Effect of hand strength on recoil tolerance

[cookekdjr]

Just wanted to share my experience. I've rarely had a problem handling recoil in handguns except in an alloy snubbie. An airweight or a Taurus titanium revolver just killed my hands. Much more so than an all steel 357 or 44 magnum, which were never problem.
I've always llifted weights for exercise, but a few years ago I really got into kettlebells. These are old time weights developed in Russia and Eastern Europe. The last year or so I've really gotten into lifting them daily for longer periods of time.
What does this have to do with handguns? Well, the added strength to my forearms and general hand stength has been incredible. It seems that this added strength has reduced the perceived recoil in all guns, most noticably in lightweight snubbies. Firing .357's in a duty gun feels like shooting .38's. Firing .38's - even +p's- out of a lightweight snubbie is like shooting my old .32 magnum. No flinch. No pain. No problem. Before, it felt like getting hit in the palm with a baseball bat, or catching a fastball with a bare hand. Now it's easy.
But the way, I don't think this benefit comes from general weight training. I did a fair amount of grip work and heavy deadlifts before going to kettlebells. This appears to be the result from a specific training tool.
Just thought I'd share the results.
-David

 

[Youngster]

Interesting, I wouldn't have figured it would have made that much of difference for someone with reasonable grip strength to start with.

 

[SaMx]

here's a really cool blog post about training with Todd Jarret that goes into a little more detail about grip strength and recoil management. I think it makes a lot of sense.

 

[cookekdjr]

Interesting, I wouldn't have figured it would have made that much of difference for someone with reasonable grip strength to start with.
Yeah, I was shocked, too. It's a night and day difference.

 

[jfh]

I sharted shooting a lightweight j-frame (M&P340, 13.3 oz) about eighteen months ago. My hand was quite out of shape--the result of personal health issues and related inactivity--but I have worked over the years as a carpenter / tool user, so there still was some residual conditioning.

When I started shooting the j-frames, I could barely tolerate a cylinderful of the Federal standard pressure 110-gr. rounds in the M&P 340.

Without going into all the details in this post, I built practice reloads that, once sorted out, replicated the subjective recoil of the GDSB 38+P 135-gr. round. This "replica recoil" round was initially backed up, and it was also shot in a 640 (SS 2", 24 oz), M60 (SS 3", 25+ Oz), and 686 (SS 4", 39 oz). Four months later, I shot some of the BB20A (38+P heavy--158 gr. LSWC at 1000s fps from a 2" barrel)--and I could do it, at least, without wanting to whimper.

Thousands of rounds later, my hand is "uniquely" conditioned--calluses on my trigger finger knuckle from the guard, on the trigger finger pad from stroking, on the middle finger center joint pad from the grip, a well-developed callus in the web, and significantly more muscle tone in the muscle on the palm below the thumb.

I can now shoot 158-gr. reloads running 900 fps from the lightweights, reload, and shoot another five, all without undue discomfort. As for the BB 20As--well, I prefer to shoot at a level that allows faster shooting and the possibility of reloading and going on.

As cookedjr says, it's a night and day difference.

Jim H.

 

[MrBorland]

Those who've shaken Jerry Miculek's hand don't seem to forget the experience.

IME, increasing hand strength can increase control, but it's actually gotta be applied to the grip. The great bullseye shooter Bill Blankenship was particularly adamant that one needs to grip the gun as hard as possible for maximum control.

My hand strength is what it is, yet I still have to make a conscious effort to grip the gun as hard as I ought to be, otherwise I get an inconsistent grip.

 

[9x19sig]

Those hand squeezers I'm sure everyone has seen make a world of difference. I have been using them for a few years now along with normal weight lifting and I have noticed a night and day difference with respect to how easy it is to shoot shotguns, higher powered rifles, and handguns. At one point is was just too easy to squeeze them, so I found a company that sells the hand squeezers that are incredibly hard to use. Over time they became easy to do as well so I moved up to the next weight class. I have to be careful when shaking someones hand as to not cause them discomfort now, that is one downside I suppose.

 

[cookekdjr]

so I found a company that sells the hand squeezers that are incredibly hard to use

Let me guess: "Captains of Crush"?