Missing fingers?

[Avenger]

Okay, this is sort of an odd question: is anyone on here missing fingers or parts of fingers on their shooting hand? I realize that does sound like the beginning of a hot-dog factory joke, but I'm looking for info from anyone about handgun selection and use with missing fingers. My friend at work is missing the ring and middle fingers from the last knuckle out, on her right hand. She is also VERY right-handed, shooting left-handed is simply just not going to be a viable option for her.

[johnwilliamson062]

Has she been shooting before? I would think those two fingers would be an almost non-issue for shooting. Maybe getting a thinner gripped gun so the fingers she has could better wrap around(Kahr or 1911), but I doubt even that would be much of a factor.

Has she been shooting before?

[l98ster]

Oddly, I have an interesting response to this. Although I have all 10, my father is missing a part of his trigger finger (from the knuckle closest to the fingertip).

To appreciate this, you have to know my father. He is the most determined person on the face of the planet. When he lost that part of his finger, he trained himself to be left handed.

How you ask???

He bought long sleeve shirts and sewed the right sleeve at the cuff closed. For about 6 months, all he wore were these shirts, rendering his right hand useless. After about that time, not only could he shoot with his left hand, he could also write perfectly!!!

To this day, he is completely ambidexterous is every way. I know this is a pretty extreme approach to training yourself, but I can vouch that it works.

Moral of the story....MIND OVER MATTER!!

-George

[warwagon]

I'm not missing any, but the middle finger on my right(strong) hand is sometimes so arthritic that I have trouble bending it to wrap around anything, (great for using a hammer, lot's of humorous things can happen ). Oddly my response is the opposite of johnwilliamson062's, in that I find a fatter set of stocks provides me with more purchase for the fingers that can wrap around. My suggestion would be to let her go to a store, or show, and pick a few up to see if any feel comfortable to her.

[geetarman]

I shoot regularly with an ex-navy friend who was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

He has lost both legs and most of the tips of his fingers and has severe arthritis in his thumbs.

He is there almost every Friday to shoot with us. He has some problems but he shoots handguns and rifles chambered in handgun calibers.

He rolls up in his wheelchair and we help however we can to post his targets and take them down.

He is physically challenged but he is up for it and my hat is off to him and so many others who have given up so much so we can continue to live in the best country on the face of the earth.

[ursavus.elemensis]

Jerry Garcia, may he rest in peace, was missing the outer half of the middle finger on his left hand, and he's probably one of the single best guitarists in the past 1,000 years.

[kokopelli]

I sawed my left trigger finger off with a circular saw . they sewed most of it back on but couldn't save the nerves...no feeling or 'pull'.
I learned to shoot weak-hand by using my middle finger for a trigger feeling.
She needs to go to a large gun store with a good inventory, -one that will take some patience and help her, and start holding guns. Try them out and see what 'fits' her hand; what she can grip onto better, etc. Take into account mag releases on a semi auto, cylinder release on a revolver, etc...
With her assumed loss in grip strength, she may want to look at 9mm autos and .38's with good sized grips like the Hogue combat type w/ finger grooves.
Oh, and tell her congrats on her determination to overcome the 'condition'!

[Rembrandt]

Missing the last joint on my pinky finger....lost it in an ATV accident. Hasn't been too much of a hindrance shooting...just can't pick my nose with it anymore.

[T. O'Heir]

"...from the last knuckle out..." Probably not a big deal. The inner joints have the strength. Might need to alter the grips though.

[Avenger]

She's been on a couple of our range trips, but stuck with the group shooting .22 rifles. She hasn't shot a handgun before. A gunstore trip is what I had in mind, just looking for a little insight before we went.

As far as training herself to be left-handed....no Not gonna work. She lost those fingertips when she was a teen, 30 years ago, and if she's acquired any more fine-motor dexterity in her left hand, she must have been a holy terror with anything fragile back in the day!

Thanks folks!

[n7qvu]

I missing all but 1/2" of my pinky on my strong right hand. I went thru the military w/o any issues, shooting marksman on M14 & 1911.

Only recent problem is with fingerprint cards. Most guys don't know what to do with my 1/2" pinky and are always scared to touch it. I also worked at a very secure facility with hand scanners. The software would not accept my right hand. They reprogrammed it to accept my left hand...upside down.

[EdInk]

Legendary Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi lost parts of two fingers
on his hand. IIRC, it is the middle finger just below first
bend from the tip and half way the past the center knuckle on the ring finger.

He wears weird little homemade rubber looking prosthetics when he plays guitar. If he can control guitar strings (not just simply hold a pic in the digit-challenged hand) in this manner, I would guess most everyday activites can be performed this way.

However, your coworker's handicap doesn't sound as severe and I don't think it will have much effect on her shooting ability. Find something that fits her hands and she should be fine. I suggest something easily gripped like a Kahr or other thin single stack semi-auto.

[tackdriver]

Revolver stocks/grips can be found easily in much smaller diameters than semiautos.

I suggest starting with a small all-steel revolver with a Hogue monogrip (not a bantam/boot grip... let's take advantage of that pinky!), maybe even in .22 caliber for trial purposes. You wouldn't want to find out the hard way that a .38 is going to recoil right out of her hands.

Everyone should train to use their weak hand for self defense purposes no matter how many fingers you have.

[twhidd]

I've read that Jack Ruby was missing the trigger finger of his shooting hand. He used his middle finger to pull the trigger of the Colt revolver he used to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald. As we know now, he was deadly accurate.

[farmall]

My dad is missing most of his right hand trigger finger, as a result of a run-in with a hay baler. He uses his middle finger to pull the trigger. He seems to do a lot better with autos than revolvers, as the stub drags on the cylinder.

Andy

[FatPants]

From the last joint of my trigger finger, out to the end of my finger, I am completely numb on the half of the finger nearest my middle finger (yikes, thats a messed up sentence...). I cut myself with a knife a while back, and severed the nerve. The feeling has never come back. Since its only half of the finger, it doesn't affect my trigger pull too much.

[Skans]

Check out the "Downsizer". It's a Derringer - 1 shot 45 acp that should be pretty easy to fire with two fingers missing. It's the first gun on the smallest guns website: http://www.smallestguns.com/

[DMZX]

I lost the half of my ring finger on my right (shooting) hand. The stump is numb, but it has had no effect on my abilities to shoot, or type.

[orionengnr]

I removed the last 1/2" or so of my right hand index finger about 25 years ago. The "new" finger tip has a bit of feeling, but not much.
That is my shooting hand and it definitely affects my shooting a bit, but I can work with it.
Stuff happens, I guess. That is one minute I wish I could do over again.
That and about ten others...

[skidmark]

The Downsizer needs a good grip and a strong trigger finger. Depending on how you position it in your hand the trigger pull is either in excess of a bazillion pounds or a hair trigger.

The felt recoil has been described by some as "a bit more than snappy" - most shooters have just put it down on the nearest flat surface and tucked their hand into the armpit while whimpering.

Yes, I own one. I've made at least three times the purchase price on a range wager - I load & shoot, reload & shoot all in under 30 seconds. You do the same in under 60 seconds and I give you $10 - if not you give me $5. To date I have not paid out once!

As for the OP's question - look at whether or not the lady can deal with recoil so you can guide her towards either a smaller-gripped revolver (round-butt j-frame for example) or a thinner-gripped semi-automatic (Rorbaugh or Secamp - maybe a Bobcat/Cougar if she needs the trip-up barrel due to problems racking a slide) in an appropriate caliber. There is some significant difference between felt recoil from a .380 and a .32H&RMag or a .32acp - while all are "minor" calibers they all served well for decades as the standard BG-killer for all cops.

A final tip for your lady friend - instead of gripping by wrapping the fingers around the stocks, try using the middle finger (middle segment) to press straight back towards the heel of the hand, and what's there of the ring and pinky fingers to press more downwards than backwards to control muzzle flip. (Trigger guard centered on the middle finger segment as if balancing the gun by the trigger guard.)

I've helped a bunch of folks with arthritis/rhumatism, nerve damage, and recoil sensitivity with that grip.

stay safe.

skidmark