Today’s firearm consumer has been trained (by manufacturers no less) that your handgun must “fit” your hand in order to shoot properly. Pure bunk, aka pure crap. The Colt Single Action Army pistol introduced in 1873 and still produced today has the exact same pistol grip. Millions of shooters adapted to the pistol; the pistol did not adapt to the individual shooter. Wild Bill, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Annie Oakley are just a few whom made a name for themselves using the Colt. Annie Oakely was 5′ tall on a good day. Wild Bill and Wyatt Earp were over 6′ feet tall. One had teeny hands, one medium, one XL. All same grips. All experts with the Colt SAA. Yes Alex we know Wild Bill primarily carried the 1851 Navy; not the point. 1911 introduced around, gee, 1911 is produced today (109 years or so later) and still has the same pistol grip. Millions of shooters adapted to the 1911. The 1911 did not adapt to them. Beretta M9 served our military for 35 years or so. Same pistol grip used by millions of shooters whom adapted to the pistol. Numerous top tier gunslingers and gunriters actually assembled an eclectic group of pistols with different grips and discovered “grip size” and fit has nigh to no impact on “shootability”, speed, or accuracy. Keep in mind we are speaking of the same size/type of handguns across the manufacturer’s spectrum; ie, full size vs full size, compact vs compact, etc.
Regardless of pistol fit or grip a weak grip or weak shooter will never be able to optimize a pistol’s potential regardless of grip size, yet a shooter with a firm and strong grip will be able to bounce up and down the spectrum with nary a difference in performance.
In other words rather than worry so much about whether a pistol “fits” or not you should first work to enhance your grip strength. Rubber ball’s are fine but to optimize grip strength check out “Captains of Crush” grippers; and oh hey, you ain’t that strong so start with the “novice 60lb” or “warm-up conditioning 80lb”.
Modular backstraps suck. Supposedly to fit your hand.. so what happens when you are wearing gloves? Change the backstrap? Weak handed drills; change the backstrap? Cold outside. Hands shrink. Gonna change backstrap? 110 degrees outside. Hands swell. Gonna change your backstrap? Exercise, hiking, stress; an increased heart rate will swell your hands. Gonna change the backstrap.. again? Ever had a backstrap fall off, Break off? Bend? This is so far out of hand the military has now demanded a pistol with changeable backstraps so we can “fit” each soldier individually. Let alone how farsical this is think of the supply logistics of this absurd policy. We actually have to keep an inventory of tens of thousands of replacement backstraps at supply depots and in theatre to replace lost/broken backstraps at the tune of gamillions.
What prompted this diatribe? A customer actually was buying a sub-compact 10mm pistol (G29) and stated he would have to return it cause it does not “fit his hand”. You can call this gent uninformed or simply a dumbass if you prefer but a SUB COMPACT PISTOL IS NOT SUPPOSED TO FIT YOUR HAND! It was designed and built for concealability and the smallest possible size, sub meaning “underneath or lower (smaller) than”. Means it is underneath or lower (smaller) than a COMPACT pistol which is underneath or lower (smaller) than a full sized pistol. All of which means it has a smaller magazine and round count, the smallest grip possible, and the grip itself is nothing more than a thingy to wrap three fingers around. It ain’t supposed to “fit” anything except your pocket.
Worse yet this is the type of individual you simply cannot talk to.. a “know it all” whom of course is far superior in intellect, status, wealth, experience.. or simply a dumbass.
Of course there is a BUT. There are a very small percentage of shooters with big fat mongoloid hands whom have the slide tear their skin up between the thumb and forefinger on pistols without a beavertail type grip (aka Glock). There are numerous slap on beavertail adaptors to alleviate this very small minority of oversized mongoloids (like me) without resorting to the 5 backstrap hoopla.