Losing My Grip

I have my grandfather’s bolt action 12 gauge shotgun. It holds only three shells, two in the magazine and one in the chamber. If I remember correctly from my quail hunting days, this is the maximum number of shells allowed for hunting migratory game birds. That shotgun has been in every residence I’ve lived in since graduating. The reason is simple: the shotgun is probably the very best home defense weapon there is.

When children lived in the house, I had the shotgun mounted on a rack over the master bedroom door. Now that the kiddies are out of the house, I keep it under my side of the bed. I do not leave a shell in the chamber: I figure that any home invader with a minimal number of active brain cells will, upon hearing the bolt of that shotgun being worked, decide that there must be some easier home to invade. I sincerely hope that is true: I’m not that good at repairing drywall.

My father died in 2001, and a few years after his death I ended up with his pistol. That was the very first pistol I ever owned. It was not exactly a fine piece. The Armi Galesi 25 ACP has mixed reviews these days. I’m pretty sure the reviews were not all that great when my Dad purchased this pistol in 1959. (Then again, there was no internet in 1959.) The war had been over for about 14 years, and I’m not sure that the Italian manufacturing sector had recovered its quality standards by that time. I deemed the pistol unreliable because of the number of jams and misfeeds I encountered.

Because of my experience with that one semi-automatic weapon, I became a revolver man. Don’t write in and tell me that revolvers can fail: I know that, and I also know that revolver failures tend to be catastrophic. However, failure of that sort is very rare, much, much, much rarer that the rate of misfeeding or jamming with a semi-automatic. If you own a pistol for self defense, it is counter productive to own one that jams frequently.

The first pistol I purchased (a revolver, of course) was the Taurus Judge Public Defender. The Judge is an excellent pistol for self defense. It is chambered to hold either 45 caliber long Colts, or 410 gauge shotgun shells. Mine is loaded with three shells (triple aught buckshot), followed by two 45 long Colts. The upside is that this pistol has serious stopping power. There are two downsides: it holds only five rounds, and it is very, very heavy.

I bought an inexpensive Blackhawk hip holster for the Judge, which was a mistake. Now, Blackhawk makes very good, affordable holsters. I own several, and am pleased with all of the others. But the Judge is so heavy and bulky that it requires a little more support than the Blackhawk offered. The Blackhawk shoulder holster worked well, but I don’t often wear a jacket, especially in summer, so the shoulder holster was not a solution to my problem. Finally, quite recently in fact, I found the perfect holster for the Judge, which means that it has once again become my everyday carry piece. I heartily recommend Wright Leather Works LLC. Their holsters are hand made, and are the products of true craftsmen. My Predator pancake style outside the waistband holster has made the Judge a comfortable piece to carry.

Before obtaining the proper holster, I decided that the Judge should be relegated to the house for home defense (or to the car for protection on long trips), and that I needed a less heavy, more comfortable everyday carry weapon. A little research pointed me to the Smith and Wesson Model 642 .38 Special +P. This is a much lighter pistol than the Judge, but it still has serious stopping power. It shares the same downside: only five rounds. But this pistol is small enough to be carried inside the waistband, which I do, with a Kydex holster.

A funny aside: when the .38 Special became my everyday carry weapon, I decided that it would be wise to buy slacks that were a couple of inches bigger than my waist, in order to accommodate the bulk of the pistol. Sometime after that, daughter Reilly asked me my waist size. (She must have been doing birthday or Christmas shopping.) I gave her my new size, which was met with a moment of silence, followed by “We’ve chunked up a bit, haven’t we?”

I wish I could say that the .38 Special made me completely happy, but the truth is I was still bothered by the fact that it held only five rounds. I’m a pretty good shot, at the range, but I understand that under duress, with adrenaline flooding my system, I’m probably going to miss a few shots. That’s not so good when you have only five. I began looking for a backup pistol, a small one. Based on the advice of a knowledgeable friend, I settled on the Kel Tec P3AT. Yes, not only did I actually buy a semi-automatic, but I bought one with a polymer frame.

I am glad I did. It is a great little gun. It uses .380 ACP ammunition, which was good enough for James Bond. It is very light (8.3 ounces). It holds seven rounds. It fits neatly into a Blackhawk Size 1 pocket holster or an ankle holster. There is only one problem.

I am losing my grip.

Semi-automatic pistols usually have a slide that must be racked in order to put a bullet in the chamber. That requires a firm grip, and sad to say, I’m losing mine. As I am right handed, I would normally rack the slide with my left hand, but in order to rack the slide of the P3AT, I have to transfer it to my left hand, rack the slide with my right, then either shoot left handed or transfer the pistol back to my right hand. That is not something I want to do under duress.

There are pistols that are easy to rack, the Walther PK380, for example. I believe a three year old has sufficient power in its grip to rack that slide. Unfortunately, that does not apply to the P3AT.

But technology is wonderful, and a very low tech solution to this problem has been found by a company called ArachniGRIP. They sell the Slide Spider, which is essentially a piece of “skateboard tape” laser cut to fit over the grasping grooves of the slide. The surface of the tape is rough, which improves your ability to grip the slide.

Or so they say. I ordered mine today, and it will be a few days before I can try it. If it doesn’t work, I will let you know.

With summer nearing an end, I will have to stop wearing the Hawaiian shirts that cover the Judge, and go back to the .38 Special as an everyday carry. But the P3AT will still be on me, somewhere.