the pistol foregrip is unnecessary for anything except shooting from the hip.
Aesthetics aside, this is just incorrect. A lot of our troops and an awful lot of 3-gun competitors are finding that the front pistol grip provides great control and manuverability. These are the kinds of guys who only use what works, aesthetics be d@mned.
If you really think about it, the statement doesn't even make sense. To shoot "from the hip" with a front pistol grip, you have to crank your support hand wrist up at an odd angle. Cradling the gun in your open palm -- the way you'd hold a conventional straight fore stock -- would be much more comfortable.
Remember, the WHOLE POINT of pistol gripped stocks, whether for the strong hand or the support hand, is that they give you a more natural grip -- when the gun is SHOULDERED.
As an exercise, make two fists and assume a "fighting" stance. Your hands will be clenched, up at chest or chin height, probably weak hand just in front of your strong hand. The "axis" of each fist is almost perpendicular to the ground. (Well, they'll be canted a little towards each other -- but that's a different thread!) Someone could almost set an AR-15 (with a forward vertical grip), or an AMD-65, or a Romanian AKM in your hands without you having to move a muscle. That's a very natural shooting position.
To say that you don't like the aesthetics is fine. A classic SxS double barreled shotgun or a Springfield rifle, or Garand, or whatever traditional gun you like, would look very odd with a vertical grip (in either location). But modern gun design is moving that way because for a lot of purposes it makes more sense.
But to say that it is "only good for shooting from the hip," is just repeating Brady Bunch garbage -- when the exact OPPOSITE is actually true.
-Sam
