Josh Horwitz On Pistol Grips

BY Herschel Smith
8 years, 11 months ago

Boston Globe:

One of the features described in the legal bans as “military,” and by the gun industry as “cosmetic,” is a pistol grip on rifles — a handle beneath the trigger. This makes it easier to hold the rifle steady while firing repeatedly, a desired feature to shooting enthusiasts.

But Horwitz, of the gun-control coalition, sees the feature differently.

“Traditional hunting rifles are very accurate on the first shot,” he said, which is usually all one gets when hunting game. “The pistol grip allows the same accuracy on rounds two to 100, a very helpful addition when the shooter is aiming at people.”

You never knew that Howwitz was a tactical expert, did you?  Well, to be precise, the design of the AR-15/M-16/M-4 (or in other words, the Stoner family of arms) places the recoil along the axis of the firearm, as opposed to there being a couple about the firing hand because of the off-axis recoil and the buttstock being lower than the axis of recoil.

The pistol grip is a function of the rifle design, not vice versa or for some unrelated reason.  In other words, one couldn’t hold and shoot the firearm without it because the hand would be turned 90 degrees.  Round 1 versus rounds 2 to 100 is irrelevant, and Josh doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

As for forend grip, if that’s what he’s referring to, some folks would dispute the notion that holding a forend grip (as opposed to using it as a point of reference and a spring loaded bipod) assists the shooter at all.  Specifically, the thumb-over-bore grip or otherwise termed the C-clamp grip has become popular among some shooters.  It started in the gaming community, was adopted by some special operations guys, and is now commonly seen at ranges, and certainly in training videos by folks like Chris Costa and Travis Haley.

Costa_C_Clamp_Grip

In this picture, Chris Costa is using a reflex sight and a flip-to-side magnifier like I do, although not the reflex sight I use (EOTech), along with (what looks like) a Surefire M600 tactical light system.  My forend grip isn’t as high as his.

Some operators don’t even run a forend grip if the mission exclusively involves rapid target acquisition.  As for the main pistol grip, aside from the idea that it is necessary given the weapon design, there is no evidence that use of a pistol grip ipso facto ensures better accuracy or precision on any particular sequences of rounds (on the other hand, the recoil being directed along an axis is intended to aid in rapid target re-acquisition, but Josh didn’t say that).  So again, Josh Horwitz doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  But you knew that already.

Practice, test, be an engineer and mechanic.  Use whatever weapon design and particular set of additions to your weapon that works best for you.  They’ll never get our ARs.  The modularity of the AR-15 is one of its best features.  Josh Horwitz can trust the police to protect him.  As for you, trust God, and use your guns.

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Comments

  1. On December 21, 2015 at 8:52 am, Kerry said:

    Mr. KnowWitz had just argued that hammers should not be sold with handles.

  2. On December 21, 2015 at 11:19 am, Haywood Jablome said:

    Ignorance is bliss. Horwitz is a happy, happy man…..

  3. On December 21, 2015 at 11:56 am, Archer said:

    I guarantee my bolt-action .308 has the “same accuracy on rounds two to 100” as it did on the first round. It’s true that while hunting you usually only get one shot at any particular animal, but that doesn’t mean the gun loses significant accuracy between the first and second shots. The way Horwitz is talking, he’s focusing on the gun instead of the context — as usual for him — and that’s just not how guns work.

    Just more proof that Horwitz doesn’t have a clue what he’s saying.

  4. On December 22, 2015 at 7:25 pm, DNA Explains It All said:

    10th (really 1st on if rapidly fired) on there is loss of accuracy as the barrel heats up. But a pistol grip doesn’t effect that either.

  5. On December 21, 2015 at 4:03 pm, Sandydog said:

    You, sir, do not understand that when one hates firearms sufficiently, a magical transformation occurs in the hater, very much like staying at a Holiday Inn: one is blessed with instant, all-encompassing knowledge of all things firearm. After the transformation, one can determine good from bad in guns (as if there were any ‘good’ ones) by color and shape, size and accessories, and even legislate effectively on the knowledge. One also fully understands military-grade assault weapons, multi-automatic round weapons, fully semi-automatic weapons, ghost guns, ceramic guns, calipers, clips, banana clips, magazine clips, clipazines, bullet buttons, rounds per second, bullets that only kill cops and pierce armor, how entire cartridges (I’m sorry, ‘bullets’) fly from the muzzles on firing, why ten-round magazines are OK but eleven-round ones are deadly, barrel shrouds, bayonet mounts, and things in the back that go up. One knows about converting any gun to fully-automatic fire by filing down the firing pin, and how suppressors make any gun so quiet on firing as to be imperceptible across the room.
    Needless to say, understanding pistol grips is simple: They allow the shooter to fire more easily from the hip while spraying bullets. That they might offer prolonged accuracy goes without saying, but that is a mere side-attribute in furthering their sole intended purpose of enabling the killing of the most humans as quickly as possible.
    Did I miss anything? I don’t have such complete knowledge as Mr. Horwitz, because I don’t hate guns enough.

  6. On December 21, 2015 at 5:05 pm, Heyoka said:

    If you want to stop the killing of many people at once simply ban pressure cookers…..

    Of course you can just mow them down in Las Vegas too. What do we ban, the cars or African Americans; after all only about 12% commit 95% of the violent crime. Since 80% of terrorism is committed by Muslims, we can ban them as well, right?

    The imbecile is a smart as a box of rocks and would argue with a stump.

    Nothing to see by the epitome of stupidity, I mean the poster boy

  7. On December 21, 2015 at 11:00 pm, Douglas Cowdrick said:

    The next Jihadi might realize and get a rental truck and toss on as much weight as possible and drive down the sidewalk.

    Steal a gasoline tanker or a propane truck and whip up some explosives and the whole ride can end with a really big “BANG”.

  8. On December 22, 2015 at 3:19 pm, Sandydog said:

    If it comes down to that, our biggest mass murders have been committed with a gallon of gasoline; All it takes is incentive, a crowded venue with little means of escape, and a match. One doesn’t NEED a lot of flashy equipment; Fire is the most hideous and deadly thing at our disposal, short of nuclear devices.

  9. On December 22, 2015 at 11:34 pm, will_ford said:

    mr horwitz is sharp as QUE ball, NOT 1 doubt in my mind

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You are currently reading "Josh Horwitz On Pistol Grips", entry #14475 on The Captain's Journal.

This article is filed under the category(s) AR-15s,Firearms,Guns and was published December 21st, 2015 by Herschel Smith.

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