Posted: 11/30/2010 4:24:52 PM EDT
| This is probably a dumb question, but I was wondering if anything bad would happen if I shot a semi-auto handgun with my left thumb up on the slide. My natural grip(on the sig p226 metal airsoft(i know i know) I bought to soothe me over till I turn 21) places my left thumb about a 1/2 inch over the line between the frame and the slide, and I was wondering if this was dangerous and if the slide would pinch/harm my hand in any way. Once again sorry for the probably dumb question but I honestly have no experience with handguns and growing up my dad only shot rifles. Thanks. |
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Molive is right: you don't want anything touching the slide as it moves back & forth.
You should adjust your grip to prevent this. And NEVER grip a pistol with your thumb going over your wrist! It will lacerate your thumb! BTW when it comes to guns, there are NO dumb questions; just dumb mistakes! And ignore the trolls, they forgot that they were new to the subject once. |
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With my 1911's, I can feel the slide travelling back and forth with my thumb because I rest my right thumb on the thumb safety while shooting.
In theory, you don't want to exert too much pressure on the slide because you could cause malfunctions. Usually, they come in the form of failure to feed's, where the slide didn't have enough forward momentum to push the round out of the feed lips of the magazine. Typically, when you feel your thumb hitting the slide (and feeling it slide back and forth) you'll subconciously change your grip slightly to not get bitten. I've found that's what I do while practicing drawing from concealment. I'll have my hand positioning off slightly and feel a little too much slide on the first round down range, and move my thumb out a little. I've done the same with Glocks, although I move my thumb down instead of out since there's not a safety to support it. Hope this helps. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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When shooting my 1911, the thumb of my support hand is barely touching the slide, and as WIZZO said, I can sometimes feel the slide moving.
It's not close enough to the muzzle to be dangerous, and it's on the side of the slide, not on the seam where slide meets frame. I've tried adjusting my grip but it feels more natural to be slightly touching. Don't know if that's good or bad, but just the way I do it. a-bare |
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It will only be an issue if the thumb impeeds the action (movement) of the slide.
Since each model semi-auto is different and ammo differs from manufacturer to manufacturer, only you will be able to tell if your thumb will impeed or not. Pressing the thumb into the slide will more then likely slow the action of the slide down to the point of a FTE or FTF. A light touch, maybe, maybe not. Let us know how it goes sir...... 
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OP, shouldn't be a problem w/ your support hand thumb on the slide. my thumb rides there kinda naturally (between frame and slide, or on slide), so i've done it plenty of times - don't even notice it. this was based on advanced handgun course instruction, and the instructor assured me you won't get hurt and you won't cause a malfunction just from your thumb. maybe if it was a week cartridge like .22, i dunno, maybe you could cause a malfunction??? but for service calibers, so far so good for me!
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