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F@#$ing bone spur makes shooting Beretta incredibly painful. Ideas?

1K views 15 replies 7 participants last post by  SailDesign 
#1 ·
So, I have a gorgeous little Beratta 84 Cheetah. Lovely gun, fun to shoot, EXCEPT - I have a bone spur on the inside of my thumb that gets whacked every time it fires. It has been getting worse each week (range time is Sunday morning) to the point where this morning I found myself limp-wristing the first few shots in expectation, and feeling like someone was bashing my thumb with a hammer every shot. Not comfy, or accurate.

Has anyone else had this problem? I have a few possible solutions:

1. Change out the gun for something with a thinner grip (my 22/45 doesn't bother it at all, but that MAY be just the recoil)
2. Wear a donut corn-protector on that thumb while shooting. Will also add a "Geek" badge to my hat...
3. Just stick to 22 for pistols.... Not a problem, I enjoy shooting, and am not fussed about the larger calibres, it's just such a cute gun. :)

Any thoughts or experiences gratefully received.
 
#3 ·
Get rid of the bone spur. Every other solution is no more than avoiding the real problem.
If shooting wasn't just a sport for me, that would be the right thing - but seriously, I only ever take a gun to the range for fun - I don't carry, I don't keep one in the nightstand - I just enjoy making holes in paper. :)
Surgery, for that? Can't justify it. My profession is designing boats, which means drawing by hand sometimes, even today. If I screw up my dominant hand, I'm fcuked.
 
#5 ·
If you refuse to consider surgery, which I believe to be foolish, I suggest that the corn-plaster donut (or maybe even two, stacked) worn under a glove would be your next-best option.

Why do I think that refusing surgery is foolish?
First, because taking advantage of Obamacare, and bankrupting the government, is everybody's necessary duty.
Second, the possibility of a surgical-mechanical screw-up is awfully slight (the small chance of a secondary infection is greater), and right now you still have the option of interviewing, and carefully choosing among, several surgeons, to find the right one.
And finally, if left untreated, the bone spur may eventually affect your drawing ability anyway. But you already know that.

Brown University has an excellent medical faculty, so, were it me, I would start there. Get a referral to one or more orthopedists who specialize in hands, and see what they say.
(Do you want our son, the psychiatrist-to-be, still in his residency at Brown, to look for someone to advise you?)
 
#7 ·
If you refuse to consider surgery, which I believe to be foolish, I suggest that the corn-plaster donut (or maybe even two, stacked) worn under a glove would be your next-best option.

Why do I think that refusing surgery is foolish?
First, because taking advantage of Obamacare, and bankrupting the government, is everybody's necessary duty.
Second, the possibility of a surgical-mechanical screw-up is awfully slight (the small chance of a secondary infection is greater), and right now you still have the option of interviewing, and carefully choosing among, several surgeons, to find the right one.
And finally, if left untreated, the bone spur may eventually affect your drawing ability anyway. But you already know that.

Brown University has an excellent medical faculty, so, were it me, I would start there. Get a referral to one or more orthopedists who specialize in hands, and see what they say.
(Do you want our son, the psychiatrist-to-be, still in his residency at Brown, to look for someone to advise you?)
Steve, surgery is out. Period. :)

I'm not in the market for anyone to chop into my hand, and even if it meant no more shooting pistols, well, such is life. There's always rifles.
 
#11 ·
Hey, I'm with SailDesign on the surgery thing; if a problem doesn't try to kill you or make your life really uncomfortable/complicated, I wouldn't choose surgery to fix a minor thing either.

As for the problem, have you considered replacement grips for your pistol? Depending on where the pistol is bumping the affected area, a slightly larger (or even smaller) set of grips may change the way your hand interfaces with the pistol just enough to alleviate the problem. Slightly larger, more hand-filling wood grips are one way to go.

Another option is rubber grips. Yeah, they are usually ugly and soulless, and if how your pistol looks is important to you, then Pacs probably aren't something you will appreciate, but I'll mention them anyway. Pachmayr has been a huge maker of rubber pistol grips for decades; here is a link to their grips for a Beretta 84:

Pachmayr Signature Grips Backstrap Beretta 84 Rubber Black

Another similar option is a slip-over rubber grip sleeve. It wraps around (actually, slips/rolls over) the existing factory grips, providing a little padding and a more secure gripping surface. Some have finger-grooves molded in, some don't. Check out something like the Hogue Handall Jr. to try this option.

Good luck!
 
#12 ·
...Another similar option is a slip-over rubber grip sleeve...
Jean's little Kel-Tec P3AT sports a rubber sleeve on its grip that works quite well indeed.
Best part? It was free for the asking!

Go to the local bicycle shop, and beg a ripped or punctured bike-tire inner tube. Black is probably best.
Cut off a length to fit your pistol's grip, moisten it slightly, and pull it onto the gun. Alter the length as needed. Correct a mistake by starting again with another length of tube.

I am not sure that a bike-tire-tube sleeve will offer you enough padding. (Jean and I wanted only a smooth, non-slip grip.)
But it can't be too difficult to make a two-layer sleeve out of a bike-tire tube. That may work.

Try it, and let me know.
 
#13 ·
Surgery is not a bad thing at all to consider. Yours would be minor. Hell, I've had four major and one minor surgery in just the past 22 months (all of them occurred within a year, between October 2012 and September 2013). Three of the major surgeries were lifesaving in the sense that there was pain involved (as in lots of pain in one case) so to relieve that pain, surgery was needed. The other major surgery was an actual lifesaving procedure.

I have a neighbor friend who had a bone spur on one of his thumbs and went the route of surgery around two or three years ago. He shoots with me on occasion. He still has some weakness in that thumb but it is much better than it was before his surgery.

I do understand the OP's desire to avoid surgery. Some folks are just adverse to having some surgeon cut away on them. But it would be wise to keep surgery open as a viable option.
 
#14 ·
<snip>
But it would be wise to keep surgery open as a viable option.
If it stopped me from eating, or driving, or something important, it might be worth it. But shooting something bigger than 22 just isn't a Life Choice kinda thing here. If I'm limited to 22 for pistols, then the "bigger stuff" will have to be long guns. :) Or nothing.

I'm going to try different grips, maybe even carve a chunk out of the Beretta's plastic ones. I have tons of time to experiment (despite being almost 60), and a 22/45 to play with in the meantime. Life is still Good.
 
#15 ·
Hey, I'm with SailDesign on the surgery thing; if a problem doesn't try to kill you or make your life really uncomfortable/complicated, I wouldn't choose surgery to fix a minor thing either.

As for the problem, have you considered replacement grips for your pistol? Depending on where the pistol is bumping the affected area, a slightly larger (or even smaller) set of grips may change the way your hand interfaces with the pistol just enough to alleviate the problem. Slightly larger, more hand-filling wood grips are one way to go.

Another option is rubber grips. Yeah, they are usually ugly and soulless, and if how your pistol looks is important to you, then Pacs probably aren't something you will appreciate, but I'll mention them anyway. Pachmayr has been a huge maker of rubber pistol grips for decades; here is a link to their grips for a Beretta 84:

Pachmayr Signature Grips Backstrap Beretta 84 Rubber Black

Another similar option is a slip-over rubber grip sleeve. It wraps around (actually, slips/rolls over) the existing factory grips, providing a little padding and a more secure gripping surface. Some have finger-grooves molded in, some don't. Check out something like the Hogue Handall Jr. to try this option.

Good luck!
Thanks. My first "thing" is to try the Pachmayrs, then if that doesn't work, carve a chunk out of the original grips (or the Pachmayrs, come to that, so I don't damage the originals)
Then on to other stuff, or back to the 22/45.
 
#16 ·
Jean's little Kel-Tec P3AT sports a rubber sleeve on its grip that works quite well indeed.
Best part? It was free for the asking!

Go to the local bicycle shop, and beg a ripped or punctured bike-tire inner tube. Black is probably best.
Cut off a length to fit your pistol's grip, moisten it slightly, and pull it onto the gun. Alter the length as needed. Correct a mistake by starting again with another length of tube.

I am not sure that a bike-tire-tube sleeve will offer you enough padding. (Jean and I wanted only a smooth, non-slip grip.)
But it can't be too difficult to make a two-layer sleeve out of a bike-tire tube. That may work.

Try it, and let me know.
May try that with a hole cut for the bump.... Cheap trick before spending anything. I know I have some MTB inner tubes floating around. :)
 
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