Mistake with my wife at the range

[doc540]

I took her to shoot the .38 snubbies for the first time yesterday. I carry the Colt DS and keep the M36 in the nightstand at home. It's become "her" gun.

Loaded with Speer Gold Dot's (got a great deal on them, thus used them for practice loads), the checkered, rosewood, boot grips tore the skin in two places inside her right thumb. (And she was using a tight, two-handed grip.)

Like a trooper, she dabbed the blood with a Kleenex, put on a pair of thin gloves and kept on torching 'em off.

She shot it fine for a first time shooter, but I felt bad that the grips bit her. I sold them last night and installed the Smith, factory rubber boot grips.

I'm also looking at the Hogue 61000's.

She shrugged it off and is ready to go back to the range, but I'll have a better grip for her hands next time.

The Hogues

 

[gunfish]

I have the same problem with j frames. I put on some pachmeyers that cover the back strap of the grip. I had to do the same thing with my colt agent. The original grips would tear a piece of skin off the inside of the thumb at the base. The boot grips were no help since they don't cover the back strap.

 

[Sir Aardvark]

I bit the bullet and bought the Crimson Trace 405's for my S&W 340PD J-frame.
They are expensive, but they have that cool little "air-gap" that pads the backstrap so web of your thumb doesn't bleed.
I use this as my CCW handgun, so I needed something lightweight and little, and the CT's really fit the bill!

If this is just a range gun, you can try the Hogue Decelerators, they cover the backstrap - but are gargantuan! they alone weigh more than my 340PD. Holding on to them is like holding a handful of Jello - all wiggly and squiggly.

 

[madcratebuilder]

+1 on the CT 405's. I have had several different sets of grips on my 2" 640 and the CT's are the best I have tried.

 

[Saint Dennis]

Made the same mistake with a .357 Highway Patrolman. Was mine, now hers.

 

[doc540]

Installed a new set of Houge Bantams this evening. We'll she how these work for her along with standard pressure wadcutters.

 

[Titus]

Are you sure it was the grips and not the cylinder latch thumbpiece?

 

[doc540]

Yep, checked that carefully at the range. It was the upper edge of the checkering on the Badger boot grips.

I shot it just fine, but her hands fit it so the inside edge of her thumb was right on that sharp edge of the grips.

I think it's fixed now, but if these Bantam's don't work for her, I'm going back to the full size Hogue Monogrips.





(And, yes, she was aware of her trigger discipline and posed purposely.)

 

[Rod B]

I agree your wife is a "Trooper".

Sounds like she is also a "keeper".

 

[VPLthrneck]

I wasn't very happy with the feel of the factory grips so I went with the Hogue Monogrips and am satisfied with them. I didn't get the full-size but the ones marked for the j-frame seem to be a little bigger than the factory installed Uncle Mike's grips.

 

[doc540]

Yes, they are longer than the factory Uncle Mike's and aren't as easy to conceal, but they do provide a superior grip area.

Here they are on a 642 I bought, fired, and promptly sold.