ive spent too much time reading up on material written back in the pre 1920s era of handgun shooting.
Well, that statement very well may be true.
You should understand that there have been several "revolutions" in handgunning since the 1920s and that probably less than half of what those fellows thought and did is considered to be best practices today. Now, if you want to shoot exactly the way they did, then I guess you'd want to study how they did it. But several generations of handgun masters have come and gone since then and they've monumentally changed a lot of what was taught. They changed those things because the old ways were found to be not relevant to real-world shooting situations, not in-tune with human ergonomics, and generally inefficient. We owe great debts to men who broke us out of those Victorian-era practices.
by grip i mean "when im holding it, completely secure so no one can make it move in hand by pulling on it, if my shooting hand doesnt have any stress in it", trigger control and follow through is almost perfect for me. and i get good results on paper. if i cant get that neutral stress feeling in my hands i can only associate with standing at attention, my hand torques the barrel left.
Sounds like you want to be fitted for an Olympic free pistol.
That level of fit and persoanl fine tuning should be very easy to come by at the very lowest end of the handgun market, right?
You need practice, and probably some good coaching. "Balance" like that is so-many-angels-dancing-on-pinheads kind of stuff, when it comes to service sidearms. Not getting into shooting because you can't find that PERFECT balance is "ten cents holding up a dollar."
When you pick up a firearm YOU have a lot of learning to do to fit yourself and your technique to what IT needs to function correctly. Some guns are very adaptable and can be easily modified to reduce how much YOU have to adapt to THEM (AR-15s are good for that, and a lot of “position” rifles used in competion, also trap and skeet shotguns, at the upper end) but “duty” handguns really aren't so much. You change the grip to find something that's close enough for your comfort and then go learn that gun.
by balance, i mean when im holding it, how does the "guns center of gravity' make the gun barrel go? if the barrel has a tendency to point below the plane created by sights and eye, then im happy because arm muscles are in their normal "neutral/at rest state". if the barrel wants to point up, my muscles are required to go off balance, and that screws all of my arm and back muscles up.
This isn't a therma-pedic mattress, it's a revolver. And that kind of perfect balance stuff is the kind of thing that certain high-precision rifle competitors concern themselves with. But practical handgunning is fast, fluid, changing positions, shooting, moving, reloading, etc. If you just go get STARTED you'll find that any one of hundreds of handguns will do what you need to do with a handgun, and that it is the PRACTICE that makes you successful, not the gun itself. When your PRACTICE is right and you have some experience, you'll find that you could pick up any handgun in the dealer's case and shoot it pretty darned well. Because of what YOU'VE become, not because every gun “fits” you just right.
hands are really odd. by measurement, i should be a medium. in wearing actual shooting gloves, i need to wear something more then large or i loose blood flow and hands go numb. on thumblatches, the centennial latch is the right dimensions, except that if they made the serated part the thumb pushes upon a 90 degree angle like an upside down L, it would be perfect.
Ok. So the answer to my question about special needs is a "no." You don't have nerve damage and aren't missing a digit. Then one of the commonly available revolver grips will work for you. And there are thousands more grips available (cheaper) for S&W revolvers than any other brand. You will find something that works for you.
As to the thumb latch: You can go this way.
You can go that way.
There may be a few others. But it's a small part that does ONE motion. Hard to get a million different variations. Hard to picture why you'd need to.
and on the nitwits i mention. they are the congomeration of all the gunwriters who try to sell me a product because they got paid to. and everyone who considers themselve a gun-foo master.
You seem to be stuck in a precarious position. Desperate for education and advice, but finding that anyone who's willing to help you is a self-righteous "gun-foo master" who's advice you can't respect.
Apparently all these people keep telling you things you don't want to hear. I guess you'll just have to find someone who'll tell you what you've decided you DO want to hear.
no intent to insult, just intent to get people incited to reflect upon their own actions and animosity to "know it alls".
Good grief. The last thing we need is YET ANOTHER thread inciting people to animosity. If you stick around long you'll find that we have a LOT of contributors who are long on animosity and short on experience. It isn't a flattering combination.
Well, I guess I fit those two criteria. So just ignore what I said. I probably didn't know what in the world I was talking about. My advice cannot possibly encompass your very unique set of problems. You probably are so very unusual that what works for millions of handgunners will not work for you. I'm sorry. It's going to be a long road.
alot like the kid who gets to the icecream shop just to find out the only flavor of icecream they have is the only one hes allergic too.
More like the kid in the ice cream shop who has HEARD of allergies and thinks he MIGHT have one (you just never know) and won't just pick one and go try it out. The ice cream shop owner and a bunch of the kid's buddies are all standing around patiently telling him that if he JUST PICKS ONE (and here's one here that almost EVERYONE likes) and eats it, by the time he's finished with it, he'll probably be a big fan. And that, for crying out loud, he's not getting MARRIED to it! It's just a friggin' ice cream cone! Stop fretting and take a chance!
Or don't. Nicodemus, I wish you the best. As I said before, if you ever find that PERECT gun (for cheap!) -- BUY IT. If you can't find that perfect gun, I suppose you'll have to keep looking forever.
But maybe someday you'll get so fed up with the endless search for the “golden fleece” of cheap handguns that you'll remember someone once told you that you could get a really nice S&W 64 for $249.95 – and what the heck? Maybe it's worth a try after all...
Good luck on your quest.
