I wish I would have known how much damage I was doing to my right thumb, wrist, and hand, shooting N-Frame revolvers, with .44 and .41 Magnum ammo, double-action, with my K/L/GP100-sized hands. I used what some now call the “h-grip,” to get enough finger on the trigger, which meant that recoil went into the base joint of my thumb, and then torqued my wrist, violently. Oh, but I believed in training with street-relevant ammo, and plenty of it. Deep. Sigh.
Of course, I was doing this because I believed the folks who believed in bigger bores, heavier bullets, and faster velocities. I had trained in the police academy, 1983-1984, with .357 L-Frames, but I bought into the idea that a bore had to start with four, and carried an S&W Model 629, for my first year of sworn service. I soon switched to a Model 58 .41 Magnum. By 1990, I had realized my error, and switched to .45 ACP single-column-mag auto-loaders, and .357 revolvers that fit me. But, the damage was done, and the chickens would come home to roost. During the Nineties, I noticed how it was so much more painful to shoot J-Frames right-handed, than left-handed. The first time I fired an Airlite L-Frame revolver, with .38 ammo, it HURT. in 2011, about the time I reached age 50, I could no longer shoot very much .40 S&W ammo, in one session, right-handed, with my SIG P229R duty pistol.
I switched to Glock 9mm pistols in 2015, shortly after my chief OK’ed 9mm duty pistols, to get a lower bore axis, and lesser recoil energy, in one move. By 2017, however, a short range session with a Glock G19 would result in swelling and pain, that lasted for days. No more compact Nines, for me. Yes, those chickens, from the Eighties, came home to roost, and started pecking me to death. (I still shoot 9mm Glocks right-handed, but the full-length-grip G17 and G19x, which reach all the way to the heel-bone of my hand.)
In hindsight, I should have stayed with .357 revolvers, that fit, and, if I wanted bigger bore, .45 ACP, fired with autos. I discovered my most-favored, handgun in the world, the GP100, a perfect fit for me, in the early Nineties. If only I had been an early adopter, of the GP100, in 1985 or 1986, and stuck with it.
I could have played with big-bore Magnums, but fired them single-action, while holding them ergonomically correctly.
I did get into a line-of-duty shooting, in 1993, with my GP100. Yes, .357 Magnum did the job. The naysayers had been saying .357 would not expand, if fired from a mere 4” barrel. Well, it expanded. Other naysayers had said it would expand too quickly, and fail to penetrate. Well, it penetrated. Devastating stop. I don’t see how any big bore could could have done better.
The bright side is that I am left-handed, so that left hand was mostly spared the cumulative battering. I naturally write lefty, but throw righty, and found DA revolver shooting to be something I could do with either hand, about equally. A smooth DA stroke was not easy to learn, but in concept, was caveman-simple. Drawing a heavy revolver from the then-mandated low-slung duty holster was not unlike throwing under-handed, so the draw felt quite natural right-handed. Plus, I knew I would be patrolling alone, and would be able to reach my right hip more easily. So, I mostly fired the N-Frames right-handed, and fired my “back-up” J-Frame mostly lefty.
) . Have to get a waiver for my firefighter quals every 3 years and I'm good to go, but I do wish the ringing would subside. It's worst when it's really quiet, and that's when you really want to hear the best.
