me at all.

-Cory

[Lost River]

For me I can shoot pretty much any Glock with zero issues, but a standard GI 1911 with nail me and remove flesh within the first magazine. I love the look of the small, minimalist beaver tails on 1911s and have experimented over the years trying to find one that is the Goldilocks of the bunch, in terms of size and ability to still get a high grip, still disengage, and not bite me..

[Wondering Beard]

I have L sized hands but not "meaty", Glocks don't bite me, no matter the size. 1911s with the original grip safety don't bite me but that angled down grip safety pushes hard in the web and makes it uncomfortable after a while. The spur hammer of a BHP bites me a little. The only gun that drew blood was a German P220 in 45ACP and I think it was the grip tang that was rather sharp and pointed.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Not a Glock but my 1911Sc SW Commander will give me a worn, spot at the web between my forefinger and thumb. It will take a match to do it, so it's not an immediate cut. I put a bit of tape in that area and it's fine.

No problems with any Glock except when I foolish cross my thumbs. Why - duh - it was a inside the car scenario and I had to shoot from the right side. Being left handed, I thought it would be better to switch hands (stupid). Well, not being totally in automatic motor control I took a stupid two handed crossed grip. Ouch!

Learned that lesson. If I have to shoot right handed, I usually shoot one handed. Rationale in part is that this would occur if my left dominant hand is out of the game.

I dry fire a great deal like that.

[TCinVA]

Your unique physiology and the technique you use to grip the gun play a significant role.

A lot of people who don't get bit by slides have sub-optimal grips and find out once they start gripping the gun properly that Glocks bite them.

I have always been bitten by Glocks. One of the many ergonomic issues I have with the design.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I might have a sub-optimal grip on the 1911 but it works for me. Ha - take off from the Works for Me thread. LOL. Anyway, I can do an IDPA match (horrors) with it and only be three points down at my leisurely pace. There may something to only being about 5' 6" with smaller ends. I used to be 5'9" but age is shrinking me.

[critter]

I've never experienced slide bite from any pistol. I think it's a myth concocted to sell parts. Mag bite, otoh, is real.

[NPV]

For me I can shoot pretty much any Glock with zero issues, but a standard GI 1911 with nail me and remove flesh within the first magazine. I love the look of the small, minimalist beaver tails on 1911s and have experimented over the years trying to find one that is the Goldilocks of the bunch, in terms of size and ability to still get a high grip, still disengage, and not bite me..

Thread drift......the Wilson Concealment BTGS fits that description pretty well, you may like it.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I've never experienced slide bite from any pistol. I think it's a myth concocted to sell parts. Mag bite, otoh, is real.

I've gotten that from too quickly reloading a G26, if you are talking about pinching some palm flesh when sitting the mag with alacrity.

[ER_STL]

Slide-bite is a real phenomenon that affects lots of shooters who get really high grips on guns that lack a deep enough tang to prevent skin from overlapping up into the path of the slide. Like TC said, it's dependent on a variety of things, including the size/shape of your hands and the relationship they have with a gun you grip. I've got a slight scar on the inside of my strong hand thumb base knuckle from years behind a Gen3 Glock 19. I take the medium-sized beavertail backstrap on the Gen4/5 Glocks and cut them to be GFA-like; it makes the gun a fantastic fit for me and no more bite. Gen1 M&Ps with the large backstrap worked well also.

[Lost River]

I've never experienced slide bite from any pistol. I think it's a myth concocted to sell parts. Mag bite, otoh, is real.


I never experienced an STD from any of the girls I dated before I got married. I think it is a myth concocted to sell condoms... :cool:

[RevolverRob]

I don't get slide bite with a 1911, but hammer bite with a full spur hammer, definitely. Chop off the end of the spur, and I usually bevel or round the edges of the grip safety and the problem goes away. Similar problem with the Browning Hi-Power.

Glocks - yes and no. A G17? All day long - I can shoot them no problem. A G19? Bleeding in two magazines. Something about the difference where the grip interacts with the base of my palm pushes my hand either higher or lets it rock in recoil a bit more, whatever it is, A G19 leaves me bleeding.

But most guns don't give me slide bite. I think with the G19 I end up riding higher on the gun, because the grip is honestly a little short for my size XL hands. I end up choked way up on that thing in a way that is actually quite uncomfortable (they not only bite me, they cause carpal tunnel flare ups in as little as 50 rounds). By contrast a full-size Glock feels remarkably "right" in my hands, but timers and targets don't support that I shoot it any better, at all, than other guns. Which I mean, goes to show how "feel" is subjective and feelings lie.

[JAH 3rd]

Not a Glock but my 1911Sc SW Commander will give me a worn, spot at the web between my forefinger and thumb. It will take a match to do it, so it's not an immediate cut. I put a bit of tape in that area and it's fine.


I too get that worn spot when shooting my 1911. I guess my grip allows the pistol to move when fired. It is the thumb safety hitting the web of my hand. Doesn't take too many magazines before the process begins for that pesky warn spot to begin. Can't remember getting a slide bite, but the cylinder release on a K-frame has been known to draw blood.

[Bucky]

I don’t understand the need for beaver tails because I’ve never had slide bite before. I mostly shoot glocks. I think I have a fairly high grip on the gun. But don’t get close to having the slide bite my hand. I’m guessing it has to do with hand size and maybe people with huge gorilla hands need it more? Just wondering!

Do you compete or do holster work? I have smaller hands. I have a very high grip. Under normal shooting, I avoid the slide bite. When competing, particularly steel challenge, where you really push the draw speed, that’s when I’m subjected to slide bite.

[Hemiram]

I never had slide bite until I bought a PPK, and had it big time. That gun was problem plagued from day one, and my GF shot it fine, but it was unreliable and pretty badly machined so it went away as soon as I could sell it. At the time, it was just another badly made new gun that didn't work, and I moved on. I had a LOT of bad new guns back in the early to mid '80's, the PPK wasn't nearly as bad as some of them.

[Jim Watson]

Not a Glock but my 1911Sc SW Commander will give me a worn, spot at the web between my forefinger and thumb.

My gunsmith terms that a "chewing" action at the seam of grip safety to frame. All the more reason for a smoothly blended beavertail.

Deletion of the beavertail on the Plastic M&P 2.0 mystified me; I prefer the "1.0" grip.

[TxRod]

I experience slide bite frequently, the Ruger American, the Beretta 92 Compact and the latest, the CZ P10 being three standouts. The Beretta and the CZ were tough to take. I bought the Beretta and loved everything about it - what a beautiful weapon - except for the fact that after 100 rounds my top knuckle was rubbed raw. I really wanted to buy a P10 for carry but after renting one at the range determined slide bite would squash that love affair. Slide bite sucks.

[sheepdog]

The reason is threefold for some people in my opinion.

1. People like me get slide bite from Glocks because our hands ride so high on the frame. As such, I cannot shoot Glocks without using the backstraps with the beavertail (and I've had the bloody hands at the range to prove it). I almost bled on some guy's Mosen he was letting me shoot because I hadn't even realized I was bit until we saw the blood trickling down my arm.

2. Sometimes, however, it's not about slide bite at all. I cannot shoot a SIG P229 without the extended beavertail. There is no way I am going to get slide bite with the bore axis that high, but the tang area hits my thumb knuckle because of the way my hand is shaped and wraps around the grip/frame comfortably. As soon as I picked up a Legion or the Elite series with the medium and large beavertails respectively, this problem went away.

3. Lastly, and I know this is a little controversial because people's hands and techniques differ, but for me I can more consistently get a full purchase using a beavertail because I can slam my hand up high on that grip without going too high as the beavertail stops it. I even prefer the larger beavertail on the Elites over the smaller ones on the Legions just for this reason.

So at the end of the day everyone is built differently. The majority of shooters don't need a beavertail, but many of us do.

[VT1032]

I get slide bite even with the beavertails, but I'm a fatty with big hands... A G19 with beavertail will leave me bleeding by the end. Without, I'll have a nice groove of missing skin. With a g43, let's just say the web of my hand has induced stoppages...

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[babypanther]

I left blood on the slide of my P2000 every qualification, and on my glocks I take the med backstrap and do the home made GFA with it. Only other gun I had slide bite from was racking the slide of a BHP with the standard hammer on it. Felt like it friggin bit me.

The most uncomfortable pistol I’ve ever shot was a CZ83. The backstrap/beaver tail on that is part of the metal frame, and it rests right on the first joint of my thumb. I can’t shoot that gun for more than half a magazine, and it was a 380 if i remember right.


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[JAH 3rd]

My gunsmith terms that a "chewing" action at the seam of grip safety to frame. All the more reason for a smoothly blended beavertail.

Deletion of the beavertail on the Plastic M&P 2.0 mystified me; I prefer the "1.0" grip.

I like everything about my M&P 45 2.0 except the lack of a beavertail. Likewise, I prefer the 1.0 with beavertail. It helps anchor the pistol in my hand. I really miss it. The more aggressive texture of the 2.0 does help compensate for the loss of the B/T.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

I have pretty big thick hands but with no fat and I grip high and everything bites me. Scarring on my thumb's first knuckle, etc, etc. GI 1911s I might as well just pinch a fold of skin on the web of my hand with pliers and yank it off.

Glocks I just live with the damage. But it's annoying. Repeated knuckle-skinnings have at least reduced the sensation there.

[JTQ]

The reason is threefold for some people in my opinion.

The majority of shooters don't need a beavertail, but many of us do.
I see a PX4 in your avatar. How do you fare with the PX4?

[Rosco Benson]

Jeff Cooper disdained beavertails on 1911's. He derisively called them "duckbills". To his point, most of the early ones angled downward and forced one to take a lower grip.

IPSC ace Ross Seyfried liked beavertails, to avoid discomfort to the web of his hand by the GI-style tang. Reportedly, Cooper suggested that Seyfried "toughen up" his hand by shooting more. To which Seyfried replied "I'm shooting XXX,000 rounds a year. Just how much MORE shooting should I be doing?"

I had a Bud Price built 5" Govt Model that Price had fitted a downward angled beavertail to. I had a love/hate relationship with it. It made the pistol more comfortable to shoot, but forced my grip a bit lower than I preferred. Ed Brown finally cracked the code with his high-sweep beavertail, featuring the now common recess for the hammer to fit into. Got one, loved it, and never looked back. Pretty much all of the parts makers offer a high-sweep beavertail now, as well as it being standard equipment on lots of 1911 pistols.

Most newer pistol designs have a beavertail style tang integral with the frame. There are the GFA's for the older Glock pistols as well. That isn't just "fashion". Even if slide-bite isn't a problem for a given shooter's hands, having the pistol designed so he can take the highest grip possible AND spread the recoil forces over a larger area of his hand is an excellent feature. Nothing is gained by NOT having a beavertail.

Rosco

[19852+]

My well used and loved Colt .38 super still has the original grip safety, tuned to disengage at 1/2 depression. My hands are largish [I am 6'5"] but lean, not fleshy. I've never gotten slide bite from any pistol.
Every hand is different, what one shooter finds absolutely necessary another may find a waste of money or even a hindrance.

The only shooting comfort modifications I've made to my Colt is a modest removal of sharp edges and a mild hammer bob, again to remove the sharp edge that could snag on my shirt or dig into my side.

What my bony hands don't like are are some of the super high beavertails. There's just not enough flesh on my hand to disengage the safety reliably .

[JTQ]

My well used and loved Colt .38 super still has the original grip safety, ... I've never gotten slide bite from any pistol.
For clarity, that is a GI grip safety on your Colt .38 Super, correct?

[19852+]

For clarity, that is a GI grip safety on your Colt .38 Super, correct?

Yes, GI pattern or A1 pattern grip safety.

[sheepdog]

I see a PX4 in your avatar. How do you fare with the PX4?

I have absolutely NO ergonomic issues with my PX4 Storm. In fact, it is one of the best I've owned. My hand wraps around that thing perfectly and there is no issues. The same thing is mostly true with the M&P's, however, I do prefer the beavertail, especially when firing left handed. I currently no longer have any 1.0's with the old beavertail, so it doesn't feel quite as good as the PX4 Storm Compact, but they still feel great.

I also have a Ruger LCP II, no problems. It's a great gun.

As I mentioned, SIG P229's need a beavertail for me. Glocks as well. I can't shoot Walters for long. Like the SIG, it's not going to give me slide bite, but the tang area of a PPQ, P299, etc... will slam my thumb knuckle. I don't know about the Q4.