Need to change calibers due to injury. 9mm or .380?

Do you really want to go from .45 to .380 ?
Maybe a 9mm conversion barrel is in order. You get to keep the gun you are familiar with it should be heavy enough to comfortably handle the 9mm recoil and when your condition improves you can go back to .45.

 

If not the ^^^ 9mm conversion, maybe you could limit most of your plinking to a .22 or a 6" .38 special with big squishy grips (like my Ruger GP100). You might even be able to find some mousefart loads in .38 special; a revolver round only needs enough OOMPH to make it out of the barrel, no action to cycle.

They also sell shooting gloves that have some padding and lil grip exercisers that might be of some help.

 

Will the injury heal?
If it were me i'd go to a 1911 in 9mm-
Conversions are fine but you can about buy a whole gun at the same cost with nothing to worry with swaping out

 

It's been my experience that any .380 is going to have far more felt recoil than the FS 1911 in .45ACP.

I have a similar issue with arthritis in my strong side wrist. (Whoda thunk?) To make things really bad, I'm a recoil junky. When I'm jonesing for some push I'll drag out the M29 and do a few cylinders of .44 hot loads. Yep, I pay for the fix the next few days but as an old drag racer friend use to say, "Sometimes you just need to drive through the tire shake."

To make my life livable, I satisfy my need for shooting with two great stand-ins.

My GSG 1911-22, I can shoot all day with no side effects and it's cheap to feed!

OR, my Browning Hi Power in 9mm. The FS steel gun just sucks up the recoil and is a dream to shoot.

 

Great point- I have a Citadel 1911-22 myself that i shoot WAY more than any other gun i have & it cost about (less than some) what a conversion does- Still shooting a 1911 too (sorta)

 

Depends on the gun I'd say my 380 has more recoil than my 45 just because its so small

 

Maybe a heavy 1911 in 9mm would be a better choice

 

I don't think it is as much the caliber that will effect recoil and how hard it is on the hand. It is the gun. The .380 is weaker than the 9mm for sure but a Ruger LCP or Kel-Tec P3AT will kick a hell of a lot less than a 9mm 1911 or even an XD, M&P or FXX in 9mm. There are some exceptions but the pretty common rule is bigger, heavier guns kick less than smnaller lighter guns.

 

Just said that was trying to anyways

 

Ya'll notice we been getting some very gun savy folk in here these past weeks?
Refreshing to say the least

 

What's that say about us old farts HOSS?

 

Hesitate to say

 

Agree, definetly a different perspective. Because both my walther ppk 380 and my Ruger LCP have a big difference in felt recoil than any of my 9mm's. The 9mm's are so much softer than any of the 380's by far.

 

For target shooting or plinking get a 22, without a doubt.

 

Sorry to hear that.
Depends on budjit i guess-
I have a RIA 9mm Tactical that i dearly love & trust so i'd recommend it to anyone More exspensive ones of course are availible but i've quit looking.
EZ to personalize too

 

Sorry to hear that. I've looked at a Colt Defender in 9mm and if I were to get a 1911 in 9mm that's what I 'd get.

 

9mm ammo is much cheaper than .380! I'd go 9mm, good luck, hope you feel better.

 

Generally the heavier guns will absorb quite a bit of the felt recoil. But if your nerve damage also makes holding heavy weight a problem, then life is more complicated. Either way, try to find a few ranges with rental counters and try out a bunch of different guns. Remember that after market, squishy grips may also help reduce the impact on your hand. So look for guns that have such grips available.