Glock grip angle

[headbangerJD]

So, whats the big gripe about the grip angle of Glocks? I just bought a Glock 23 last week and the grip angle is perfect. I can pull off bullseyes at SD distances by just naturally point shooting, something thats a little difficult w/ my other guns.

 

[hoytinak]

something thats a little difficult w/ my other guns.

What's the big gripe with Glock lovers about the grip angle on other guns? My Glock 19 was the only handgun I've owned that didn't point naturally for me....till I had the grip reduction done, removing the silly hump on the back of the grip.

Different guns will fit different people differently. We're just not all made the same, so guns shouldn't be either.

 

[Dave T]

I carried Colt 45 ACPs of one model or another throughout my LE career and for a number of years after retiring. In the late '90s I started shooting Glocks. Now I had always used the flat mainspring housing on my Colts so the Glock didn't point "naturally". After a few thousand rounds of dry firing and hundreds rounds of live ammo, Glocks pointed just fine. It was the Colts than now didn't point right.

Improvise, adapt and over come.

Dave

 

[rsxr22]

indeed the mainspring housing is the gripe of most people of glocks. I personally dont mind them one bit, but i feel comfortable when picking up pretty much any gun. I guess i am lucky because i dont have to be picky, where others are

 

[Shane Tuttle]

After a few thousand rounds of dry firing and hundreds rounds of live ammo, Glocks pointed just fine. It was the Colts than now didn't point right.

And you proved my point. Why spend all that time, labor, and money just to get used to the grip angle. Then, on top of that, you're now not used to the other platform. Back to square one is the way I see it. I just stick with similar platforms and don't have to worry about wasting money or my time.

 

[glockopop]

I've had and shot Glocks for about 7 years, and the grip angle was never really an issue for me. I did have to make myself remember to take the grip angle into account if I went back to the Glock after shooting 1911s, but it was never really a big deal.

Just a few days ago, I rented an M&P on a whim. Wow. Wow. I immediately shot a better 10 shot group with it the first time I picked it up than I did with my G17. The grip angle is way better for me, and they seem to have fixed all of the little things that I don't like about the Glock but aren't a big enough deal for me to switch.

So now I'm in the market for an M&P!

 

[Boats]

Improvise, adapt and over come.

For a Glock? Surely you jest. There are several pistols available that are just as good or better that have no ergonomic handicaps to overcome at all.

 

[JohnKSa]

There are several pistols available that are just as good or better that have no ergonomic handicaps to overcome at all.

Which ignores the fact that many people find that Glocks have no ergonomic handicaps...

 

[IanS]

Which ignores the fact that many people find that Glocks have no ergonomic handicaps...

Yes, thank you.
But they'll keep beating you over the head until you'll see things their way. Whatever was ingrained into them whatever they're used to is "natural" and whatever they're not used to is "wrong".

I point my Glock like I'm pointing at something and its as "natural" as can be. Notice how the Glock grip angle also locks in your wrist for better recoil management.

Regardless, whether its a 1911 grip angle or Glock grip angle, good shooting has NOTHING to do with grip angle. It has everything to do with a proper trigger press and being focused on the fundamentals.

"Ooh, I shot this gun better so it has to be better"
Maybe. But maybe it was you that was better today not the gun.

 

[Shane Tuttle]

Regardless, whether its a 1911 grip angle or Glock grip angle, good shooting has NOTHING to do with grip angle. It has everything to do with a proper trigger press and being focused on the fundamentals. "Ooh, I shot this gun better so it has to be better"
Maybe. But maybe it was you that was better today not the gun.

It has EVERYTHING to do with good shooting (or bad) if the angle isn't conducive to your own ergonomics. If the grip angle doesn't allow for proper alignment with the type of stance one prefers and one's joints become painful after long range sessions, then I say the platform is, in fact, flawed for that person.

 

[JohnKSa]

Yeah, I tend to agree. If you have to adjust too much for a handgun's grip angle you're going to have more trouble shooting it.

Fortunately there are lots of different handguns with a variety of grip angles so people can choose what suits them best. And if that's not enough, many, if not most can be modified to some extent to provide an even better fit.

I find that I am more comfortable with a fairly raked grip angle similar to what Glock uses and that I have to adjust for other grip angles. I can do it, but it's easier to use something that I don't have to compensate for.

The issue is complicated by the fact that a person who restricts himself to one particular grip angle and does a lot of practice with it will adjust to the point that it feels natural to him even if it wasn't to begin with. That makes the assumption that it's not TOO far off from what is ideal for the person--if it is no amount of practice will suffice to make it feel natural.

At any rate, the result will be that the person will find that what used to feel natural for him won't anymore and that what he's grown accustomed to is what feels natural now.

A further complication is that we have long been told by experts what is and isn't natural in terms of grip angle. Go back before Cooper began insistently and incessantly singing the praises of the 1911 and you'll find well-respected gun writers talking about how natural the raked grip angle of the Luger was for pointing. These days you can't read a gun magazine or a gun forum without being told repeatedly that the much less raked 1911 grip angle is a natural pointing design. Makes you wonder what happen to radically alter people's hands and wrists between the 1950s and the current day. Put less sarcastically, many people believe the 1911 grip angle is ideal because that's what they've been told.

So what it amounts to is this. Grip angle preference boils down to the following:

1. People who prefer a grip angle because it truly fits them.
2. People who prefer a grip angle because they have accustomed themselves to it.
3. People who prefer a grip angle because they've been told that it's what they should prefer.

The problem is that nearly everyone believes they're actually in group one regardless of reality...

 

[johnbt]

"good shooting has NOTHING to do with grip angle"

And nothing to do with the circumference of the grip, the weight of the trigger pull, the length of the trigger pull, the amount of overtravel, the creepiness of the trigger pull, the size of the sights, the height of the bore above the trigger, the weight of the gun or any of that meaningless stuff.

Or does it?

 

[predecessor]

The Glock grip angle requires adjustment on my part in order to shoot it as best as I can. It's not my preference, but it doesn't restrict me from shooting the Glock well. But because I choose to shoot many different type of pistols I find I must adjust to almost every one. Different length of pulls, trigger types, manual of arms, etc. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[MADISON]

Glock grip angle ?

I can not shoot a 1911 because of it GRIP ANGLE.
I can shoot a Glock extremely well because of it's GRIP ANGLE.

 

[Boats]

By "ergonomic handicaps" I meant that the Glock is a bunch of bad medicine for lots of folks and it is recounted on Glock Talk nearly every week.

I "adapted" to shoot a G20 more or less as well as any other pistol, but I still think it sucks, and the reasons are fourfold.

1) Grip angle: Actually it's not the biggest deal killer. Yes, I find it raked too much and I point high with it, but I can also pull it down and point with it. Whether it is conditioning to other pistols or something about my interface between my hand, wrist, and the Glock, my problem with it ain't because Col. Cooper told me so.

2) Humpback: For the same reason that I don't like 1911s with arched mainspring housings or the FNH FNP 45 with its arched backstrap, I don't care for the hunchbacked feel of the standard Glock grip. People support an entire group of folks who do Glock "grip reduction" surgery.

3) Finger bumpers: By far the deal killer for me. The addition of intrusive finger bumpers on Generation 3 was an overreaction to complaints that the Gen 1 and 2 pistols felt "too slick." Permanently molding in an unremovable Hogue hand all was dumb, dumb, dumb.

4) Unrelieved area between the rear of the trigger guard and the front strap. It rubs me the wrong way and I don't like it.

 

[IanS]

"good shooting has NOTHING to do with grip angle"

And nothing to do with the circumference of the grip, the weight of the trigger pull, the length of the trigger pull, the amount of overtravel, the creepiness of the trigger pull, the size of the sights, the height of the bore above the trigger, the weight of the gun or any of that meaningless stuff.

Or does it?

Well, gee. Are you gonna now pull out a customized 1911 with a 2 1/2 lbs trigger pull and show us that all those things do matter?

To some people a DA revolver is the most difficult handgun to shoot because of their long heavy DA trigger. Some think .40 S&W or .357 SIG is impossible to shoot well because its "too snappy". Some think a DA/SA trigger is an answer looking for a question. And some think Glocks are just cheap reliable guns with a funny grip angle.

And yet, good shooting invariably comes down to the individual getting dialed into their particular gun and executing a smooth trigger press. In competition they beat the pants out of all comers and defend themselves very ably with these "flawed weapons" against so called "better weapons". Could it be a fundamental misunderstanding because you're simply not used to it? Could we be merely human and only understand things within our narrow scope of experiences and perceptions? Could it be?

"But the Glock grip angle feels funny because everything I shoot is different"
"But the trigger on a Glock feels funny cause all I shoot is a 1911"
"I've bought every kind of handgun because I'm a collector, a connoiseur of fine handguns, and small arms expert. I get used to shooting one but then have to get used to a different one each and every time. Sometimes I even forget how to field strip some of them and need to refer to the manual."

Well, yes. I guess we each have our crosses to bear.

 

[mrray13]

4) Unrelieved area between the rear of the trigger guard and the front strap. It rubs me the wrong way and I don't like it.

this is my one and only issue with any of my glocks. of course a little dremel work takes care of it, but on untreated guns has worna blister into my middle fingers a time or three.


now in my unscientific approach, i've laid my g21sf over the top of my 1911a1, and vice versa, made sure that frames were as parallel as my eye could make them, and the grip angle isn't all that different, if any, to my eye. it actually looks as if gaston used the 1911 grip angle, and in regards to the hump, even copied the earlier mainspring housing.

as to the finger grooves, they can be reduced as well, no big deal. i added the hogue hand-all to my duty issue g22 second gen. IMHO, doing any thing "surgery" to your glock is no different then changing grips, except one can't change back. a lot of people have no issue adding slimming/fattening/pretty/finger grooved grips on a 1911, but will gripe like crazy over a finger groove on a glock, lol.

 

[full.tang.halo]

I buy guns that work easy for me, not make me work to make it easy to shoot them. I shoot for my enjoyment, not to please my gun.It's a gun not a girlfriend, guns don't complain when you get rid of them cause they're more trouble than they are worth.

Shoot what works for you, but respect that what works for you, doesn't mean it will work for everyone else.

 

[Dave T]

For a Glock? Surely you jest. There are several pistols available that are just as good or better that have no ergonomic handicaps to overcome at all.

Love the way you jump to conclusions. You distaste for Glock is clouding your thinking.

My comment could just as well apply to someone switching from a revolver to a semiauto, or from a Glock they were trained on to a 1911 purchased privately. I shoot Smith revolvers, Colt 1911s and several Glocks. Because I took the time to adapt and learn to shoot each one I can switch back and forth at will, with relatively little transition time.

Dave

 

[Boats]

as to the finger grooves, they can be reduced as well, no big deal. i added the hogue hand-all to my duty issue g22 second gen. IMHO, doing any thing "surgery" to your glock is no different then changing grips, except one can't change back. a lot of people have no issue adding slimming/fattening/pretty/finger grooved grips on a 1911, but will gripe like crazy over a finger groove on a glock, lol.

The changing back is kind of the point.

Anything one does to modify the grip of a 1911 can be reversed to the point where no one is the wiser. Even something seemingly as permanent as front strap checkering can be cut out, a piece of ordnance steel welded in looking like the day the frame was made, the welds buffed down and the repair finish matched.

Alterations to a Glock grip are irreversible and can kill its value on the secondary market.

They're simply not worth the trouble to modify to any great degree.