doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com bruising of second finger on grip hand?

I often have this occur. A leather shooting glove is one solution that works for me. I haven't tried the rubber bumper, but will do so.

JERRY

I had a 20g M24 with the same prob. I gave it to my brother in law and he kept after me to fix it. Sheesh! warranty on a give away gun?

If someone would explain to me how making the stock a bit longer would prevent you from putting your middle finger against the back of the trigger guard, I'd be interested to read it. However, unless you make the LOP about 30" long, I don't buy it. But if you believe adding 1/2" or 1" to the LOP will stop the problem and it works for you, that's OK with me.

If your hand it is out front further, it lets your wrist stay straighter.

There are at least a few people here that have independently discovered the same thing so maybe you should just try it. Easy and cheap.

I think most folks shoot a gun too short. I don't know why, but they do.

Brent

Interesting Brent. Some of the best shooters of all time have advocated short stocks. I believe Rudy Etchen, certainly one of the best American trapshooters, advocated using the shortest gun possible. He felt that swinging on hard angles was much easier with a short stock.
If you know much about trapshooting evolution in this country, as the targets got easier (3 hole to 2 hole and shorter distances)the stocks got longer. It was not necessary to make that sharp swing any more.
The old bend the arm 90 degrees and measure from the inside crook to the last joint on the index finger still is a fair initial assessment for LOP. Now, with double triggers the equation is not as easy. I personally think measuring the LOP to the front trigger leaves the stock a bit short.
As for getting whacked with the trigger guard, I have not seen anyone mention that some front triggers are further away from the back of the guard than others. Seems to me that could make a significant difference.
Regards, Jake

Jake, I'm not an expert. Don't claim to be. But I do know what has worked very well for me and that crook of the elbow thing has never done the trick. Not everyone follows the same formulaic set of proportions. Most of my rifles are (were) too short too. I'm pretty normal sized (6 ft)with normal - size large hands. Nothing special.

Anyway, try a lace on pad or make a dummy and try it. Costs nothing to try.

I think trap shooting has little resemblance to a lot of other forms of shooting but, in fact, trap shooting is where I first had the problem and then fixed it.

While you are right that some guns have different trigger set ups than other, what worked for me was on a single gun. No change in triggers.

Brent

I agree. Also, letting the shoulder collapse under recoil will break your grip on the hand of the stock.

Beyond that, it's whatever works for the individual shooter I suppose, and it's interesting to read other guy's methods. To me, it would seem that trying to grip the gun well behind the guard only provides running room for the smack to the second finger to really hurt. With either straight or pistol grip double guns I rest the knuckle of the second finger against the back of the guard bow and grip with something on the order of a normal handshake, never really tight. With double shotguns and double rifles up to .577 Nitro, I've never had the slightest discomfort to my second finger.

Chuck, the information to solve your friends discomfort has once again been offered on these esteemed pages.May I suggest that you get your friend to mount the gun in his usual manner and you should then check his gunfit, grip, hand position etc.,I find that many people cannot mount a gun correctly inspite of many years shooting experience, because they have never been taught correctly.Stance and gunmount are a unit and must be done correctly to achieve high standards of shooting ability.It is very obvious that if the hand is crowding the trigger guard that the grip position is not correct.Correct stance and correct LoP SHOULD ensure the correct positioning of the hand.The stock would not need to be 30" long to achieve this.Is the stock grip straight hand or a pistol grip? Is the pistol grip (if it has one) too tight a radius? Systematic analysis and observation will give you a solution.

The gun is about 14" LOP, double trigger, and a very traditional gentle radius pistol grip shape. The shooter is about 5'6" or 7" and this LOP matches up with his other guns within reason.

Since this gun is not so different in LOP and grip shape than other guns that he shoots, I suspect that the triggerguard is of different shape and location relative to the triggers. I will check the things others have suggested.

I have to admit I didn't follow this thread because I've never had the problem I ran accross this in Robert Churchills book "Game Shooting"

Quote:
"Most people think that they grip a gun naturally and correctly. All too often they do not. The tendancy is to carry the right hand far too much round the top of the stock. This checks it coming up and forces the knuckle of the second finger hard against the rear of the trigger gaurd (another cause of bruised finger)."

Another cause he listed.
"If you grip too tightly while mounting the gun to the shoulder you may relax on the instant of firing. Bruised cheek or finger is sometimes and indication of too light a right hand grip at the instant of firing, though more usually it is due to the error in stance indicated in the previous section"

Another cause...
"In my oppinion the grip of every normal gun should be tapered from the direction of the breech; that is to say it should be thicker in front of the hand than at the rear, thus offer a cone to prevent the hand from slipping forward under recoil.
Very often one sees a grip tapered the reverse way. Such guns tend to slip through the fingers on recoil with bruised second finger for result"

jOe