Getting slide bite from thumbs forward grip. Help!

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Pops1085

New member
Hey all, I seem to be having a slight problem whenever I'm shooting my Glocks. I have started trying to use the thumbs forward grip that everyone seems to be talking about but I keep getting some slight slide bite on the base knuckle of my strong hand thumb. Has anybody else experienced this with this grip? What'd you do about it?
 
I have compact .45 which recoils more violently than my full-sized gun, so when shooting the compact I move my strong thumb outward slightly, to get it away from the slide. It doesn't take much, just don't crowd the slide.

detpic.jpg
 
You are holding the gun to high. Make sure your strong hand is lower than the slide. Is that a gen 4. Put a backstap on it to help guide you while you learn. If you don't like it, take it off after you are comfortable with the grip.

Do some youtubing. There are a lot of good videos on proper grip
 
After a bit of youtubing, I think I'm gonna give Hickok45's grip a shot. Maybe if I had a 1911 with a beaver tail I'd give the thumbs forward a shot but this grip seems to keep my thumb knuckle out of the way of the bottom left corner of the slide. ( I shoot right handed) What do you think?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=22msLVCtPk8

Skip to 6:30 if you want to just get to the part about thumbs.

Again please share what you think about this, I'm still on the fence about it.
 
I get slide bite with Glocks which is why mine have extended beavertails. I use a thumbs forward grip on every semi-auto and only Glocks and a few other guns will slice my hand. It's hard for some to understand how it happens since many people grip a handgun lower than they should. Every time I go to the range, 9 out of 10 people have a gap between the top of their hand and the beavertail area. Sometimes every person there has a low grip and shotgun pattern targets.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMzQIHN-LiI

Pretty good demonstration of thumbs forward by Travis Haley back when he was with Magpul. Honestly I am not sure how a thumbs forward would cause you to get slide bite at the base of the thumb. The strong hand shouldn't be riding up that high.
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You can grip nice and high with an M&P and not get slide bite.

Beavetails help, but cut off the beavertail on the M&P in the picture below. There is still more space in the upper contoured area between it and the back of the slide/frame on the M&P compared to the Glock.

mpglocksmall.jpg



ETA: Well it looks like I read the thread differently. Every time I read "slide bite" with a Glock, it's always the same thing. So this one is new to me. If getting bite on your thumb, then you must be turning it in towards the slide when firing. They should go straight out along the side, not pressed inward with any force.
 
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It's hard for some to understand how it happens since many people grip a handgun lower than they should. Every time I go to the range, 9 out of 10 people have a gap between the top of their hand and the beavertail area. Sometimes every person there has a low grip and shotgun pattern targets.
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I think 9 out of 10 is a bit of an exaggeration, at least maybe for this forum. I get my hand as high as I can and I've never had slide bite on any pistol. But I also have slender hands. Now hammer bite I have had happen on Browning Hi Powers before.

You're right that a M&P has more meat between the shooter and the slide, but the same principle should apply to a Glock without really any issue. Both Haley and Costa have shot Glocks in the past too. It's definitely more uncommon than it is common.
 
I think 9 out of 10 is a bit of an exaggeration, at least maybe for this forum. I get my hand as high as I can and I've never had slide bite on any pistol. But I also have slender hands. Now hammer bite I have had happen on Browning Hi Powers before.

You're right that a M&P has more meat between the shooter and the slide, but the same principle should apply to a Glock without really any issue. Both Haley and Costa have shot Glocks in the past too. It's definitely more uncommon than it is common.
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I have quite a few ranges around me and as I walk to my spot, I always check how people are holding guns. About 99% of them hold it to low. I also get hammer bite on Hi-Powers which is why I put the no bite hammer on mine from Cylinder & Slide.

There is more meat between the slide and grip area, but I was talking about the grip to the back of the frame. Cut off the beaver tail and your hand is deeper horizontally under the contoured area than the Glock. More of the strong hand is out past the end of the frame on the Glock, where the M&P covers more of it underneath. With a high hold on the M&P, more of the hand is covered where as with the Glock, more of the hand has a tendency to be pushed up by the slide. Some people say this is only possible with pudgy hands, but mine are not and it happens.
 
I can't deny your experience, I just think that arguing that the reason most people don't get slide bite is because they are all holding the guns improperly is a bit extreme. I've shot at a few training academies and most of the instructors used Glocks and none of them got slide bite. As far as I could tell they had their hands as high as they could. It's not like it was designed to cause slide bite. It can happen, but it almost sounds like you're saying the absence of it happening is because of poor grip.
 
Poor grip or training yourself to grip it differently. I see many shooters cocking their wrists a little as well. This will bring the back of the hand downward and prevent slide bite. Hand size makes a difference too. I wear XL gloves so that could be something and it may also be the individual all around on how they grip, hand size, stance and everything. Many Glock fans don't see how it's possible to get slide bite, but it's possible. The exaggerated humps that force the bottom of your hand up don't help either. Only my G19 has a normal grip angle and back strap hump which is one of the reason why it's the most popular model out there. Despite the normal angle and backstrap hump, I still need a beavertail on it.

I wasn't really trying to say poor grip is the only way not to get slide bite. It's just I see it so often that it makes me wonder when someone claims a gun is inaccurate, they get bite, too much recoil, etc. I don't think all of the people in the U.S. with poor grip go to my local ranges so sometimes I'm sure it's the case.
 
I wasn't really trying to say poor grip is the only way not to get slide bite. It's just I see it so often that it makes me wonder when someone claims a gun is inaccurate, they get bite, too much recoil, etc. I don't think all of the people in the U.S. with poor grip go to my local ranges so sometimes I'm sure it's the case.
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No doubt, grip can be a factor with a number of issues. But if a person is getting tight, consistent groups to POA and isn't getting slide bite, which has been my experience, then I tend not to blame grip. Now if they are shotgunning (pattern wise) like you said that's a whole new ball game.

I do think hand size definitely makes a difference. I'm a Medium sized glove and with my thin hands I still have some width left over.

You brought up a good point about the difference between where the backstrap starts in relation to the end of the slide between the M&P and Glock. I really hadn't looked too hard at it before. It would seem slide bit might be less likely with the M&P. I was mainly using the video just as a reference since I had seen it before and Haley tends to do a good job explaining. There are probably videos doing the same but with a Glock instead that might be more helpful to the OP.
 
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