Night of the Living “Limp Wrist”

Almost as “intellectual” as the seemingly endless stream of “zombie threads” infecting some firearm forums is the near-universal answer of “limp wristing” as the cause of nearly all autoloader malfunctions.  IF this is correct, then something must be in the nation’s water supply because limp wristing has become a consistent “answer” for a pistol failing to extract, eject or feed. Whatever is in the water must be akin to Delilah cutting Samson’s hair if the limp wristing diagnosis is correct…or might there be other reasons some autoloaders malfunction?

Quietly observing such a thread on one site, I was not at all surprised to see it locked as it devolved into more or less an “I’m right”-“No, I’m right and you’re wrong” affair.  At another site, limp wristing seemingly has to be the culprit because the firearms in question just do not malfunction…to hear some tell it.

Rather than just joining in, I thought it might be more meaningful and a better use of my time to gather some actual data by taking the experimentalist’s approach …but before we get into that, might it not be a proper time to actually define what is meant by “limp wristing” as well as the idea behind why it does induce malfunctions?

Today’s semiautomatics have a frame on which rides the slide and barrel assembly.  Depending upon caliber, the pistol will be either locked-breech or blowback design.  In either case, the slide moves rearward by having a greater rearward force than that required to compress the recoil spring.

On the left is a Bulgarian 9x18mm Makarov pistol being fired and on the right, a Browning Mk III Hi Power.  The Makarov is straight blowback while the Hi Power is a locked-breech design. Both of these pistols are generally considered very reliable…and they are, but each requires that the frame be held with at least enough “stability” to allow the rearward moving slide to work against the recoil spring. In your mind’s eye, picture the guns not being held at all, just lying on a smooth surface like ice or glass.  If they were somehow fired with remote control, these pistols would probably just slide rearward across the smooth surface without the slides moving rearward enough (if any) to allow proper function. Both the blowback Makarov and the locked-breech Hi Power happen to have 17-lb. recoil springs. Neither of these pistols weighs that much.  I think you can intuitively “see” that only with at least some minimal amount of resistance, via holding the frame portion of the pistol can the slide effectively work against the recoil spring.  So, what is limp wristing? It is not holding the pistol firmly enough to provide sufficient resistance for the slide to move rearward against the recoil spring.  In other words, if limp wristing, we are letting the frame move rearward with the slide.  The entire pistol will move rearward a bit but limp wristing allows it to happen to a much larger degree.

I opted to purposely induce malfunctions in several pistols by limp wristing.   Minimal grasping strength was used; just enough to keep from dropping my gun when it fired and I tried not to let my wrists and arms provide any strength/resistance.

I also limp wristed each pistol tested in three separate ways.  In one of the videos where a fellow was demonstrating how prone a particular make handgun was, he held the gun between his thumb and fingers without using his palm.  In other words, if his shooting arm was facing north, the pistol would be facing either east or west.  The arm and wrist were not providing resistance.  The slide was moving rearward against either his thumb or his fingers, depending upon which way the pistol was facing.

In one video, a shooter was “proving” the unreliability of a particular pistol by holding it as shown with the CZ-75 above. The gun is not even close to being parallel with the shooting arm; it is 90-degrees out of phase.  In the picture at the left, the gun will be recoiling against the thumb.  On the right, it will recoil against the fingers.  In the video, the particular lightweight pistol did fail to fully cycle. The slide did not move rearward enough to either eject the fired case or strip another round from the magazine.  The other pistols did.  My question is, “What does this prove?” Other than for interest or a parlor trick for the range, when would anyone actually fire a handgun with this sort of crablike pincer grab?  One defender of the video suggested that in a gunfight, one might be injured and unable to grasp the pistol as firmly as he might otherwise.  That is a true but I do not envision firing the pistol via the holds shown above? Despite the distinct unlikelihood of this ever being some sort of combat firing position, I used it as one method of limp wristing the test guns.

I also held the CZ-75 very low and with just enough strength to keep recoil from knocking it from my hand. In this position, it is parallel with my arm.

A Glock 17 and Browning Mk III 9mm Hi Power was also used in each of these “tests”.

Test Guns: I used 9mm pistols known by me to be reliable due to long-time personal use. They were: CZ-75, Browning Mk III, Glock 17, SIG-Sauer P225 and Taurus PT-92.  Two (Hi Power and CZ) have steel frames.  Two (SIG-Sauer and Taurus) have aluminum frames and the Glock, a plastic one.  The CZ and Hi Power both had Wolff 18.5-lb recoil springs but to keep things as “from-the-factory” as possible, I used “factory standard” recoil springs, 14-lbs in the CZ and 17 with the Hi Power.  The rest had factory-strength recoil springs in them already.

Ammunition: Two loads would be used, standard pressure and +P.  Since some opt for standard pressure defense loads while others prefer +P, it seemed logical to use both.  As this is written, factory ammunition is not all that easy to find but I had plenty of vintage Federal 115-gr. JHP, which will represent the standard pressure defense load. Remington 115-gr. JHP +P was used for the other.  From these guns, the Federal averages 1150 to about 1170 ft/sec. The Remington’s velocity was approximately 80 to 100 ft/sec faster, depending upon the individual pistol.

Test Procedure: The first thing I needed was a name for each of grips or holds I used while limp wrist firing the test pistols. 

“Forward Hold”: This meant holding the pistol in my right hand but lightly w/o locked wrist and trying not to use any greater arm strength than necessary to hold up the gun so that it could be fired.  The barrel was pointed away from me in normal fashion.

“Sideways Thumb”: This designated a “sideways” hold shown above with the CZ-75. The gun will be recoiling against the thumb.

“Sideways Fingers”: Same as above except the gun would recoil against fingers only.

I also decided to only fire the test guns with my right hand, no off-hand or two-hand shooting.  The reason: conserving ammunition. With a loaded magazine is seated in an automatic, the top cartridge presses against the bottom of the slide so it seems reasonable that if a limp wrist hold is going to induce a malfunction, it is more likely to occur early in the firing sequence due to the greater upward tension of the completely-loaded magazine’s compressed spring.  It may malfunction every single shot but if it is right on the edge of reliability, it is most vulnerable when the magazine spring’s exerting the greatest upward pressure against the slide via the top cartridge in the magazine.  Thus, each magazine was loaded to capacity but only five shots were fired per test run and the magazine was topped off after chambering a round.

I also “practiced” trying to barely hold the pistol, providing minimal resistance by firing a few shots before recording results.  I did this standing over grass-covered ground on which I’d placed two coats atop each other in case I happened to drop one of the test pistols such as this SIG-Sauer P225. This pistol feeds all JHP ammunition I’ve tried. It has never malfunctioned with any load I’ve fired through it and is stock other than for the Nill stocks and is using the factory standard 16-lb recoil spring.

Results: Each test pistol’s performance is noted in the following tables.

Limp Wrist Test: Federal 9mm 115-gr. JHP

Limp Wrist Test: Remington 9mm 115-gr. JHP +P

Conclusion: It is very possible to induce a reliable self-loading handgun to malfunction but in these “tests”, malfunctions were distinctly less than common than proper function.  Notice also that the only handgun that operated without a single limp-wrist-induced malfunction was the Taurus PT-92, a handgun not usually held in quite as high esteem as the other test guns. Does this mean that its Beretta 92 design is superior to the others? 

A certain amount of resistance is required when holding the autoloading handgun for reliable functioning.  Otherwise the slide cannot overcome the recoil spring’s tension.  Heavier frames seem to require a less strong hold than lighter frames such as those of aluminum or polymer.

…but an overlooked quantity is the recoil spring’s strength.

In this specific group of 9mm pistols, the one with the perfect score (Taurus PT-92) did have an aluminum frame to be sure, but its factory standard recoil spring was also the “lowest powered” of the bunch at 13-lbs. Notice that in the +P tests, not a single test pistol failed.  Might not using more powerful 9mm ammunition be similar to using a lighter recoil spring with standard pressure loads? (I am not suggesting that +P ammo is more reliable in all ways to standard pressure…though it might be if one wishes to purposely limp wrist while firing or fears having to shoot in a weakened state as might occur if shot while in a fight.  On the other hand, might not a slightly harder-recoiling pistol be more difficult to hang on to?  Though useful to be sure, “What if” scenarios can become seemingly endless, too!

This Taurus PT-92 ran 100% reliably in the “limp wrist tests” performed with a number of commonly-used and time-tried autoloaders.

In these two “tests”, the limp wrist grip seems most likely to cause malfunctions turned out to be what I dubbed “Sideways Thumb”.  Is that because this is the universally-weakest type grip so malfunctions will always be forthcoming?  Probably not; I really believe that it was for me but maybe not the next shooter. I could not figure a method to determine how uniform (or not) I was in holding the gun the same for each shot fired.

With the nearer normal “Forward Hold”, all of these pistols functioned perfectly with both standard and +P loads. In my opinion, all that has been “shown” is that autoloaders can sometimes be made to malfunction by an improper hold. To really determine anything meaningful, I believe that unless somehow done via mechanical device, a significantly greater number of folks would have to perform exactly the same shooting protocol with the same test weapon(s) for results to have any possible real world value.  None of us will exert exactly the same amount of pressure on a given pistol and none of us have exactly the same hand as another so the process is loaded with variables from the beginning.

I have been a either a police firearm instructor or state-certified concealed handgun license instructor for just over a total of 26 years.  This does not cover private handgun instruction times.  In that time, I have indeed seen a few autoloader malfunctions that were induced by limp wristing; no other cause could be found!  I would fire the suspect handgun with the same ammunition and it would function perfectly.  On the other hand, I have seen considerably more function problems from:

1.       Poor quality magazines

2.       Defective reloaded ammunition

3.       Unnoticed broken parts such as the extractor claw

4.       Poorly maintained handguns

I suggest that when reading a thread concerning perhaps our favorite autoloader malfunctioning that we consider other possibilities besides limp wristing.  It is difficult if not impossible to diagnose from a distance without being able to actually examine the firearm.  If we could look it over, I suspect that more often than not we’d find a cause other than limp wristing.

Before someone complains that one or another of these handguns won't group when fired this way, let me ask, "Was 'Night of the Living Dead' a documentary?"

Best.

PS:  I do not suggest trying repeat this test.  It has the potential to be dangerous and it would be very easy to drop a fine handgun when purposely trying to hold it with way less than normal strength.