Which autoloaders "bite?"

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McCall911

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Several years ago I had to part with what would have been my favorite autoloading handgun, the famous Browning Hi-Power. The reason? I couldn't shoot it without being "bitten" by the slide and hammer! Granted, this may have more to do with the construction of my hand and not the construction of the weapon, but it did unfortunately occur.
Any of you have similar experiences to report?
(It doesn't have to be with HPs specifically.)
 
I have owned 5 Hi-Powers over the years and still own 2 of them. I have had trouble with all of them biting. Usually draws blood. A lot of 1911s have bitten me also. It has never kept me from using any of them. My current Springfield Armory Mil-Spec does not bite me. I guess the grip safety is a shaped a little different or something. It is easy enough to fix on a 1911 by installing a beaver tail grip safety, but a little more involved for the Hi-Power. There are no-bite hammers out there that you can install. I might try one out one of these days.
 
I had a problem w/ my Colt, which is one of the reasons why I had it worked on. My BHP has been very tame so far :cool:
 
I guess I'm lucky. I have long fingers, but my hands are not "meaty". So I've only been bitten once that I can remember. It was a Walther PPK/s.

I have seen people get bitten by just about every type of pistol, from 1911's to Glocks, Sigs, Rugers, HKs, Maks, etc. Most of the time it comes down to an improper grip, but for some people there is a real issue of hands being too large for a particular design.
 
I have quite large hands and have yet to be bitten thru over 2 decades .... Either by BHP or 1911 ... tho I am sure there will be a first time! :p

So much is down to grip, hand anatomy re skin web etc ... very personal thing. One club guy spent a fortune having his BHP tricked out - welded on beavertail - hugely expensive! But he had to do it to cure his bite probs ... and yet looking at his hand can't see why he had a prob.

Some do - some don't ... seems a very individual thing.
 
I used to have an old Norinco 1911 that would chomp a bit of your hand webb if you did not hold it very tight!

The solution with the HP is to just hold your hand down a quarter inch lower. I have a MK III with the hammer that is known for biting, it has not bit me once since I learned to hold it just a bit lower.

If you squeeze your hand up as high as it will go they will bite nearly every time.

No matter how I held the Norinco it would always make my hand raw!
 
I had a friends HI-power tap the web of my hand, annoying but not painful.
Mine doesn't do that, and I can't see the difference in the guns.

No other gun has ever bitten me.

Smoke
 
Odd thing is...

I notice some are mentioning being bitten by 1911s, but I haven't so far. However, about the only experience I've had with this type pistol is the Delta Elite that I parted with some time back for economic reasons. <heavy sigh.>
 
If you held too high on my Beretta Jetfire, the slide would come back and leave railroad tracks on the web of your hand. :mad:
 
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The great and wonderful SIG P210 will bite the dickens out of a fleshy hand. I am not troubled by hammer bite on anything I have shot to include 1911 (not A1), BHP, PPK, or P210; but a ham-handed friend fired three shots from my P210 and handed it back saying: "You might ought to clean the blood off your gun."
 
My cz40 gets me on every first shot. Then I chaange my grip just enough to avoid it.
 
My first .45 bit me.
It stopped after a while, although I made no changes to it.
My BHP has never bitten even though the breed has a reputation as a biter.
My Manurhin (Walther) PP .32ACP often bites the hand that feeds it.
 
My old BHP bit me, even with the C&S Commander hammer ("no bite"). Granted, with the new hammer, it was a very slight pinch, not really a bite, but it would leave a little red mark on the back of my hand after a day's worth of shooting. I grip pistols as high as humanly possible, however.

My buddy's Colt 1991 NRM also bites my hand. I'd dremel off that hammer if it were mine, but it isn't, so I only shoot a few rounds here and there just for the heck of it. Beavertails are a MUST on 1911's for me, as are Novak sights (or Bomars). Anything but those tiny old GI sights that make me go :scrutiny: when I look through them.
 
My MilSpec 1911 is nasty. It'll bite the hell out of my hand (I'm still waiting for it to heal after I put 200 rounds through it in one day), but I've found that biking gloves work really well. Body Geometry makes a pair of biking gloves for $20 called "Sport" or somesuch. They have a pad in the palm that you can remove, and the result is a very close and comfortable shooting glove.
 
I once owned a Grendel P12. After the slide came back and bit the web of my hand the second time, I sent it down the road. Even with small hand's there was not enough room on that grip.
 
I sold two SiG 210 pistols,a 210-2 Military and a 210-4 with target micrometer sight, because while they were extremely accurate they also had the tendency to bite the hand that held them.
Bad enough that I resorted to wearing a shooting glove when I fired these guns to avoid losing a disc of flesh on the web of my hand.
I really wish I could get at least one of those guns back now!
 
Bummer! I hate to hear of these accounts about the Sig P210! So I guess even one of the ultimate 9mm's has its faults!
 
Too true about the P210 - fortunately, there is a relatively simple solution. I purchased an "add-on" beavertail from Nill Grips that attaches with using a longer screw to replace the one that secures the fire control module or whatever they officially call it in Swiss German or French. No more blood on the gun or wound that seemed to take forever to heal up.
 
My Glock 37 actually bit me a few weeks ago. First time I've ever had a Glock chew on my hand.

Other biters are:

Walther PPK/s
Walther PPK
Beretta Tomcat
Kahr PM9 (only once, maybe my grip shifted)
Para-Ord Tac-Four (and by extension - haven't shot it yet - my Para CCW)

Never been bit by a 1911, but then again, I put beavertails on them as soon as I bought them (unless that part was already there).
 
Astra Constable .380

Bit all my friends never bit me though. LOL
Bad dog! Bad Dog!
 
First time I shot a P7 I got slashed by the slide.

Worst I ever got was from a milspec 1911; if you're used to shooting one with a beavertail safety and a high grip, proceed with caution. The web of the hand takes a long time to heal...
 
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