Tendonitis gun...thinking about a USP Expert

[M2CattleCo]

I’m sure this won’t apply to everybody, but I found shooting Glocks to be the worst for my lateral epycondilitis.... however you spell it. I think it has to do with both the grip angle and the heavier take up for each shot. Shooting a Beretta with the double action, followed by the lighter easier single action doesn’t seem to bug me as much. 1911s, even 45s aren’t as much of an issue either. My M&P 2.0 5” feels very soft shooting and is fairly light as well. Trigger is much more comfortable.

I’ve been dealing with elbow issues since 2012 and I found that not shooting dowsn’t Really help. There are a couple really good YouTube videos that really helped me. One is by (to my understanding) Rob Leatham’s physical therapist. I’ll try to find/link them.

I know how you feel, as there was a time I couldn’t pick up a small glass of wine at full extension without significant pain. Drawing made me wince to the point other people were noticing... and I was going slow. The exercises in the YouTube videos are why I’m not having major issues today.

Same thing I found.

The airplane I fly at work aggravates my elbow. A 1911 and a single action revolver are the two easiest ones for me to shoot. Double action went to hell as grip strength is fine, but the dexterity required for a DA shot is dicey.

[Hambo]

Physical therapy. Mine wasn't bad so I searched YouTube for PT for tennis elbow. That and figuring out the cause, which in my case was lifting weights. I didn't quit, but I did change my routine and frequency. Now for the bad news, if you're of a certain age, you cure tennis elbow and then your hands start hurting. This causes another round of figuring it out the cause...

[Rex G]

One thing that gave me a lot of relief was to wear a wrist brace at night to keep my from curling my wrist up at night.
I was told that if you tend to curl your wrists up when you sleep that it keeps tension on the elbow tendon all night and exacerbates tendonitis.
After the first night with a brace (cheap ACE) I woke up with much less pain to start the day (by the end of the day it still sucked, but at least i started out better).

This. Many of use will make repetitive motions as we sleep, which can aggravate repetitive-motion injuries.

For a while, I slept with a splint on each hand/arm, though the issue was CTS. FWIW, I kept a single-action revolver, and a shotgun, very close, while sleeping, as these could be manipulated if I had to act before having an opportunity to remove the splints. (The Colt SAA, and its faithful design copies, have quite small grip frames and grips.)

The actual prescription for curing my elbow tendonitis was a three-pound dumbbell, plenty of wrist curls, and plenty of very thorough stretching.

[runcible]

It's not quite what you asked for, but combinations of the following have done for my folks at work with similar issues:

A. Shooting with an "elbows rolled over" grip, or involving the trapezius and pectoral muscles to wring by any other name... For some, this was what clinched things as far as shifting methodologies; as while it is a relatively tiresome method, it hugely takes the sharpness out of shooting for employment.

B. Use of an Armaid roller widget to address the up-front sharpness\discomfort of the tendonitis.

C. Keeping a lacrosse ball readily accessible and using it for on-the-spot relief in the event of a flare, and for time-available rehab work.

More broadly, hammer-fired guns seem to feel sharper in recoil for the first part of the recoil cycle (slide is recocking the hammer) and striker-fired guns seem to feel comparatively sharper at the end of the recoil cycle (slide hits travel stops). Which of those will be less crappy for you is going to be a reflection of your specific reality, and where your tendonitis flares most fully - at full extension (leans towards striker-fired) or as the elbow bends (leans towards hammer-fired)?

Monitoring and as-required replacement of your pistol's recoil spring can help keep a little bit of the sting out of recoil. There's a sharpness to recoil that is one of my main cues to replace my recoil spring, that doesn't get any better when there's damage in-play.

[Clobbersaurus]

Another vote here for the PX4. They are soft recoiling guns, at least the full size was for me.

I had to deal with tennis elbow, the Theraband Flex worked well for me to solve it.

[BillSWPA]

If you go the physical therapy route, find the people who work with college and professional athletes in your area. They will be better at spotting the little differ ices in how you do the exercises that make a big difference, as well as having a higher expectation of success.


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[RevolverRob]

A Colt SAA clone of Vaquero loaded with .38 special cowboy loads.

Whenever my carpal tunnel flares up, anything but the softest shooting guns is hard. A .22 auto or revolver is sometimes all I can handle.

[Baldanders]

Yet another vote for a px4.

My full-size Storm has about the same recoil impulse as a m92 or p226 with the same ammo.

[Duces Tecum]

No tendinitis here, but age-related arthritis is starting to become bothersome. The route I'm considering is minor caliber / major weight. The steel framed 5" 1911 in .45 acp generates 6.93 lbs of recoil, whereas the same gun in 9mm has only 2.88 lbs.

The OP asked about softly recoiling light pistols. Sadly, there might be only one pistol that combines reduced recoil with light weight. The 27 oz H&K USP(F) 9mm has incorporated, I've been told, a mechanical recoil reduction feature offering (again, hearsay) 33% efficiency. If that is indeed the case, felt recoil with this 1.69 lb pistol would be reduced from 4.24 lbs to 2.84 lbs, which is competitive with the steel 1911. George is thoroughly versed in H&Ks, and will have some useful observations.

References:
http://www.shooterscalculator.com/recoil-calculator.php
https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol
https://hk-usa.com/hk-models/usp/

[Leroy]

I think the P226 with a reduced power recoil spring (Wolff 12 or 13 pound variable on a Gray Guns guide rod) shooting 135 power factor 9 mm is the softest shooting 9 mm that does not weigh 40 ounces (probably 34 to 35 ounces). I find the P226 softer than a USP 9 which weighs around 27 ounces I believe.