Balrog
Senior Member
I went shooting with my adult but small statured daughter today. Most of her shooting experience with handguns has been with 22 LR and 22 Mag because she doesn't like recoil.
Today I tried her on some 380s, and she was pleasantly surprised by the recoil being less than she thought it would be. In fact, she felt the 380s had less recoil than a 22 mag from S&W J frame snub nose. So I don't think recoil is a problem for her with 380.
She was shooting a Glock 42 and Ruger LCP Max. The slide on the Glock is considerably heavier than on the Ruger. She would have occasional failures to feed (slide not totally closing on a chambered round, or closing without chambering a round) with the Glock but not with the Ruger.
Of note, both guns are 100 percent reliable when I shoot them.
My theory is she was limpwristing some, and the energy of the 380 was not enough to run the heavier G42 slide all the way back while limpwristing, but was enough to push the lighter LCP Max slide back even when she limpwristed a little bit. We talked about locking her wrist when shooting semi autos so the gun has something firm to push against during recoil so the slide cycles properly, ejects the spent case, picks up a new round, and returns fully to battery. When she started locking the wrist, the problem with the G42 went mostly away (only happened once more during the next 50 rounds before we stopped for the day).
Does my theory make sense?
Of note, she shoots the G42 more accurately than the LCP Max (she says she likes the Glock sights and trigger better), but unless we can overcome the presumed limp wristing issue, I think accuracy is less important than reliabilty.
Today I tried her on some 380s, and she was pleasantly surprised by the recoil being less than she thought it would be. In fact, she felt the 380s had less recoil than a 22 mag from S&W J frame snub nose. So I don't think recoil is a problem for her with 380.
She was shooting a Glock 42 and Ruger LCP Max. The slide on the Glock is considerably heavier than on the Ruger. She would have occasional failures to feed (slide not totally closing on a chambered round, or closing without chambering a round) with the Glock but not with the Ruger.
Of note, both guns are 100 percent reliable when I shoot them.
My theory is she was limpwristing some, and the energy of the 380 was not enough to run the heavier G42 slide all the way back while limpwristing, but was enough to push the lighter LCP Max slide back even when she limpwristed a little bit. We talked about locking her wrist when shooting semi autos so the gun has something firm to push against during recoil so the slide cycles properly, ejects the spent case, picks up a new round, and returns fully to battery. When she started locking the wrist, the problem with the G42 went mostly away (only happened once more during the next 50 rounds before we stopped for the day).
Does my theory make sense?
Of note, she shoots the G42 more accurately than the LCP Max (she says she likes the Glock sights and trigger better), but unless we can overcome the presumed limp wristing issue, I think accuracy is less important than reliabilty.
