Hardest handgun to shoot well?

[grumpycoconut]

I just came back from the range where my favorite guns reminded me just how nasty they are to shoot with full power defensive ammo. I loves me my J Frames (649 & 442) but they are bruttish little critters when fed raw meat. The closest to this level of self abuse I've ever come was .357Sig through a subcompact Glock.

What are your hardest pistols to shoot well? Well is defined as accurately and quickly.

Derringers in 45/70 and 500 S&W need not apply. I'm interested in guns that you can shoot more than once between visits to the hand surgeon.

 

[ohen cepel]

I think the snub nosed DA revolvers are the hardest to shoot well, of the common options.

The tiny ones are of course hard and the newer small .380's would probably rank up there also.

 

[w_houle]

Small grips and short sight radii aren't exactly conducive to accuracy. It is not to say that it makes a handgun inherently inaccurate, it just gives the shooter more room for error.

It's like me shooting my Jennings .22*. For all this time: I had to have the proper trigger finger placement, which was in the middle of the first joint. All of my shots were going to the left. Now I could have just written that of as merely being the gun being inaccurate, but...
I received some spare parts and was able to dry fire it without fear of damaging the chamber or slide. Except there's a problem: Every time the trigger breaks, the front sight goes off to the left. So after changing my grip I was able to achieve much better results.

(*plot point, not an actual argument for the pistol)

 

[slammedsi]

Ruger Blackhawk in 44 mag with a 4 5/8 barrel is brutal most of the time..

 

[Nomadicone]

I'd have to say it is full house 357 loads in a light J frame. I'd much rather shoot my 454 Casull or any number of 44 Mags that put up the hot loads in a light J frame.

 

[MOREAMMO]

Me personally, I think it would be the 44 mag barrel I had for the T/C Contender. Got the 14" cause I thought it would tame it down some. Holy cow, hang on to that thing! Always shot low with irons or using a scope. Sold it before I got into handloading, so I never got to see it's true potential.

 

[highvel]

Yep, the Super 14 .44 mag with hot reloads is a handful, but my Colt Anaconda .44 is a beast, you have to concentrate to shoot it well.

 

[Venom1956]

.45LC/.410

.45LC/.210 Derringer, crude sights and tiny grip... and thats being generous to both of them.

 

[rdmallory]

.380 AMT Hard to hit with.

.357 386 AirLight Like getting your hand slammed in a var door with full loads and factory grips.


Doug

 

[Daryl]

I had a cheap little David derringer once that was pretty hard to hit with. The sights, trigger pull, and the pressure it took to cock the silly thing made it hard to use. Recoil wasn't bad, but it was hard to hit with.

I personally don't find the j-framed .38's hard to shoot. It's just a whack on the palm of my hand, and it doesn't bother me. Compared to a .44 mag or bigger, they're relatively tame. The short barrel/sight radius makes them more difficult to shoot accurately, but if you master them then the longer barreled handguns are easy.

I haven't shot any of the ultra-light .357 magnums yet, but I understand they're hard to shoot well.

I don't find .44 mag's and heavy .45 Colts bery hard to shoot well, but I might have a harder time wtih something like a .454. Not sure yet, because I haven't shot any of those yet, either.

So I guess everything I have right now is fairly easy to use. I try to avoid guns that are difficult for me to shoot well, or that I think might be.

 

[SIGSHR]

Proper grips make all the difference, IMHO. I find an S&W K frame with the service grips uncomfortable even with light loads.

 

[TXGunNut]

Suspect it may be the titanium big bore Taurus revolvers but mine is the T/C Contender in .35 Remington. Outshoots my current rifles but my last box of 100 bullets has lasted me over 15 yrs.

 

[SilentHitz]

I've always loved the hand cannons, so recoil never bothered me much ( I'll spare you the 30/30 American derringer story lol). Got this one last year and have only fired a couple cylinders out of it, and even though it's factory ported, and all rounds were on the target...it's my 1st .44 mag snubbie.

I can tell it's going to take more shooting time to shoot as well as my longer barrel wheelies, but I don't mind at all...it's fun as hell to shoot. Oh yea, it has the factory rubber grips on it. Man I bought it from sold the wood grips separate ( his pic, thanx JD500)...still looking for some nice exotic wood for it...like SIGSHR said, proper grips do make all the difference. Anyone have experience with comfy wood for the N-Frame snubbies?

 

[EdInk]

Hot .357 magnum from a scandium jframe.

 

[N.H. Yankee]

Two I can attest to, a Keltec P380 and a 44 long colt derringer, your better off throwing the derringer than shooting it.

 

[JonnyP]

Ditto the Colt Anaconda. Mine ripped the skin off the top of my thumb after just a few rounds, and I WAS holding it correctly. My shot group was not bad, its just that its like shooting a cannon with your bare hands. After 15 rounds, I was done. That .44 Mag is simply a beast...

 

[mikejonestkd]

A couple are tough to hold and shoot well for me:

Any TC in a larger rifle caliber
Small framed, snub .357 revolvers
small framed 3" .45 autos
Any tiny framed auto is hard to hold and shoot.

 

[aarondhgraham]

That would be my Model 36,,,

I do practice with it quite a bit,,,
I just can't seem to squeeze anything more,,,
Than barely acceptable accuracy out of my girl Velma.

I will eventually try some larger grips for her,,,
I don't have overly large hands but a K-Frame is a better fit for me.

I'm hoping that solves or at least alleviates my problem shooting her,,,
It's not Velma herself as a friend of mine can hit a paper plate every shot at 25 yards.

 

[JonnyP]

Forgot to mention my wife had a S&W Model 642 for a time, but neither of us could shoot it well. That light snubby frame combined with the tough trigger (DAO) made it less than desirable for a defense weapon. Sold it and bought her a G17. She loves it...

 

[BigJimP]

The gun you can't shoot well --- is probably a gun that doesn't fit your hand well / or a gun that has an abnormally poor trigger pull ( heavy, inconsistent, etc ) / or one that has a grip angle you don't like ...

Put a gun that is too small or too big in your hands / and then run heavy grain, high velocity rounds thru it .....it won't be fun to shoot, it sure won't be accurate.

Guns that I can't shoot well / virtually all of the .380's ( too small ) / any gun that has a trigger pull much over 4 lbs ....or too much wobble, or sloppy reset ...it just aggravates me .... / guns that are way too light like the scandium frame revolvers with full power .357 mag loads in them ( they hop like a tomcat that you have a hold of by the hind legs ...)