Getting a grip

For the past several years, my firearms interests have centered mainly around defensive handgun shooting, using calibers common for self defense such as .38 special, 9mm, .45ACP, etc.  It’s been quite a while since I’ve picked up my .22 caliber plinker. But I have a good reason to now.

I have an opportunity coming up to help some others learn a little about shooting handguns (more on that later).  It’s always good to start new shooters out with a small caliber and not-too light or small gun in order to ease the uninitiated into the experience with little shock from noise or recoil.

Looking through my collection, I found my only reliable .22 caliber handgun happens to be a Sig Trailside competition model.

This model has adjustable right-handed grips that work well for me shooting one handed.  You can shoot them two handed, but it’s not an ideal setup to do that.  In the picture below you can see how the thumb-rest and flat left side might interfere with a good two-handed grip and make left-handed use impractical.

So I decided to swap them out for some symmetric grips.  One of the few US dealers with aftermarket parts and accessories for the Trailside is Larry’s Guns.  They’ve got quite an assortment of grips for target pistols.  I went with what they have listed as the Hammerli Trailside stippled wood sport grip.  These are walnut grips made by Rink Formgriffe.

A chunk of cash and USPS priority mail shipping got them to me in two days. They install fairly easily and look great.

As you can see, they’re completely symmetric. So shooting working with new shooters, shooting two handed or lefty should work a lot better now.

As a bonus, I discovered a pleasant side effect of the new grips. The old grips made pushing up the slide lock lever to lock the slide back without and empty magazine very difficult. The new sport grips allow a bit of the lever to peek out past the grip so you can, with your grip had (if you’re right handed) apply upward pressure on the lever while pulling the slide back with the left hand.