How to Avoid Slide Bite Injury: Pistol Guide

Slide bite injury


In this guide we'll show you a few ways to avoid slide bite injury next time you go shooting!


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For many beginner's and even experience shooters, injury to you hands caused by your pistol's slide is part of life.  


Slide bite is one of the most common injuries that occurs while shooting a pistol.  Let's us show you a few ways to avoid slide bite injury.


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Best Ways to Avoid Slide Bite Injury

Beaver Tail Safety Grip

Beaver tail safety grip is a plastic mold that attaches to the back of the pistol grip and protects the shooter's hand from any slide bite injury.

Click on this link to read our full guide about the Beavertail Safety Grip.    

Beavertails for pistols

The beaver tails safety grip also allows the shooter to hold the grip higher and gain better control of the pistol when fired to minimizing the effects of gun's recoil on the shooter's shot accuracy and time on target.

Avoid Improper Grip

Improper grip on the pistol can cause a few issues for the shooter. The most obvious are shot accuracy and time on target.  

If you don't have good control of your pistol with a proper grip, you're accuracy will decrease and time on target increase.  

Both of these are critical skills to master when it comes to training for that one moment. 

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Additionally, a slide bite injury can occur if the shooter is improperly griping the pistol.

Remember, a pistol slide is a tough piece of metal that is propelled by gun powder at high speed so it's always going to tear up a few layers of skin.

Avoid Holding the Grip too High

Avoid holding the pistol grip too high so that it's the way of the slide. This will defiantly cause injury to your hand during slide blow back.  

This can also cause a number of malfunctions such as stove pipe by preventing a spent casing to completely ejecting from the pistol.

Avoid Slide Bite Injury


Avoid Placing the Thumb Behind the Slide

Avoid crossing the thumb behind the slide, which can case the slide to impact the thumb with force during blow back and cause injury.  

Avoid Slide Bite Injury


Those from Revolver community have probably been taught to cross your thumbs, but if you switch over to a semi pistol, forget this technique, it's will cause slide bite injury.  

Final Thoughts

Slide bite injury can occur for many reasons.  Hopefully this article helped learn to avoid any unnecessary injury that may occur during your pistol training.

Although, slide bite injury may be an inconvenience it can make or break your pistol experience. 

Remember a proper pistol grip is important to avoid any slide bite injury as well as to maintain shot accuracy and time on the target.  

Beaver tail safety grip is a good option that helps prevent your hand from riding too high on the grip.  But, it does allow you to hold the pistol grip as high possible while avoiding slide bite injury. 

Holding the grip as high as possible while avoiding the slide will give you better control of the pistol and improve shot accuracy.  

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