Bersa slide lock engaging with recoil?

[25cschaefer]

I went shooting with some friends today, one of which had just purchased her first auto loader, a Bersa .380. When she fires it, almost every time, the slide catch engages. I shot two mags through with out a problem.

I am an experienced pistol shooter, and have trained hundreds of people in using semi autos. I know what to look for in the shooter's grip and her thumbs are not contacting the slide catch, I even had her try it with them well away from the frame. Her grip is correct but like a lot of new pistol shooters, her wrist flips more than someone with more experience.

Can a limp wrist cause the catch to engage?

What drills would help train against limp wristing?

Should she maybe switch to a less finicky auto until she gets it down (she shot my USP 40c with out a problem)?

 

[MedWheeler]

I assume she's right-handed. Watch her dry-fire it. By itself, LR shouldn't cause a slide-lock, but the slide catch is prominent on the Thunder series, and could be easy to "rub" upward. I'm guessing that there is some limp-wrist present, and the gun may actually be rolling the slide catch down into her thumb or support-hand fingers as it recoils. Does this happen with both one and two-handed fire?
As an example, I'm left-handed. When I shoot a standard 1911, the ball of my index-finger base sometimes want to roll the safety upward.
The gun itself is an excellent choice as a defensive weapon, should she and it agree on each other.

 

[cluznar]

Never had that problem with my Bersa Thunder .380 or heard of it before. She is doing something wrong.

 

[tekarra]

I would suspect something in the way the pistol is held and recoil is is causing her to engage the slide stop. It happened to me with a Bersa.

 

[allaroundhunter]

It isn't necessarily limp wristing that is causing the slide stop to engage, an improper grip can do it as well as the gun recoils.

 

[rcmodel]

What drills would help train against limp wristing?

What I use to explain it is:

Almost everyone knows how to make a fist and punch something, or someone in defending yourself.

If the fist & wrest isn't straight in line with the arm, and locked?
You will sprain or break your wrest when you punch something as hard as you can.

You might try that to get her to understand what she needs to do to stop limp wresting.

It's the same as preparing your wrest instinctively to punch someones lights out.

rc