Getting 'bitten' by the slide of a gun

Yes i've been bitten and yes it stings. Its what happen when your thumb is too high up on the grip and the slid,either going back or returning, nicks the knuckle. It happens more frequently with my taurus pt22 than my bigger guns.(small gun/big hands) Its one of those things like 'you're not a real mechanic until you bust a knuckle'. The more marks on the thumb the longer a person has been shooting, it happens to everyone sooner or later.

Slide bite is proof of an individual's poor grip with that semi-auto pistol. The rearward motion of the slide typically rakes along the inside long axis of the thumb toward the webbing of the hand (between the thumb and forefinger); the web can sustain a slice/laceration as well. You learn fairly quickly not to repeat your mistakes in maintaining a proper grip. Shooters aren't all alike and have subtle differences in gripping. Different pistols & different calibers can and do alter any given situation even for the same shooter. You need not get into too much detail for your story; just indicate that your character held his/her grip too high on the frame (think choking-up on a baseball bat) when the round was fired. That's more than sufficient to explain a case of slide bite.

This Google image search should give you a good idea. It can be pretty bloody, depending on how out-of-place your grip is.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gun...ChMIm9LetvaDxwIVQZyACh2gMwBp&biw=1600&bih=761

There's a saying among shooters that this is a mistake you'll only make once (because the lesson is so painful).

Slide bite can hurt like a mofo - and leave an incredibly persistent bruise, if you don't break the skin. As above, it's not particularly indicative of lack of knowledge or experience, so much as the particular weapon and your particular hand(s). It can also happen when shooting a lot of rounds if you don't readjust your grip periodically.

cmhbob said:

This Google image search should give you a good idea. It can be pretty bloody, depending on how out-of-place your grip is.

https://www.google.com/search?q=gun...ChMIm9LetvaDxwIVQZyACh2gMwBp&biw=1600&bih=761

There's a saying among shooters that this is a mistake you'll only make once (because the lesson is so painful).

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After looking at some of those images Im thinking I never got hit all that bad. I've never had anything any worse than a nasty cat scratch. Certainly nothing requiring ten stitches. Usually its my little .22 that gets me and do think thats more to do with a tiny gun in my big hands.

I got bit on my left thumb by a Colt 1911. Nasty scratch, but no stitches.

Slide bit is most commonly caused by improper grip, specifically (for a right handed shooter) by wrapping the left thumb around so it is on the right side of the frame. This puts the left thumb behind the slide where it can be hit by the rearward motion of the slide. Note that if the thumb is low enough it will NOT be hit, which is why some shooters get away with this grip, for awhile at least. But, if the thumb gets just a little bit higher the slide will hit it. The injury can be anything from a bruise to an abrasion to a pretty bloody and painful cut.

Note also that in some cases this can cause the pistol to malfunction if the thumb getting in the way slows down the slide enough to prevent the ejection of the fired case or messes up the loading of the next round into the chamber.

This video is pretty good. At the start you see her injury. This is a little more towards the bloody end of a "typical" slide bite injury, but I have actually seen worse. (And more that were not as bad. This is towards the right end of the bell curve, but not all the way to the right).

At about 45 seconds or so she demonstrates how she was holding the pistol to cause this injury.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a1eY-uJ8CI


Edit: Although you can get slide bite with a .22, it isn't nearly as bad as with a larger caliber. A .22 pistol is not as powerful and does not recoil as much as a larger caliber pistol so the slide bite is not as bad. In that case it's typically more of a pinched skin thing then an actual cut.

Be aware that a .22 is generally considered to be a target pistol, or a pistol for informal shooting, and is not designed for self-defense. They do get used for that sometimes, if that is all that is available or if the person doesn't have the ability to use anything larger (hand strength issues/arthritis/etc) but that is not what they are designed for. Just a note in case it is relevant to WHY she has access to that pistol.

EDIT 2: Yeah, I did overlook the type of slide bite caused by having a proper grip (not thumbs crossed) and just letting your hand get too high on the gun. I just don't seem to see that very much in comparision to the type caused by cross the thumbs behind the slide. The type of slide bite is essentially identical to the hammer bite I talk about below.

cornflake said:

Slide bite can hurt like a mofo - and leave an incredibly persistent bruise, if you don't break the skin. As above, it's not particularly indicative of lack of knowledge or experience, so much as the particular weapon and your particular hand(s). It can also happen when shooting a lot of rounds if you don't readjust your grip periodically.

Click to expand...

I disagree to some of this. If you are an experienced shooter you should NOT need to readjust your grip periodically to avoid slide bite. If your fingers are properly located and you grip the gun firmly there's nothing in shooting that will cause you to need to readjust your grip to avoid slide bite.

In my experience slide bite usually happens to either new shooters or shooters who normally shoot revolvers (where this type of grip isn't a problem) who forget to change their grip when shooting a semi-auto. Note in the video I posted the shooter says she's used to usually shooting a revolver and forget to change her grip when shooting the semi-auto.

One exception to "this usually happens to new shooters" is the related issue of "hammer bite" from 1911 pistols. This is common with GI type pistols with the small tang and even experienced shooters can get bit by the hammer coming back. This is true even when they are gripping the pistol correctly as even getting your hand on the pistol a little too high can let this happen. (In other words, it's not an issue of having the thumb on the wrong side. It's an issue of having your hand too high on the gun for that specific variant of the 1911).

Part of the 1911 problem on some models is with that secondary safety. For people with weaker hands they have to grip higher up to activate that pad under the beaver tail
http://www.sightm1911.com/images/bt_grip_safety.jpg

Pony. said:

Part of the 1911 problem on some models is with that secondary safety. For people with weaker hands they have to grip higher up to activate that pad under the beaver tail
http://www.sightm1911.com/images/bt_grip_safety.jpg

Click to expand...

Well, that and the fact that on mil-spec 1911's the tang is much smaller. The beaver tail was a custom mod that became standard on many commercial guns later. If you pick up an actually military issue 1911A1, or one of the "lookalike" military 1911 clones, you'll notice how small the tang is. The hammer on mine (a military clone) bites my hand easily if I don't specifically think about it and change my grip a bit before I shoot.

As an aside, if your character(s) use a rifle instead of/in addition to a pistol, you could have them get scoped. When they put their face too close to the scope, the rifle's recoil shoves the scope into their face. It can be quite painful, bloody, etc, depending on the caliber of rifle and exactly how close their face was. A scope on a pistol can do the same thing, by the way.

But that is kind of a tangent to your question, which seems to be sufficiently answered already.

Claudiaann said:

I was planning on having the MC fire several times in quick succession--assuming she doesn't move her hand, do you think the skin might get broken? I'm not sure if that's even possible though...you say that getting the thumb in the way can cause the pistol to malfunction. Anyway, thanks for all the great info! It's a huge help.

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Depends on the weapon, and to a lesser degree, her grip.
A small-caliber pistol (like a .22) might not cycle properly if someone's hand is in the way enough to get more than a tiny little "hello" nudge. A larger-caliber pistol (like a .45) might have no problem continuing to cycle, so long as her grip remains firm.
If she's an inexperienced shooter, she might slide her hand up on the grip after the first round or two, or even be shaken by the recoil of the first shots - which could result in slide bite because she's gone too high on the gun.

And to answer your first question - yep, had it more than once. Unfortunately, it is a mistake shooters will make more than once - either from picking up an unfamiliar firearm and not thinking before shooting, or working too quickly with their own firearm.

My STI .40 had custom grips for my hands, so I never had an issue with it, but a shooter with larger hands could have difficulty getting a good grip and keeping out of the way of the slide. My old Walther PPK in .32, however, would catch my hand if I wasn't careful.

Claudiaann said:

I was planning on having the MC fire several times in quick succession--assuming she doesn't move her hand, do you think the skin might get broken? I'm not sure if that's even possible though...you say that getting the thumb in the way can cause the pistol to malfunction. Anyway, thanks for all the great info! It's a huge help.

Click to expand...

With my .22 it depends on the ammunition I use. Anything less than hyper-velocity and the recoil is so weak that i have feed issues. So maybe have it be an older pistol that's well worn in.

I got bit when I tried out a Glock (Glock 17) for the first time. I was used to shooting revolvers, and the grip on the Glock was both wider and a different shape than what I was used to. My hands are pretty small, even for a woman, so a larger grip was not a good thing. I ended up getting a nasty pinch to the webbing of my left hand (I'm left handed). It didn't break the skin, but I ended up with a great big blood blister and a nasty bruise.

Okay, slide bite. This is when the slide on a semi-auto handgun rides back under recoil and hits the shooter's thumb or, more often, the web between thumb and hand. Can range from a slight scuff to full on bruising or bleeding, can hurt a lot or be barely noticed and can cause a shooter to stop shooting or not interfere with the shooting at all. The good news is that whatever you need for your plot can be plausible.

The cause is a grip too high on a gun or a grip that places the opposite thumb in the path of the slide. It happens to experienced shooters as well as complete novices, on some types of guns more often than others. It can be more likely to happen when firing under duress or quickly, as in grabbing a handgun for self defense.

Now, using a .22 caliber handgun for defense. In many areas, this is common, or even normal. Often it is the only handgun allowed by law in that particular country or the only handgun available at the time it's needed. Rarely does someone choose to carry a .22 for defense, but it does happen. What concerns me is that your choice is due to hearing that they are common and easy to handle.

If the gun is to be knowingly carried for defense, I suggest you choose a different pistol. Both .380 ACP and 9mm handguns are popular for defensive carry, readily available in most states and small enough to carry concealed. Your location for your story will change some requirements for the type and size of handgun carried.

As you continue your research, I'd suggest you start with your plot and the plot's needs before settling on a specific gun or even the use of it. What damage needs to be done by the bullet, what result you need form any police investigation (there will be one) and how you need for the character to be in possession of the gun. Was it something they prepared for, something available at the moment, self-purchased, a gift, a family heirloom passed down...? Lots of questions need to be answered about what you specifically need to develop your character or advance the plot before anyone can tell you what gun to use, or even whether or not the shooter will get bit by the slide.

Jeff