"Find the gun that feels best in your hand"

[Mr. Goodtimes]

Working in a gun shop I hear this phrase so often it makes my head want to explode, as typically the know it all ex Navysealsniperdeltadevgrusas friend of theirs is espousing this to be the only really important thing when it comes to buying a pistol. Atleast until we get to the P30, which hands down always feels the best, then they are willing to sacrifice what feels the best for what feels ok and still leaves them enough money in their checking account for some PBR on the way home from the shop.

Personally, this recommendation drives me insane as the way a pistol "feels" in my hand has nothing to do with the way I actually shoot said pistol. If that was the case I'd shoot my P30 infinitely better than a Glock 19 or a M9, and that's just not the case.

When I select a pistol for a carry pistol I select it based on these factors, in this order (greatest importance to least)

1. Reliability
2. Accuracy
3. Features (safety, no safety, light rail or no etc...)

At no point do I really take into account how the gun feels in my hand as I know with training, given that it's a quality firearm, I can learn to shoot it as well as any other similar pistol.

The perfect example is last week a couple came in wanting to buy a gun, they were told by their friend (who they proclaimed was an expert with all thing guns) to buy the one that felt best in their hands. As a result, they bought a Beretta PX4 compact instead of a Glock 19. Plus they thought the Glock was ugly, and the PX4 looked cool.

Has anyone here ever run into this and what do you think? When comparing guns of similar quality, size etc.. What role (if any) does "feel" play?

[Zhurdan]

I'd be willing to bet that a new shooter who buys a comfortable gun will shoot it more than one that is not comfortable.

Not that it's always the best, but it can have an effect on whether or not someone continues to shoot and even start down the road to proficiency. Granted, this applies to new shooters, not someone who's been shooting for a long time, as they would know exactly what you are saying... it's not necessarily about how comfortable it is, it's how much you shoot it that dictates proficiency over time.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

I have finally started asking people "what's the goal here...to own a gun or to be a capable shooter? If the goal is to own a gun, get whatever you like. If you are planning on being a real shooter, forget what "feels right" right now...by the time you shoot it enough to be a serious player, ANYTHING will feel like it was born in your hand."

I hate the "get what feels right" advice.

[TCinVA]

[QUOTE=Mr. Goodtimes;135947
Has anyone here ever run into this and what do you think? When comparing guns of similar quality, size etc.. What role (if any) does "feel" play?[/QUOTE]

That depends on how much you know. I was in class with Bob Vogel over the weekend so I'll pick on him. He can probably pick up a handgun and tell pretty much instantly whether or not it's going to be a good fit for his style of shooting instantly.

Bob the accountant, on the other hand, probably not.

There are people who can pick up a gun and "feel" quite a bit of useful information about it from doing so, generally people with skill levels that are well above average.

There are people who can pick up a gun and "feel" that it's not a good fit for them because they can't reach the controls, or because they run the slide and notice that it's already trying to cut their hands.

There are other situations where the "feel" someone gets from the gun is irrelevant to predicting performance or suitability...and I'd wager that most people who talk about "feel" would fall into this category most of the time.

[jhprice]

i Usally ask what are you plan on using your pistol for then point them in the direction of pistols allong that line as i exspain to them we need grip to feel comforable as well as how trigger pull feels. examples 1911 has very nice trigger pull and feel soilid vs taurus pt 22 which is very tough trigger pull. Some dont like glock due to kind of looks difernt but it is probally the most popular pistol on the market My son loves high got fro free from his mom..pistols are like evry thing else some like mini cooper some like gmc denaili i will tell you over pistoling is the fastest way to lose a womans interest in shooting my wifa and daughter were sold glock 40 cals with critical defense ammo and had never shot a pistol and after ist shot my daughter was done for life and it took a camo walther p22 to get my wife back to the range for her ccw class now she shoots 200 rounds weekly and has 9mm compact 1911 for her ccw.
so feel is important as well as common sense

jhp

[hufnagel]

To me that's where the counter sales person should step in. I would hope they would take the time to listen to the customer, evaluate their needs, their abilities, and their physicality before educating them on why they would pick specific firearms for them. I know we have a lot of people everywhere who are thoroughly in the Caveat Emptor mindeset, but to me nothing is worse than a never-shot firearm sitting in a nightstand because they used it once and it turned them off from being wrong for them.

I agree with the OP's list and concerns, but also with what Zhurdan says; KEEPING them shooting is very important, so the list needs to be tempered by that. Trading a little off those 3 items to keep someone shooting on a regular basis has to be considered a decent trade off. Once they have enough rounds down the pipe if they decide "I want something more <insert_factor_here>" then they can now approach their next purchase with more knowledge and can understand and accept the trade offs required.


Or they can just buy P30's or P2000SK's and call it a day.

[Sal Picante]

There are people who can pick up a gun and "feel" that it's not a good fit for them because they can't reach the controls, or because they run the slide and notice that it's already trying to cut their hands.

Anecdotally, I notice this a lot with new female shooters.

[David Armstrong]

I'd be willing to bet that a new shooter who buys a comfortable gun will shoot it more than one that is not comfortable.

Not that it's always the best, but it can have an effect on whether or not someone continues to shoot and even start down the road to proficiency. Granted, this applies to new shooters, not someone who's been shooting for a long time, as they would know exactly what you are saying... it's not necessarily about how comfortable it is, it's how much you shoot it that dictates proficiency over time.

+1. That is my view. I spend most of my teaching time working with new shooters these days, and a comfortable fit DOES make a lot of difference to them. Given two guns of similar reliability I'll go with the "feels good" over the "feels bad" every time. If the firearm feels good they are more likely to work with it, practice with it, dry-fire with it, and all those other things we like shooters to do. I can pick up something that feels bad and still do adequate work with it. I won't like it. I've tried to go with a Glock 21 three times and ended up selling the thing every time because I just didn't like the way it feels, in spite of the fact I shot them quite well. So yes, feel is important, IMO.

[Hatchetman]

I teach out of a gun shop that has a lower end laser simulator handy. One of my students starts asking questions about a particular gun the first thing I do is have them run all the controls. If they can do so without issue, it's into the simulator to see if they can make hits with it. Many a snubby, ~shudder~ Judge, low end consignment gun, whatever has gone unsold after a wee bit of laser trigger time.

With that said, first gun I ever bought was a Gold Cup, and to this day I pick up a 1911 and think "now that's what a pistol is 'sposed to feel like." Pick up a Glock and my hand pretty much says "meh." However, I carry the latter for reasons outlined above.

[LOKNLOD]

This is another one of the ideas where some context is everything, but people boil it down to a platitude and spit it out on the internet or sales floor like it was printed in red in the New Testament. It's not bad advice, or good advice, until it's put within the framework of other details about the shooter, their needs, and experience level.

I think it's also hard for us to approach objectively when we're all performance-oriented and the kind of freaks who track stats and time things. For a lot of the shooting public, "I shoot it well" or "I like the way it shoots" has a lot more to do with "I'm comfortable shooting it" than "My reloads are 2/10ths quicker due to the better positioning of the controls". Feel is certainly not everything - it may not even be anything, once you reach a certain level - but if you've never shot any of the guns in the cabinet in front of you, and with someone's help you've boiled it down to 2 or 3 choices (hopefully solid choices), then "whichever one of these feels best" is about the only piece of data you've got to work with at that point.