Guns for Weak People: Observations

[fixer]

-The industry has has failed to make a: lightweight, reliable, easy to shoot, load, and unload small caliber gun for the strength challenged folks who most need a gun honestly. This sucks. Maybe the S&W Shield EZ is that gun? There is a real need for more like that. Let me know your thoughts? The Beretta Bobcat is almost that fun but it is totally unreliable and has a safety plus DA/SA system that is completely bizarre to a non dedicated shooter. Are there any revolvers that meet this criteria with a trigger under 8lbs?

My wife is fairly experienced but still somewhat fits in the above category. She tried Glocks and likes their simplicity but the "beavertail" bothers her thumb joint when shooting more than 15 rounds. Beretta 92 of different variants...the DA/SA thing was too much and the grip slices her thumb webbing. Together this is about 8 or more years of range time, trial and error, instruction etc...We've also tried the sig p238, Glock 26, and Glock 42. The 238 was closest to being acceptable but the lack of 3 finger grip was a no-go.

We've now gone to 9mm 1911s. So far so good...only problem is the weight. But its somewhat comparable to a loaded 92. The 9mm 1911 is easy to load, has a manual safety, can find ones that have triggers in the 5-7 lb range, and yes you can some that are reliable. And the accuracy is a huge benefit...she can get good hits on target at 15 yds much easier.

[Mas]

Mas Ayoob published an article in one of the gun magazines many years ago wherein he discussed various methods of making things easier for shooters with various disabilities. In one instance, if I recall correctly, he described a magazine pouch that held the magazines with the feed lips pointing up, so that the shooter could simply bring the gun down on the magazine. I do not know which pouch or quite how that would work. I wish I had saved it.



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It's been quite a while, Bill, but if I recall correctly it was Tom Campbell who showed me those mag pouches, and I think they may have been made for him by Bill Rogers.

[BillSWPA]

It's been quite a while, Bill, but if I recall correctly it was Tom Campbell who showed me those mag pouches, and I think they may have been made for him by Bill Rogers.

Thanks for that information!



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[revchuck38]

Mas Ayoob published an article in one of the gun magazines many years ago wherein he discussed various methods of making things easier for shooters with various disabilities. In one instance, if I recall correctly, he described a magazine pouch that held the magazines with the feed lips pointing up, so that the shooter could simply bring the gun down on the magazine. I do not know which pouch or quite how that would work. I wish I had saved it.



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Actually, those mag pouches were from the early days of IPSC when one-handed reloads were a common requirement. They were known as “Idaho reloads”. I think Gordon Davis made them.

[BN]

Actually, those mag pouches were from the early days of IPSC when one-handed reloads were a common requirement. They were known as “Idaho reloads”. I think Gordon Davis made them.

I think I had one of those back in the day. The ones I remember were for 1911 mags. I thought they were Rogers or Safariland.

[revchuck38]

I think I had one of those back in the day. The ones I remember were for 1911 mags. I thought they were Rogers or Safariland.

They may well have been. The memory’s the second thing to go...

[runcible]

For manipulations, several adaptations have been consistently useful for shooters of all statutes. First is for the trigger finger to be indexed against the frame with positive pressure exerted (very similar to the positive register point of ECQC, but on-frame) - this prevents the weapon rolling in their hand when they attempt to rack the slide, and makes for a more efficient expression of the motion. Additionally, it helps reduce bending in the wrist during the same. Secondly, posting the shooting-side elbow slightly forward of one’s side, with a definitive index of elbow against ribs: this reduces the number of joints that have to provide resistance in order for the slide to be pulled rearwards away from the frame, and the incompressible nature of forearm bones provides desirable resistance to the motion. Lastly, pinching with the support hand’s thumb and forefinger +/- the social finger, seems to be stronger in everyone I’ve asked on the matter, as opposed to the strength of clasping one’s fingertips to the corresponding palm; like false-gripping for pull-ups or some lifts, it is counter-intuitive but consistently so. (Very few can pinch me to the point of discomfort by clasping 1-4 fingertips towards their palm with the web of my hand in the middle; by almost everyone can make it painful with a thumb and forefinger alone.) Following with that, unless the weapon system has a conflict with that (e.g Beretta M9 - pinch-rack those from forward of the ejection port), most get more consistent performance by pinching the back of the slide in order to cycle it or lock it to the rear.

(BLUF: shift the trigger finger from the positive register to the frame index, index the shooting-side elbow outboard of the abdominals and forward of one’s side, set the pinch around the slide, rack by drawing the pinch back towards one’s center-sternum.)

Some minutiae on pinch-racking the slide vs over-handing\power-stroking:

- it is difficult for most to over-hand the slide without bending the hand backwards at the wrist, which reduces effective grip strength. Plenty do just fine; but those with a relative strength deficit may do less well.

- it is intuitive but undesirable for the support-hand to immediately return forward after over-handing the slide to the rear, to then reassert the two-handed firing grip by fanning the extended palm and fingers past the side of the firearm and then curling them over the shooting-hand. It is relatively easy for the fingers to pass in-line with or beyond the muzzle, creating a safety concern; this being exacerbated if the shooter is overhanding with the support-hand while driving forward with the shooting-hand, as is often taught.

- pinch-racking has the palm of the support-hand oriented more towards the chest, allowing for the shooter to use their own sternum as an over-travel stop, before collecting the support-hand onto the gun off of a flat-hand on the high-center chest - allowing for greater congruency with specifically shooting methodology and the greater multi-disciplinary body (a la ECQC), while simultaneously eking performance benefit to the slighter-bodied shooter.