View Full Version : M&P Grip sizes
I have pretty large hands but I get the most comfortable shooting grip on my M&P with the small grips.
I'm wondering if there are people with freakishly large hands and that's what the large grip is for or what?
I'm wondering if there's something I don't know yet about grip that would make me choose the larger grips?
What size grip do you use?
Thanks for the help.
I don't know how one could find the large grip optimal... :confused:
Have you ever tried gripping the gun with NO back strap installed? :p
threeheadeddog
06-01-10, 12:12
I have medium sized hands. I can palm a basketball, but barely.
I use the large backstrap. The medium or even small feels most comfortable.
Most people will go to what feels good at home and not what translates to the best shooting grip. If the smaller backstraps are giving you good purchase with the meat behind your thumb on your off hand than by all means use them. However, if using the smaller grip just "feels" good but you find that your off hand is more or less being held off the frame or making a kind of bridge with your strong hand fingers and the meat behing the strong hand thumb than you might want to increase the grip size to allow more room for your off hand to fit.
The purchase that the off hand get will do far more to tame recoil than a nice comfortable grip(this of course assumes that you are torquing your off hand thumb forward in the forward thumbs style grip).
I am not saying that the small grips wont work for some people. They may very well give them all they need, but dont allow the idea of what "feels" good when static to decide what works good when shooting.
I have pretty large hands but I get the most comfortable shooting grip on my M&P with the small grips.
I'm wondering if there are people with freakishly large hands and that's what the large grip is for or what?
I'm wondering if there's something I don't know yet about grip that would make me choose the larger grips?
What size grip do you use?
Thanks for the help.
One of the problems with using a backstrap that is too small for you is that your right hand thumb (as a righty) can keep the slide from locking back on the last round (as it is making too much contact with the slide catch).
Something to consider.
C4
My hands are smaller than average. I can't palm a basketball...at all.
I use the biggest backstrap because, while it feels weird, I can control the gun better and get better accuracy than with either of the other two. The Med "feels" best, but my groupings turn into a soup sandwich.
Beat Trash
06-01-10, 13:12
I have average size hands, but longer fingers.
The Medium grips feel good, until I go to shoot the gun. I get too much trigger finger and the gun doesn't point/index properly every time.
When I used the large grips, trigger finger is where it's supposed to be and all is good when shooting.
But when holding the gun for an extended period time, (conducting building searches, on a perimeter, ect) especially on hot muggy days, I found the large grips felt like holding a brick. I felt as if I had to hold onto the thing so it wouldn't drop, vs. having the gun feel as an extension of my hand, which is what previous guns felt like under stress.
I took a large grip and attacked it with a wood rasp. The end result was keeping the spacer of the large grip that is on the top and goes where the web of your had is. The rest of the grip I made approximately the size of a Medium grip. The end result was the right size, but ugly. So I stippled the thing.
The end result was a Med-Large grip.
I have been carrying this issued M&P for over 4 years now. The grip I made was done within a couple of months. The only problem with making extra's is to get two the exact same size.
TriumphRat675
06-01-10, 13:30
I have largish hands and long fingers. In the store the medium grip "felt" best, but when shooting I had problems with the slide locking back; I also had so much of my trigger finger jammed through the trigger guard that more than once I unintentionally depressed the magazine catch during recoil when practicing strong hand only shooting(!).
Using the large grip naturally puts my trigger finger exactly where it needs to be, keeping it away from the mag catch, and gives me a much more consistent grip and sight alignment to boot.
I use the small. I dont consider my hands small by any means, but I feel I shoot the best with it. I dont shoot bad with the others, the palm swell just feels better. Here is the kicker, on guns that do not have this option to change the backstrap, I dont have any concerns. Unless the gun is a desert eagle, you shoudlnt be worried too much, beyond preference. It is unfortunate that a feature that should be standard creates as many concerns as it does.
threeheadeddog
06-01-10, 13:56
As a side note though.
My current M&P9L is kind of an game gun so I cant do any more than stipple the grip insert. On my next one I will definetely be lowering the rise behind the mag release. I find that though I dont have any issues with releasing the mag, and my times are just as fast, I can use the mag release easier with the medium grip.
I use the small insert. It offers me the best feeling grip, and the least amount of grip shift to drop the mag.
For me, the small grips "feel" great, but do not allow adequate control of the pistol. On the M&P40, I use the large grip; with the M&P45, I take a large grip and Dremel down the back edge so it offers the same trigger reach as on the M&P40/large grip combo--in essence creating a medium large grip...great minds think alike! As noted above, you want to maximize hand contact with the grip while simultaneously ensuring proper contact between both hands--how it "feels" has nothing to do with it, how it shoots is what matters.
For me, the small grips "feel" great, but do not allow adequate control of the pistol. On the M&P40, I use the large grip; with the M&P45, I take a large grip and Dremel down the back edge so it offers the same trigger reach as on the M&P40/large grip combo--in essence creating a medium large grip...great minds think alike! As noted above, you want to maximize hand contact with the grip while simultaneously ensuring proper contact between both hands--how it "feels" has nothing to do with it, how it shoots is what matters.
Interesting. I used the small backstrap on my M&P9 until I started running the Crimson Trace grips. I haven't shot my M&P40 yet but I will plan on testing each backstrap to see which works best with that caliber.
Wow thanks for all the input. I never tried shooting with the other grips just because of how unwieldy the gun felt.
After reading the responses I looked at how much coverage I was getting one handed and with both hands. It looks like the Medium is gonna have the most contact with the Small having a lot of overlapping. My support hand (left) is barely making contact with the left side of the gun using the Small insert.
Should I just video myself shooting with each grip to see how my gun torques left to right?
Large hand but short finders, Mid-size works best for me overall.
I have medium-large sized hands, and I am using the large backstrap.
I brought all three backstraps to the range with me, and simply stuck with the one that I shot the best.
The medium "feels" best in my hand, however, I simply shoot better and more consistent with the large installed.
I suggest actually shooting with all three, as you may find the the most comfortable when just holding/fondling may not necessarily translate to the best shooting. I don't particularly find Glock 19's comfortable in my hand. At all. But I shoot them REALLY well. On my M&P, the large seems to fill the minor voids left by the medium and small backstraps, giving me better contact and better control during live fire.
I tried medium and large, the medium worked great for my wife, and my long-fingered somewhat large handed self works better with the large grip... I'll have to see how I shoot with the medium backstraps, since it's going to be 'her' gun.
Well you got me interested now. I'm 9.5 inches. After trying out some of the other grips for coverage rather than comfort, I can see why so many are using the larger sizes. Range day Friday, we'll see how it goes.
tr1kstanc3
06-01-10, 19:46
I have small-medium sized hands and originally went with the small because it felt best. After practicing with the small for some time, I switched over to medium because my groups were more consistent when shooting 1-handed. Now the medium size grip 'feels' best because I know that I am more accurate using it and shooting from the draw I can get the web of my hand more consistently in the same place.
Should I just video myself shooting with each grip to see how my gun torques left to right?
Your groups will do that for you without the need for some Survivorman camera setup, I'd imagine.
My accuracy doesn't change with the insert size. I use the small because it allows me to better lock the gun into my grip and control it. I really don't see a difference between any of them in slow fire. My hand size is completely average. The small and medium are both comfortable, the large just doesn't "fit" as well. I can still shoot well with it but the other sizes work/feel better for my hand size.
Before their were interchangable grip inserts you had to train until the gun felt right and did what you needed it to do "as is" or change handguns entirely, something we all did and still do I'm sure :) .
I guess I'm a bigger proponent of focusing more on the fundamentals and less on the perfect fit. I think a Glock feels like holding a new bar of soap in your hand but I can hit with one as well as any other handgun. In slow fire. The M&P feels better to me and I can put my hand on the gun in a manner that's much closer to a perfect grip much faster than I can a Glock.
From the holster, going fast, I find the smallest insert gives me a more consistent grip and sight picture as the gun travels out towards the target, even when it's not perfect. That gives me enough consistency to make good hits at handgun ranges very quickly, out to ~10 yards. I have to slow down to make those hits with any handgun beyond 15 yards and swap guns completely to consistently make them beyond 25. By consistent I mean staying inside the -0 area on a standard IPDA target, that's a pretty big area, paper plate sized. I can do the same thing with the medium insert as well, the small just seems to help me get a little more consistency from the holster, going "no-fumble fast".
I'm pretty sure that I could make the medium feel just as good and get the exact same results given a few thousand rounds and at least that much dry fire time or another handgun entirely for that matter.
Before their were interchangable grip inserts you had to train until the gun felt right and did what you needed it to do "as is" or change handguns entirely, something we all did and still do I'm sure :) .
I guess I'm a bigger proponent of focusing more on the fundamentals and less on the perfect fit. I think a Glock feels like holding a new bar of soap in your hand but I can hit with one as well as any other handgun. In slow fire. The M&P feels better to me and I can put my hand on the gun in a manner that's much closer to a perfect grip much faster than I can a Glock.
I highlighted what seems to be the most important part in this thread. Fancy is nice, but in the end, proper training and fundamentals will serve you better than backstrap A over B.
I just wanted to say thank you to the OP and the responders. I had settled on the small grip insert for my M&P because I didn't see much difference in group sizes and it feels best. Lately, I've been working on getting a consistent sight picture on presentation. I have been finding that when I draw and present, my natural point of aim/where the pistol naturally comes to rest has the front sight sitting just a little low. Reading some of the above posts got me thinking about how the different grip inserts fit the hand and how that might change the way the pistol points. I tried the medium insert again tonight and during dry-fire I found that I got a much better sight picture. The way the medium insert fits my hand causes the back of the pistol to drop just that tiny bit that I needed. Thanks!
I highlighted what seems to be the most important part in this thread. Fancy is nice, but in the end, proper training and fundamentals will serve you better than backstrap A over B.
Although I agree that focusing on the fundamentals is vital, not taking full advantage of an available advancement/feature seems silly. I just wanted to give myself any advantage I could get by using a more appropriate insert size.
Although I agree that focusing on the fundamentals is vital, not taking full advantage of an available advancement/feature seems silly. I just wanted to give myself any advantage I could get by using a more appropriate insert size.
My implication was that the feature seems to be one of the smallest parts of the equation. I want every advantage that I can get, and I dont blame anyone for using said advantages, but this particular feature will not make up for many shortcomings.
Isn't one of the fundamentals of accurate handgun shooting a good grip? If I can get a better grip, won't that help make me a better shooter (albeit a small amount)?
My question was more so along the lines of how much better is better? Is it even measurable? I know I feel like I shoot better with one size compared to the other, but given a normal set of hands with a half decent marksmen, is there any discernible difference? Beyond this, I think we are venturing into separate thread territory, or PM's (which I welcome).
I know I feel like I shoot better with one size compared to the other, but given a normal set of hands with a half decent marksmen, is there any discernible difference?
If you notice an improvement in your shooting with a particular size, then there IS a discernible difference.
And no one here is saying that merely changing the backstrap will make up for a lack of fundamentals.
If you notice an improvement in your shooting with a particular size, then there IS a discernible difference.
And no one here is saying that merely changing the backstrap will make up for a lack of fundamentals.
I said "feel like I shoot better", not actually shoot better, I should have been more clear. The rest has been discussed in PM's to keep the thread clean.
My accuracy doesn't change with the insert size. I use the small because it allows me to better lock the gun into my grip and control it. I really don't see a difference between any of them in slow fire. My hand size is completely average. The small and medium are both comfortable, the large just doesn't "fit" as well. I can still shoot well with it but the other sizes work/feel better for my hand size.
Before their were interchangable grip inserts you had to train until the gun felt right and did what you needed it to do "as is" or change handguns entirely, something we all did and still do I'm sure :) .
I guess I'm a bigger proponent of focusing more on the fundamentals and less on the perfect fit. I think a Glock feels like holding a new bar of soap in your hand but I can hit with one as well as any other handgun. In slow fire. The M&P feels better to me and I can put my hand on the gun in a manner that's much closer to a perfect grip much faster than I can a Glock.
From the holster, going fast, I find the smallest insert gives me a more consistent grip and sight picture as the gun travels out towards the target, even when it's not perfect. That gives me enough consistency to make good hits at handgun ranges very quickly, out to ~10 yards. I have to slow down to make those hits with any handgun beyond 15 yards and swap guns completely to consistently make them beyond 25. By consistent I mean staying inside the -0 area on a standard IPDA target, that's a pretty big area, paper plate sized. I can do the same thing with the medium insert as well, the small just seems to help me get a little more consistency from the holster, going "no-fumble fast".
I'm pretty sure that I could make the medium feel just as good and get the exact same results given a few thousand rounds and at least that much dry fire time or another handgun entirely for that matter.
John_Wayne777
06-02-10, 07:15
My accuracy doesn't change with the insert size. I use the small because it allows me to better lock the gun into my grip and control it. I really don't see a difference between any of them in slow fire.
...because if you are doing slowfire bullseye all that matters is sight alignment and trigger control. When you attempt to fire multiple shots as quickly and accurately as possible...like you might wish to do in a gunfight...your grip becomes extremely important.
I guess I'm a bigger proponent of focusing more on the fundamentals and less on the perfect fit.
The fundamentals of shooting should never be ignored, but I'm personally not a fan of fighting with the equipment if you don't have to. It's one thing if you're issued a weapon by an agency and that's all you can use...but other than that there's not much redeeming value in handicapping yourself with a piece of equipment that doesn't fit you well. It's like trying to run in shoes that don't fit. If you already have a weapon with interchangeable grips it would be very wise to learn what a good grip is and then to select the grip configuration that helps you achieve that grip consistently. On a handgun your grip is the only interface you have with the weapon, and any really good shooter will tell you it is the foundation of controlling a handgun. A really good grip can even compensate for flaws and deficiencies in other aspects of shooting like trigger control that may show up when stress levels are at their highest.
Robb Jensen
06-02-10, 07:33
I use a medium in both my M&P Pro 9 and my M&P45. I used to use a small on the .45 but I shoot much better with the medium.
There was a thread on here recently and magsz was talking about using the larger backstrap even though it may not be the one that is most comfortable. I am still in a transition phase on my carry gun from a 1911 to my current m&p. I still dont run it as good as my colt but I am improving. Naturally I am going to go with what feels familiar to me, or to better put it the smallest grip b/c it makes the gun feel more like a 1911. My first handgun class that I brought the m&p to I used the small grip and throughout the day with certain drills I was not hearing enough steel dings to my embarrassment. Idiot me forgot to bring the other 2 backstraps to try out.
Yesterday I went back to the range and tried out the large grip and noticed a substantial improvement in my groups. Like JW777 was saying the large grips, for me at least, tighten up my groups under stress. There is less dead space between the handgun and my hands. Also the tip of my trigger finger (I have very large hands) would slightly rub against the inside of my support hand during the entire trigger pull. The large backstrap cured this problem as well.
On another topic, those of you who have the CTC laser grip on a full size 9 or .40, how does it compare in shape and size to the large grip?
On another topic, those of you who have the CTC laser grip on a full size 9 or .40, how does it compare in shape and size to the large grip?
I'd like to know that too. I've heard that it feels like a Medium grip, but I'd like to hear from someone who uses them regularly.
If anyone has the CT grips for the Compact model, that info would be great too.
Isn't one of the fundamentals of accurate handgun shooting a good grip? If I can get a better grip, won't that help make me a better shooter (albeit a small amount)?
Getting a proper and consistent grip is a fundamental to a firearm designed to be fired from the hands only. Having studied the handgun pretty intensely through the '70's when it was still a revolver world in LE and defensive use, changing the grips on your revolver to find one with the correct fit to your hand was absolutely considered essential to shooting your best.
Over the last decade (more actually) I myself tended to dismiss this as I settled the Glock platform and molded myself to it. Using the adjustable options on my Pro 9 and Gen 4 G17 have re-opened my eyes to what I already knew from my drilling with wheelies long ago. Duh.
John_Wayne777
06-02-10, 09:50
On another topic, those of you who have the CTC laser grip on a full size 9 or .40, how does it compare in shape and size to the large grip?
To me they feel slightly larger than the medium grip. I use the medium as my standard insert on the M&P and the CT grips feel just a tad larger, but that isn't a problem for me as my hands are big enough to allow for that extra wiggle room. On the full sized .45 guns it makes the grip pretty big, too big for me. I use the smallest grip insert on the .45.
Good info and thanks JW777.
As noted, group size in slow fire is irrelevant in assessing the grip. Get on the timer and assess speed, coupled with accuracy--the time and resulting shots on target will tell the truth. Determine which grips actually work best based on impartial, factual data, not feel.
I do believe the good Doc just made the most salient point - a 2x4 can print groups in slow fire, but making hits on the clock is the answer. Note to self... actually do this instead of being a chairborne jerkoff.
Beat Trash
06-02-10, 22:47
I made up my med-large grips and stippled them because to me, it was all about control.
If the gun "squirms around" between shots, then you may have an accurate first shot, but your follow up shots will be slower.
For a defensive gun, shot to shot recovery is important. In real life, some individuals may be "dead" after taking a good center mass hit with the latest hi-tech round, but they may not know that they are dead yet! A wise old and still alive individual once told me, "Some people just take more 'killing' than others".
This is why what may feel good in your hand at the gun store, may not be so good when shooting.
As DocGKR stated, put your self on a timer, shoot some plates, multiple targets, ect. Try to put yourself under stress. But above all else, be honest with yourself, if it needs improvement, then by all means do so.
Assy Mcgee
06-03-10, 00:53
i have pretty small hands, but couldn't shoot either of my m&p's worth a shit with the small panels. horrible groups.
medium or large worked best as it kept muzzle wiggle to a minimum.
Interesting thread...
I have standardized on the small inserts on both my 40s due to the "feel" (my hands are on the small side of average). I haven't really had issues with group sizes or unintentional slide release, but after reading thru this thread, I'll probably give at least the medium a second try.
I try not to overanalyze things when I'm shooting (rifle or handgun) as I do better if I just relax and shoot, but if I see an improvement using a larger size insert, fine - I've learned something beneficial. If not, just go back to the small, no harm no foul.
Couple of things.
In another thread i commented on why i use the large backstrap so i will summarize that again here in this thread because it fits.
I spent a good 35-40k rounds or so running the medium backstraps on my guns for about a year and a half. I always consistently shot half an inch to an inch left of my intended point of impact at 7 yards. I also found myself regripping the gun during rapid fire strings. The gun was bouncing around in my hands way more than i would have liked.
My press out and presentation was also skewed. My front sight was never exactly where i wanted it to be when i broke that first shot. I found myself having to slow down to horizontally align my sights.
Also, the large grip, due to its thickness feels as though it allows me to squeeze the gun more with my support hand. I can put more pressure on the frame during rapid fire strings.
A couple of months ago i made the switch to the large backstrap and watched almost all of these issues disappear immediately.
The increased width of the grip from side to side has taken up the remaining negative space and i now have a true full grip on the gun. The length of the grip has also pushed my trigger finger back slightly through the triggerguard so i now rest the appropriate meat on the trigger during firing. Like jax, my index finger touched my support hand with the medium grips. I dont have particularly huge hands so im thinking this is in part due to the way i grip the pistol.
The only downside to making the switch is that mag changes are a LITTLE difficult for me with my stock game gun. Without the ability to do frame mods i cannot remove the teardrop shape right behind the mag catch like i do on my carry guns. I find myself shifting my grip EVER so slightly to depress the mag catch due to the larger grips. Its a downside i can live with as my actual shooting has improved vastly.
Others have mentioned sizing on the CT grips but i will go ahead and add my input. I refer to the CT grips as a medium plus. They're very similar in feel to the large backstrap in regards to width and length but they lack the duckbill on the back. I havent found this to be an issue as they feel extremely similar to the large grip so if you're running a large and want to add a laser the transition will be very natural.
Happy shooting people!
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