My hands are medium in glove size. I have a touch of arthritis in the knuckles on the strong hand. During target shooting a break is necessary because of cramping in my trigger finger. I've ordered the pads and sleeve to add to the gun. Hoping that's going to improve the situation. Holding the gun and shooting, I have a very deep palm area, so the gun is really settling quite far back in my hand while shooting. But after several mags, there's a 5 minute or so break to get circulation back in my finger. I'm not sure arthritis has anything to do with this, this isn't happening with my other pistols which include a Phoenix HP .22. Accuracy is good, better than expected actually. (I'm a paper plate shooter) and there are zero gun problems. If the pads and grip overlay aren't enough, what can I do to make the back of the handgrip wider by say a 1/4 inch? Think that would allow a reasonable grip that would not get the gun so deep in my hand.
I put a cut down Handall Jr on mine, there's a post somewhere with a superior installation technique than what I used. The key is to install it upside down. It helps me a lot and to give you an idea of my hand size I have the "pinky" magazine extension on my PF9 but this only affords me to get two fingers on the grip. Even with the pinky extension there is NO WAY I can get my pinky anywhere near the grip so it is forced to curl under the magazine. With the P3 it's all I can to to keep two fingers on the grip but the Handall Jr with the nub in the front and the palm swells really helps. I've seen some grip pads out there that may help make the grip deeper but I haven't tried them yet. HTH
I also added some depth to the backstrap under the slip-ons. This can be beneficial for people with large hands or long fingers (as in my case). I tried foam strips first but the slip-on grip seemed to compress the foam over time and as a result the grip lost the added depth. I ended up with a combination of plastic tubing, bike tube, and slip-on grip. I used three layers of 5/8" O.D. x 7/16" I.D. flexible plastic tubing, cut into 1/2" wide strips a bit longer than the backstrap, glued the strips together with Goop adhesive and clamped it until dry. Then I aligned the glued tubing along the backstrap and put on two layers of bike tube then the slip-on grip on over that. Lastly, I trimmed the excess plastic tubing off at the bottom of the grip. Using strips of material under the slip-on and/or bike tube is kind of neat because you can experiment with different numbers of layers of material and at the same time you don't permanently alter the gun. The first photo shows the gun with three layers of tubing and four layers of bike tube (actually my second attempt). The second photo which was actually my first attempt shows three strips of 1/4" thick foam with a Pachmayr grip over the foam. Notice how the foam has compressed (more at the top where grip and recoil cause more pressure, but quite a bit at the bottom also). The last photo shows my gun as it is now with three layers of tubing, two layers of bike tube, and a Hogue slip-on (I like the finger grooves). You will notice that the overall length of the gun isn't any deeper than it was before the modification due to the depth of the beavertail on the grip. My gun with four layers of bike tube: With a Pachmayr: With a Hogue: Bobo
Looks good Bobo. I wondered about those grip stickons compressing under the sleeve. Your pics are appreciated.
The foam strips I used were not the ones Sprinter1 sells at http://www.aglaser.com/grips/index.html. I used some foam I picked up at a crafts store - much cheaper, and not really intended for what I tried to use it for. Bobo
I agree that the hogue slip on grip, installed upside down, is one of the best things I have done to my P3AT. The rubber composition along with the finger groove aid greatly in comfort and controlability. Also the grip is swelled on the sides, which make it easier to hold onto with my big paws, and slightly lengthens trigger reach, which is what you where looking for. I beleive that the grip also helps take some of the bite/snap out of the little guy since the grips come all the way up the back strap. Makes the gun much more controllable and enjoyable to shoot. Hope this helps, moparrman74
