Hi all.

A good friend of mine down here just got herself a nice new Bodyguard .38 revolver. We went out shooting yesterday, and this girl is quite a fine shot but a bit recoil sensitive. She complained that the light little gun had TOO much recoil for her. Now, we were shooting Aguila Wadcutters out of it, so I personally don't think a lighter load would have much defensive use.

Can anyone recommend something to help her deal with the recoil of this light little gun. I mean, it seems to be the perfect "carry often, shoot little" type of gun, but obviously it would be nice if she wasn't scared of it. Are there any grip options that have become available? Would something like one of those rubber wrap-around grip sockies like Hogue makes help?

I'd like to know if anyone has some suggestions. It's not easy to get guns here, and the option of "just go get a steel frame snubby" isn't something that would probably happen soon, so something to fix the problem a little bit would be nice. If there is anything that can be done.

I realize that recoil goes hand-in-hand with light weight, and prefer my old Model 49 flatlatch no-dash myself...and I was hoping this new Bodyguard would be just the answer for her but she seems to feel it barks too much and too hard causing her to flinch like crazy. Suggestions?

With all the folks I have done training with I have found that if they have had a bad experience with a certain gun they are always going to have that experience with that gun. A Bad experience can be many thing like recoil, trigger bite, loudness. It is a mind issue that they do not normally over come. Give them a different gun that they did not have a issue with they can learn to shoot very well.


You could try some padded shooting gloves and see how they work.

If you reload you can load some very light loads to practice with and then put +P loads in the chamber for carry.

There are no grips on the market yet that I am aware of.

Ultralight .38s are not something I recommend for a beginner. Once a person is scared of the gun, it is a major struggle to overcome the fear. My fiancee cannot stand to shoot my 37-2, even with target loads. But she feels very comfortable shooting my Model 60 with fullpower loads. BTW, I started her off with a Model 10 and target loads, so it was a matter of gradually increasing her recoil tolerance to a reasonably effective level.

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Pisgah

Shooting gloves are one good option, just a bit more padding can make a big difference.

There are also some techiques that can be used to help mitigate recoil. The difficulty with these light weight guns is that they don't have much mass to absorb recoil. One way to address this is by increasing the System Mass. By System, I mean the entire arm. What she needs to do is grip the gun quite firmly AND keep her wrist and elbow FIRM during the recoil. This will act to add some of the mass of her arm to the System and it will reduce the perceived recoil. Basically, she needs to make a real effort to keep the gun from "flipping" under recoil and keep her arm firm at elbow and wrist so that any pivoting of the arm is at the shoulder. If she just doesn't have the wrist strength to do this, she should seriously consider something different.

BTW, this is why I don't recomend any light weight handguns for new shooters and especially women. It can take a year or more to develop the strength and techinique to control the recoil in these featherweights. Since most new shooters aren't willing to make a commitment like this, I tend to direct them to a heavier first handgun.

Federal HYDRA-SHOK makes some standard .38 spcl defense rounds (110 grain) that have REALLY low recoil and still have decent muzzle energy. They are probably as light as you can go and still have some hit.

Another thing is to put on Pachmahr grips with some good rubber behind the backstrap.

ANOTHER TECHNIQUE: she can reduce the wrist flip by rotating the right elbow counter clockwise until the point of the elbow is pointing to the right (hard to explain, easy to do). And flex the elbows slightly. This makes the gun move fore to rear more and less upward flip. It also lets the elbows act as shock absorbers.

I always keep all my students away from ultralight handguns.The increase in recoil makes them very uncomfortable to shoot and it is my belief you should"shoot what you carry,and carry what you shoot".That being said it will be quite difficult to get the mental fear of the gun out of your friend.I would start by getting some federal hydrashock loads and first coach her on proper grip technnique with the gun unloaded.Make sure on the draw she has her wrists and arms locked while obtaining her sight picture.When she is comfortable load the magazine with one cartridge and have her fire the gun with her grip corrected and repeat the process a few times.You will find either she responds positively or she will stop shooting.I think once her mechanics are corrected she will like the gun.This process will take time and patience.If this will be her carry gun I would NOT recommend using shooting gloves and full carry loads should be used.If God forbid she needs to use it there should be no suprise as to recoil or shot placement......God Bless and hope I helped...Mike

Well, thanks guys, for all the replies! You know, she asked me about shooting gloves. She was quite willing to buy and wear a pair, and I told her "let me check with the guys on the S&W website and see what they say first..." .

Enough of you suggested shooting gloves that I am going to check into them. I have a 125 grain mould here for the .38 Special, and I will try loading her up some lighter-weight 125's at around 950 fps to see if it jumps a little less for her.

Thanks for suggestions! Always nice to know that good advice is only a few key-clicks away.

I have had great success with Hogue Monogrips. They really helped with my 2 Sp101's, and my Taurus 605. These were all very uncomfortable with magnum loads, but I could shoot them all day now. One problem I keep correcting on my wife, is to get a high grip on the backstrap; really helps with the muzzle rise.

Hogue Monogrips. Yes, that was what I had in mind also. Do you think there is a Monogrip that will fit the rather slim rubber handle of the new Bodyguard?

Houge does not have grips ready yet but they are working on them according to a email I got the other day. Your best bet is gloves for now try the Gripswell gloves they are very good

Thanks, Hmebuildr. I'll get her some gloves on the next order and wait until Hogue has those grips. If you hear about them being available, I would sure appreciate a "heads up" but I'll try to keep my eyes open as well. I think that Hogue grips would be a big help, as well as the gloves.
Cheers!

Just shoot the lower recoil loads and let her get proficient with those. Then when she is out and about, load the self defense loads you normally use. I personally have my girlfriend practice with cowboy loads and she has a blast shooting them. More importantly she visibly looks and feels confident with her weapon when done. Confidence = Use if she doesn't like shooting it she won't carry it. If she ever does actually use the bodyguard in self defense its highly unlikely that she will even notice the recoil of the real deal rounds with all the adrenaline pumping through her.

I didn't like the factory grips like most people. Without any aftermarket grips available I decided to make my own. I took 2 pieces of 1/2" exotic wood and used a router to cut out the impression of the gun. Glued the 2 pieces together and then used a bandsaw to get a rough cut of the grip I wanted. Used a router to get a closer cut. Then after sanding smooth, used the router again with a round over bit to smooth over the edges. Sounds easy, right?

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Just traded emails with Hogue, and "supposedly" they are still working on a new grip for this. If it doesn't come out soon I may just try making my own

Hello calmex!

I use 3.0gr of Bullseye with 125gr plated bullets. A very light load and have never had any complaints from beginners shooting my Airweights with this load (even with small magna/service size grips).

As already mentioned, the 110gr Federal Personal Defense load is going to be the lightest factory self defense load to use.

Unfortunately, no large rubber aftermarket grips exist yet.

Good luck with the new shooter and let us know how it goes!

Photoman44

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