Larry Correia on Facebook
There’s a super common gun saying that I hear a lot “the (brand x) grip feels great in my hand” but that doesn’t signify what most people think it does, and usually the people saying it don’t know what they don’t know. It isn’t necessarily wrong, as it does feel good to them, it’s just that the value of that misleading, and there’s a big difference between when an inexperienced shooter says it versus an experienced shooter saying it.
Often when an inexperienced shooter handles a pistol, and they say that a pistol “feels good in their hand”, they don’t know what they don’t know. And back when I was selling guns I’d see people hold pistols in the goofiest possible grips that would totally suck for actual shooting while making that pronouncement. Well sure it feels good right now. You’re gripping it like its an unmoving squirt gun.
The other trap I saw newbs fall into was they’d say it felt good because the grip they were holding had little to no texture to it. Yes. That smooth grip feels very nice in your soft palm here in the gun store. Except during recoil when there is no friction between gun and hand, it’s going to slide around a ton and totally suck to shoot.
Texture is a trade off, where the more aggressive the texture, the more it will be locked into your hand during shooting. However, too aggressive starts to abrade and then hurt during long range sessions, and if it’s for concealed carry it’s going to stick to your clothing and chew holes in your shirts faster. What’s the right amount of aggression in grip texture for you? It depends on how soft your hands are and what you’re using the gun for.
Then people get hung up on grip angles. This isn’t nearly as big a deal as people make it out to be. But I used to see customers all the time aim the gun in some weird fashion that they wouldn’t use with live ammo, with a floppy grip, and then announce “this one doesn’t point naturally”.
Grip angle is a thing, but it’s one of those things that really doesn’t hold you back nearly as much as people like to act like. Most pistols are on a fairly similar angle because history shows that’s what works for most of mankind fairly well, and the furthest off that from mainstream guns is the Glock, and millions of people shoot those just fine. Grip angle is the thing you get used to through presentations, mostly in dry fire. After a few hundred reps its not going to matter, then just stick with that one you’re used to and it’s fine.
Grip size matters more than angle. Most guns are designed around the average. So it’s the opposite ends of the hands bell curve, really small and really big, where this becomes an issue. This is one area where fitting the gun to the customer does actually matter enough to effect usability. If it’s too wide or fat, the small handed will struggle. If its too narrow or skinny, the big handed will struggle. My palm a basketball hands shooting itty bitty guns is cartoonish. Watching somebody with short tiny fingers trying to shoot a Beretta 92 double action can be sad.
This is where grips that have some modularity to them are great. Swapping backstraps is great. That also changes grip angle for those who don’t like the existing one. Then some guns offer different side panels for the thickness. Bigger hands tend to do better with wider grips so there’s more real estate. Smaller hands the opposite.
What dimensions really matter? Can you reach the trigger comfortably and work it effectively? That’s the biggest issue for most newbs. And this isn’t just grip, it can also be a function of trigger placement and how far forward (or back in some rarer cases) it is.
On that, you know those idiotic simpleton Fud pictures of too much finger shoot this way, too little finger shoot that way, everybody’s hand/gun is the same so this exact point of your finger needs to touch the trigger or else? They’re nonsense. Ignore those. What matters is you can work the trigger consistently. That doesn’t matter if that’s pad, or joint, or whatever. That depends on what gun you’re shooting. If I’m shooting a 92 or a 226 I’m using a different part of my finger than if I’m shooting a 2011.
Stubby or long fingers, can you work the trigger? That’s what matters. And even though lots of people complain about the Glock grip angle, the Glock’s grip size and trigger reach make it usable for the overwhelming majority of the bell curve (especially after they got rid of those stupid finger grooves). Which is why despite the whining about the angle, most people shoot them just fine. I bring up the Glock because it’s basically the Honda Accord of guns, but this is also true for most of the regular brand name striker fired pistols. PDP, Echelon, VP9, APX, etc. Those are all going to fit the overwhelming majority of mankind just fine, especially with swappable backstraps.
Then there’s the newer generation concealed carry slim 9mms that started with the 365. These have dimensionally smaller grips and are great to carry because of the size, but this is where you see the bigger handed half of the bell curve start to struggle to shoot well because there’s less grip, so less meat touching plastic. (they also weigh a lot less, which again, great for carry, sub-optimal for recoil) But they’re a reasonable trade off so they’re super popular for CCW.
Grip length, another trade off. Shorter the grip, less to hold onto, less lever against the muzzle to control recoil, but easier to conceal. Longer grip, fingers aren’t as squished, more sticking out to conceal. I love to shoot pistols with mag funnels, not just for the smoother reloads, but because with my big size hands that’s more real estate for my pinky. Again, the trade off is that’s the part that sticks out the most under your shirt, so most people don’t CCW pistols with mag funnels.
All of this stuff matters more and also ironically less, the better you get. In that the more practice you have, the more you can shoot everything well, but also the more you want to specifically custom tune your equipment to maximize your performance. As in really good shooters can get super particular about their stuff, but they’ll also beat you with a box stock Glock no problem too.
Advanced shooters can get super particular about their grip shape, texture, and will swap out triggers to get the exact reach they want. Then we put this on paper on the timer and it actually matters to us, and we’ll get excited if we knocked off .02 of a second consistently. I’ll do dumb crap like spend a bunch of money swapping out springs until I’m happy with how something feels. Does that kind of nit picky crap matter to most people? No. Absolutely not. And the money you’d spend on that stuff you’d be better off buying more practice ammo.
TLDR- feels good in the hand is true, but can also be useless based upon the knowledge of who is saying it. Most of the modern name brand pistols will fit most of the bell curve good enough, and there’s options for the outliers. Once you know what you’re doing, then you can go nuts.
