About a year or so back I was beginning to think I was going to have to give up shooting because of arthritis and the swelling of the joints, particularly at the base of the thumb. I had already given up comfortably shooting my beloved 1911s as the enlarged base knuckle of my strong (right) hand was being beaten painfully by the frame where the grip safety extends from it.
When I switched to revolvers I went back to what I had been taught in the police academy, the strong thumb tucked against the stocks and the weak thumb locking it down (what most of you are advocating). I quickly found out the same swollen thumb knuckle that caused trouble with the 1911s was being beaten and rubbed raw by the recoil shoulder of my N and L frame S&Ws. The only thing that didn't hurt to shoot was a Glock 19. How depressing.
A friend who is a big time IROC shooter showed me a thumb forward grip for revolvers that a number of competitive shooters use. What he recommended was placing the weak hand thumb along the frame below the cylinder pointing forward but not beyond the barrel/cylinder gap. Then the strong hand thumb rests on top of the base knuckle of the weak hand, also pointed forward.
I was initially skeptical as it didn't feel all that solid. Much to my surprise I didn't have any trouble holding on to either my 45 ACP revolvers or my 44 Special N-frames. My standard load for most all shooting with the L-frames is a 38/44 load pushing a 158g bullet at around 1150 fps. That load was easily controlled as well. The final test was the 396 I have, loaded with Blazer 200g Gold Dots. That 18oz revolver really jumps in the hand but even with it the recommended grip allowed me to get off controlled pairs. Yea, the Scandium/Titanium wheel gun a challenge to control but it still comes back into alignment for a follow up shot.
Now from reading the above responses I suspect I will be criticized for suggesting this...perhaps I'll even be called an "IDIOT". None the less, this grip has allowed me to continue shooting when nothing else was working. If you're desperate for something that works you might at least give this a try before settling for a Glock! (smile)
Dave
