The physics of limp wristing.

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RM

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What is going on mechanically when someone limp wrists a gun that results in malfunctions? Thank you.
 
I know that it will lead to misfeeds and jams in most auto's

I know that it will actually damage a Desert Eagle. :cuss:

I know that it keeps things from timing and moving the way they were designed to, probably because of axial friction between the moving parts. (But I'm only guessing on that...)
 
On semi-auto's you have the slide of the gun, that when fired moves rearward to eject the case, and then comes foward to feed a new one into battery.

When limp wristing, you are taking the rigid backing away from the frame of the gun which robs the slide of the energy it needs to function correctly.

The best example I can think of is if you were to try and split round of wood on top of a big block of soft rubber. The support of the wood is not rigid and therefore robs energy from the axe making it very difficult to split the wood.
 
It is my understanding that when you limp wrist, you are not holding enough force on the frame, and while the slide moves back, so does the frame, which can lead to the slide moving too slow (in relation to the frame), not moving back fully, or not returning forward fully. The first can cause a stovepipe, second a failure to feed, and third a failure to fully return to battery.

Think of it like holding onto the frame without much force, limply, then using more force to rack the slide. When you attempt to rack it, because you have less force on the frame, and it is in your hand limp, it is also going to come back with the slide. This is the same thing that can happen when shooting, hence being called limp wristing..
 

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Grab your gun and try to rack the slide without touching the frame to anything at all including yourself. Hard eh? Limp wristing is a much lesser extent of that.
 
It also makes the shot go high. The handgun is recoiling upward more before the bullet exits than with a solid hold.

Yes, handguns recoil* while the bullet's still in the barrel. The reaction is because the bullet's friction (resulting in a forward force on the gun) in traveling down the down the barrel is not quite compensated for by the gas force on the breech face, which results in a backward force on the gun.

Thus there is a net backward force on the gun while the bullet's still in the barrel. This varies with type and weight of firearm, the load, type of grip, etc, but is most noticable in revolvers.

The effect of this pre-exit recoil will be exaggerated by a limp wrist, where the effective mass of the gun is reduced because the mass and rigidity of the hand(s) holding the gun is effectively reduced.

This is why it is said that handguns are very sensitive to "hold," or gripping. It beehoves the handgun shooter to maintain a consistent grip from shot to shot for maximum bullseye accuracy. You might occasionally observe me "resetting" the gun in my hand between shots on this account.

Terry, 230RN

REF:
Hatcher's Notebook by Julian S. Hatcher (Library of Congress 62-12654), p. 290 ff in the chapter "The theory of recoil." Cf also the chapter on "Some observations on recoil" for additional insights.

*Indeed all guns have pre-exit recoil, but in some cases (as when the gun is rigidly attached to a large mass) it might not be noticeable or even measurable.
 
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