An NRA Shooting Sports Journal | How To Add Weight To Your Competition Pistol
Heavy is in. This guide explains the ins and outs of adding weight to your pistol for competition, along with product recommendations.
Adding weight to your polymer pistol?
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An NRA Shooting Sports Journal | How To Add Weight To Your Competition Pistol
Heavy is in. This guide explains the ins and outs of adding weight to your pistol for competition, along with product recommendations.
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I used to have a Glock 19 Gen 3 with a threaded barrel / 2 port compensator, and a 7 oz "Glok" weight attached to the rail. Muzzle flip wasn't up, it was down. Not a very good setup in the end - loud, front end heavy, not entirely reliable. But it was an interesting experiment.
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For my competition Glock 17’s, I add a brass grip plug, and a stainless steel guide rod. Basically, adding just a little weight. I have Dawson Precision basepads which allow for more rounds which increases the overall loaded weight at the start of a stage. I could go with titanium grip plugs and titanium guide rods, heavier brass basepads and a light, but at some point, it doesn’t make sense to me. I have a heavier, all steel pistol that I could run if I want to go heavy. Part of the benefit of competing with a Glock is that it is lighter and easier to move around with. If I made it as heavy as the steel frame pistol, I might as well just run the steel frame model.
I would say If you good enough on during a match and your hoping to find sponsorship to be a pro shooter then modifying your handgun and your load to barely make major or minor pf and find what works best for you along with building arm & wrist strength for uspsa events . Other wise if you shoot idpa events for fun and as a way to help with your defensive practice needs then NO extra weight or mods that you would not carry on the concealed carry handgun daily . Shoot what your carry for cartridge , brand and basic size . IF your not one of the top shooters , is it really a big deal do to your ability do to your handgun set up or lack of so long as your better than you were a few months ago .
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I added all of the weight possible on my Canik SFX when I just stated competing. Tungsten guide rod, brass backstrap, brass base pads. Now, my Rival is bone stock. No need for the extra weight.
The past 3 seasons I've shot my Sig Legion exclusively for carry optics. The added weight of the tungsten infused grip is a notable difference over that of the G34. With that being said I'm toying with the idea of maybe going back to the 34 this season and see what I can do with the stock pistol.
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Heavier handguns are much easier to transition, because it's easier to slow them down. As with most things in shooting, the main thing that lowers time on transitions is not speed of motion, it's how soon the second shot breaks.
Adding weight can also help change the balance of the gun to suit a given shooter's preference. For example, some people like forward bias to help reduce flip and others like rearward bias to facilitate grip index.
Other than grip, the main thing that reduces flip is effective tuning of the spring rate and slide mass. But in most cases grip is the main factor.
Adding weight can also help change the balance of the gun to suit a given shooter's preference. For example, some people like forward bias to help reduce flip and others like rearward bias to facilitate grip index.
Other than grip, the main thing that reduces flip is effective tuning of the spring rate and slide mass. But in most cases grip is the main factor.
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I used to have a Seattle Slug in my Glock 34. At the time it seemed to give the gun an improved feel. Later, I took it out and no longer feel that I need it.
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How? Heavier objects have more momentum.
Think about how fast you could transition if your gun weighed nothing.
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It's not about speed, it's about time. And you can easily test the weightless gun idea by Sharpie-ing a front sight on your thumbnail.
Pistol transitions terminate at relatively refined conditions. So lower times generally correlate with the ability to start slowing the gun down sooner. Faster movement generally correlates with more time wasted at the end of the transition.
What's your "fastest" flat-out draw? Can you get down to 0.50? What is the process for that? The key elements are to initiate the sequence as early as possible and break the shot as early as possible.
Another good example would be the transition from P2 to P4 on Outer Limits. The main key to this is leaving Box 1 as early as possible after making the call on P2 and beginning the slowing process as soon after you leave Box 1. Moving faster results in "crashing" Box 2. So you move faster between the boxes, but way more time is consumed resolving a sight picture in Box 2.
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9,940 Posts
Add a frame weight.
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The brass grip plugs look kind of cool to me but do they help much? I wouldn't mind one because I like the aesthetic but my polymer plug funnels mags just fine.
Glock lists light weight as one of their selling points. If you can manage the recoil without adding weight, why add weight. Most competition rounds are not what you would call hot and self defense rounds don't have to go into a group the size of a quarter at 7 yards. So again, why?
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Welcome. There’s a reason why heavy guns dominate competition. I’ll leave it at that.
I get light guns for carry.
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I guess you have never shot a competition.
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