Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns A degradation in performance

OP, I understand about old injuries + Arthritis. For me it was motorcycle racing in my teens that injured some joints, my right wrist is one of the worst.

I start out with Ibuprofen nowadays. And no more big recoil pistols. Or rifles for that matter, bulging disks at C5,6 and 7 will light up nerves in left arm after just a few shots.

I tell my younger friends to have fun while you are able, tomorrow is not promised.

I really appreciate your posts, always very informative.

I'm right there with you Mac.......arthritis rears it's ugly head when I go to the range anymore......


Frog---OUT!

Before and after posterior cervical fusion from C2 through T2 was a tough time. Could not shoot for a long time. 22’s and 9mm especially Kimber lightweight full size 9mm helped. Using three pound weights and simulating pistol shooting has built some muscle and helped tremendously. I’m back to shooting a full size steel 1911 in 45 and hitting pretty well. Going to attempt the big revolvers a little at a time.
The Kimber 9mm was taken by my wife so there’s no going back!

It has taken three years to get back some ability. Ibu and hand exercises help. Also had carpal tunnel surgery on my dominant hand. Lost the ability to depress most 1911 grip safety’s so bicycle inner tube bands do it for me.

I sold my 629 Mountain Gun last year cause it was just no longer fun to shoot. Still shoot 45ACP's and a lot of 9mm but the best thing I did was buy a Glock 44 and shoot the most of my practice drills with it.

Years of hard use on my hands has left me with arthritis, Carpel tunnel release surgery and nerve damage. I've still got a strong grip but not much feeling so I found a simple ranger band on the end of the grip keeps things in place.

Frank500, Interesting to read that carpel tunnel surgery left you unable to depress a grip safety. I heard several horror stories before my surgery but thankfully, I was back to shooting 9mm's a month after surgery. It took a little while to get back to 45's but that's my limit now.

The pain and blast all add up psychologically that’s for sure. I don’t find 22s to be cure for flinches. While it becomes easier to steer the 22, I go right back to shooting $hitty picking up a 44 when I am at my limit.

I’m not sure why I can’t depress a grip safety on a 1911 now.
It hasn’t slowed me down though. No pain is a good thing. All the rest of my injuries/surgeries could take a lesson and quit hurting also.

Speaking of the .45s Colts.

The ammo I was shooting is actually a 325 grain WFN (same style as BB), and not a 320. I had 320 stuck in my head for some reason. Have to make a bunch of new labels too.

I agree about your assessment. During development, I had produced a load that was in the 1300s, similar to the load you mentioned. The accuracy was not where I wanted and quite frankly I did not see any point. Dropping the velocity 170 FPS produced loads that were very accurate, and I do not know of any animal on this continent that it will not shoot clean through on a typical broadside shot. You are going to get extremely deep penetration, in a load that shoots nice tight groups.

For a heavy .45 Colt load, I figured I could not ask for any more. I know JWP shot a pretty fair group with the ammo using iron sights, and posted a pic in another thread.

After years of shooting a lot of full power loads in a Super Blackhawk, I started noticing my elbow would stiffen up and hurt pretty quickly after starting a session. An elbow injury followed and now I can hardly straighten the arm out. Getting old ain't no fun. New to me 5.5" Bisley will spend it's life with 220ish gr bullets at 1100ish fps. I bet it will be potent enough for what I'll do.

A large revolver is actually starting to recoil before the bullet leaves the barrel, so it's reasonable to assume that your consistency of grip matters a lot. It's doubtless influenced by muscles, and joints, regardless of how much you practice.Some years ago I read of John Taffin and some other folks, who had spent years shooting heavy revolver loads, and were then having a lot of wrist & hand problems.

I bought a Super Blackhawk .44 mag in my college days, and quickly decided I did NOT like it. Years later I bought a Bisley Blackhawk in .45 Colt, and found with heavy +p loads the Bisley grip worked a lot better for me. IIRC in my 40's I shot a Ruger Super Redhawk in .454 Casull, with full power loads. I had a chrono handy, and it was running 300's over 1600 fps. One cylinder of those was quite enough! I quickly searched and bought a PAST glove to help absorb some of the recoil, as I'd added a .480 Ruger Super Redhawk.

I shoot 1911s a lot, and so far the .45 and 10mm don't bother me. The S&W 629s with 5" full lug barrel, are about a as light a gun as what I want for shooting full power .44 mags. And I'd probably use the glove for it today, as well.

I bought a .44 mag Redhawk; the plan was to send it to Bowen for his "L frame barrel conversion" and make it a .475 Linebaugh...I may reconsider this plan...

I have not really shot enough in a day with the handguns to hit fatigue limits. But I sure used to with the rifles. When one finds himself anticipating, and bracing, for the hurt, it is time to quit, with either one.

When I lived on my own range, I preferred to run thirty or forty rounds per day through the handguns, rather than a couple hundred during a trip to the range. Now it is a drive to the range and things work out differently.

I shot my friends handguns before purchasing my first, almost twenty years ago. I knew before I ever made the purchase that I could make as much recoil with the 41 mag as I ever wanted to deal with. 250 gr cast over a full case of 296 in a super black hawk bisley hunter have verified that thought.

Shot a heavy recoiling handgun that drew blood after ten rounds. It was the most accurate handgun I ever shot. I loved it.

Yep.

Hopefully its just arthritis.
If it hurts and/or swells get it checked out.
Could be Keinbocks and early treatment may save some bone.

Guess many let it get too far.
See what my surgeon says in about a week.

Clean or replace what he told me last time.

Just sold my Ransom rest and about 10 inserts.
My eyes and wrist so bad finding a great load was gonna be kinda futile LOL

Got my dad's brass frame SBH all ready to go and bum wrist says it might be a paperweight.
Guess I could try to shoot left handed.
Boy is that gonna be a disaster.

I’ve found the same thing. I can’t remember how many times I’ve read that to improve your marksmanship, get a .22. I did (a little Ruger SP 101 in .22 LR) but i find it’s too easy just to burn through a box of shells having fun and not concentrate on managing recoil.

I haven’t liked shooting full load .44 mag loads in a long time. But just turning the load down by a couple of grains of powder can make a big difference in recoil.

My eyes give out way before my wrists. Anymore I'm good for 2 hours or so, max. After that I can barely see the target.

Glasses help to see the target, but then I can't see my front sight. Damned if you do, damned if ya' don't.

If you have bifocals, use the reading portion of the lens to aim. Then you can have a sharp front sight and a blurry target. That’ll work well at short ranges. Sight alignment, sight alignment, sight alignment. Works like a champ.

Celebrex or generic celecoxib works wonders for inflammation. It is prescribed.