Remembering the Hand in Handgun

Two very different hand sizes. Is the same handgun right for both?

Over the last decade or so I've had the opportunity to review over 500 handguns. Handling all of those handguns, plus the experience of handling some of them at the various courses I've attended at Front Sight, ITTS, Thunder Ranch, etc. has enabled me to perform decently with a wide variety of gun shapes and sizes, but it doesn't mean that they are all equally easy for me to shoot well. There are a few factors that go into what makes a gun feel more natural to shoot well, or what requires more effort.

I think these factors are often neglected in media. Either because the reviewer is actually an entertainer and doesn't understand enough to pay attention to such details, or because it's such a personal preference that it's unfair and innacurate to describe one as better than another. Let's take a look at trigger, sights, and most importantly the human hand which I think overrides the others.

Trigger is one that I think too many people lean on pull weight as an indicator of quality. Yes, there is a relationship between the ratio of pull weight to gun weight as a way of estimating how much control one needs of the gun to not move it while applying force to the trigger. (terribly obvious foreshadowing that controling the gun is part of that recipe) I suspect that's the thread of truth in looking at trigger pull weight, but for landing shots where and when you want them I find trigger feel is more important. This is how those listed in my Best Striker Triggers piece were identified.

"Feel" is the term I give for the ability of the shooter to identify stages of the trigger. Takeup, wall, break, and reset are all inputs I like to be able to identify while pressing the trigger of a controlled explosion with potentially lethal consequences. I think that's a reasonable expectation, but some manufacturers disagree. I do not actively process all of that feedback for every shot, but I highly suspect the finger and brain learn it just as we quickly learn how much pressure is appropriate to click a mouse button.

One situation in which I think poorly-defined trigger feel (think a smooth revolver double action in which you don't know when the gun will fire until it does) is a positive is when the shooter has a habit of anticipating recoil or "heeling" the gun. This malady has struck me a few times and poorly-defined triggers have helped me break myself from it.

In short: the more sensory information we have on the status of the gun the better for disciplined shots, however there are plenty of people who can shoot both quickly and accurately with handguns that do not have good finger feedback because those shooters simply keep the gun steady while pressing the trigger, and that tells us that with the right sights and ergonomics trigger alone is not a deciding factor.

More and more electronic sights are replacing classic "iron" sights for many shooters.

Sights are something I comment on often, but factory sights seem to be becoming less and less important with the proliferation of dots. Those who find dot they like can mount it to most modern pistols, however preference is still a factor. Too bright, too dim, too thick to see precisely, or too thin to aquire rapidly; all just like irons. A good shooter can overcome these challenges by compensating with skill, but it is still a key element in both shooting speed and accuracy.

Human reaction time is estimated to be around 0.3s which means anytime we fire faster than that we had already made the deciscion and set in motion firing multiple shots when we take the first shot. That also means the sights aren't fully recognized and processed in our brain before the next shot is taken. Keeping that in mind, plus the body intelligence telling us our wrist and shoulder are in the right position means once again that sights are not the most important part of the the gun if our body knows where the gun is. I believe I've proven this in the AccuShoot series on the second channel in which I've compared similar models sometimes with a dot on one and irons on the other.

Impressively, the Icarus Precision Air grip on this Sig Fuse puts both large and small hand in a great position.

Ergonomics are what aid us in knowing and maintaining control of the gun. Ironically something that is often easily compensated for by skill is also what enables us to develop good skills and confidence in the first place. How much contact we have with the gun, how our trigger finger naturally falls on the trigger, and where we're able to apply pressure on the gun ("grip") not only dictate how easily we control the gun, but also how much input our brain receives from contact with the gun.

Contact with the gun gives us both the ability to apply pressure and the ability to sense what is going on with the gun without needing to look at the gun. The parts of your hand that naturally fit against the shape and size of the pistol directly impact this. It's one thing to hold a handgun and slowly adapt your grip to it, it's a completely different thing to rip a pistol out of its holster for a quick shot and have the hand land where it needs to.

This brings us to the sticky point that sadly means no single handgun is the perfect fit for everyone, nor can "perfect fit" be defined by anyone other than the wielder, and only once they've spent enough time with enough guns to have developed a taste. Below are the considerations I suggest keeping in mind.

• Don't worry about grip angle. Grip angle can make slight ergonomic differences, but if you practice presentation enough your wrist will learn.

• Traction and contact on the front strap and back strap are where "grip" really matters. When we shoot a handgun we aren't trying to squeeze it against inflating, we are try to keep the frame of the gun oriented toward the target while the weight of the slide shifts rearward and returns forward.

• Traction on the sides of the stock gives us a chance to suppliment fighting the gun's desire to rotate during recoil. Pressure from the sides also provides lateral stability to resist any "swimming" of the gun during recoil which would point the gun to the left or right of the target.

• Smaller is not always the answer. Sometimes the girth of a pistol stock opens up the firing hand well enough to permit more contact by the support hand.

• Trigger guard shape can dictate how high the support hand rides, and thereby how much support that hand can really offer. It also impacts where your support-hand thumb may land; a trick I often use is digging my support-side thumb into the pistol's acceessory rail as an anchor point against muzzle rise.

DA/SA guns offrerr the challenge of two different trigger reaches

Trigger Reach is a topic of some debate. I've heard, and can see logic in the idea that if you finger falls too short on the trigger you're likely to be pushing the gun (to the left for a right-handed shooter) as you press the trigger. If your finger can reach too deeply around the trigger a right-handed shooter might be pulling the gun to the right. There is logic in this theory, but there are also many accomplished shooters who argue against this; stating that a good trigger press is a good trigger press regardless of how the finger lays, or that good grip can counter the trigger press shifting the gun.

What I do believe is that for me, and thus likely for others, trigger reach + trigger travel is an important consideration: how the finger rests on the trigger versus where a curling finger wants to be when the trigger is fully rearward. This stroke, and what part of a finger's articulation that stroke needs impacts my ability accuracy with fast-twitch movements like a hammered pair.

The tiny Diamondback DB9 is mostly a one-handed pistol offering plenty of contact for a single hand, but trigger reach might be short for longer fingers.

So what does all of this mean? It means I believe no single gun make or model is the unversal "best" for every person. While you can train and compensate for most fits, I'm sure many of you have held and shot a pistol that was easier for you to retain control of than others, even of the same caliber.

The are hundreds of options out there, so many that it may be bewildering and intimidating. A correlation I think most Americans can relate to is cars: If you look at any given parking lot chances are you'll see a wide variety of makes, models, and even trim levels. At the moment of purchase that vehicle was the right one for the wants, needs, tastes, and budget of the buyer. It may not be 100% what the buyer wished they could have had, but it gets them from point A to point B just like all the rest of the cars in the lot do. One model might offer slight advantages over another for some users, but may not be needed or even desired by others. Handguns are the same, and in the hands of a properly trained operator can perform just as well if not better than others. You can train to run your Honda Civic to beat the Porsche driven by an unskilled driver, but a skilled driver with a Porsche will likely beat a skilled Honda Civic driver.

This doublestack 1911 makes for good trigger finger placement and support-hand space, but the smaller hand would struggle with controls.