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Thumb hitting slide lock

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 9:32 pm
by robbo
Any shooting advice or tip to work on for keeping my thumb from hitting the slide lock?
The slide doesnt lock back on my last round because my thumb is hitting the slide stop. This doesnt happen all the time, because the first time it happens I know what I did wrong and correct it when continuing to shoot. I would like to prevent it from happening at all. What tip or advice do you all have? Thanks

Re: Thumb hitting slide lock

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:00 pm
by JEaton
The thumb of your 'strong' hand really is not needed for a shooting grip. To quote Chris Cerino "If you cut this thumb off, once it quit hurting it wouldn't effect your shooting at all"

I have had some success with putting an 'X' with a sharpie on the 'top/outside' of the support hand thumb joint (would be right under the right thumb below) to give a reference reminder of one place to put your strong hand thumb to keep it out of the way of the slide stop and to get it out of the way so your support hand can get fully on the pistol. Only issue some people have with this placement is if they grip with the strong hand with too much power, your strong hand thumb can start pushing the support hand down out of position.

Photo example Image

Re: Thumb hitting slide lock

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:49 pm
by Mr. Glock
Different guns for different.people. I've not changed my hand.position as much as found the guns that work.for.me. It's one option.

Re: Thumb hitting slide lock

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 11:07 pm
by robbo
JEaton wrote:The thumb of your 'strong' hand really is not needed for a shooting grip. To quote Chris Cerino "If you cut this thumb off, once it quit hurting it wouldn't effect your shooting at all"

I have had some success with putting an 'X' with a sharpie on the 'top/outside' of the support hand thumb joint (would be right under the right thumb below) to give a reference reminder of one place to put your strong hand thumb to keep it out of the way of the slide stop and to get it out of the way so your support hand can get fully on the pistol. Only issue some people have with this placement is if they grip with the strong hand with too much power, your strong hand thumb can start pushing the support hand down out of position.

Photo example Image
makes sense, and thanks for the tip. When drawing from the holster I leave my strong hand thumb straight up so my support hand can come in, but I guess its habit that my strong hand thumb feels as if it needs to be resting against the gun instead of staying out of the way. I think I need to get into the habit of wrapping my strong hand thumb over the support hand as you mentioned or just leave it sticking straight up.

Re: Thumb hitting slide lock

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 2:58 pm
by TSiWRX
JEaton wrote:The thumb of your 'strong' hand really is not needed for a shooting grip. To quote Chris Cerino "If you cut this thumb off, once it quit hurting it wouldn't effect your shooting at all"
^ To further this, one could also re-train to simply always "flag" the weapon hand thumb while shooting. This "flag" will also double as a reference point when shooting from-retention.

Another would be to pursue an aftermarket slide release or modify the factory in order to accommodate your weapon hand thumb.

Yet another would be to play with backstrap sizing (if possible) with your weapon.

The final possibility would be to look at your grip, to insure that you're not over-gripping with the weapon hand.

These are simply ways. Find what way suits you best/better. :)