After about 500 rounds and several combined hours of dry practice here are my thoughts on the @scottwarrentactical Grip Assist Sleeve.
Pros:
Faster follow up shots. The swell or hump allows for your support hand to put forward pressure on the gun. This caused the gun to move less under recoil allowing the dot to settle faster resulting in faster follow up shots.
Less support hand fatigue. I think this is due to the fact that the additional leverage means I don’t have to squeeze as much, but rather apply forward pressure with my support hand. I still squeeze but it does not take as much pressure to control the gun.
Shooting support hand only it does not cause any concerns. My trigger finger placement was able to stay the same and the hump rested right above my palm in the first crease of my fingers which was actually quite comfortable.
Strong hand only shooting there is no noticeable difference with or without it.
Cons:
Becomes slick when wet. If my hands started to sweat they began to slide around on the grip sleeve. I intentionally got my hand wet with water and found the problem became even more noticeable. Through a string of fire I would have to readjust my grip at times.
Interferes with magazine release. I repositioned the grip sleeve about a dozen times trying to get it positioned to where it doesn’t interfere with me ability to reach the magazine release. Best position I found was as pictured with it so low it was starting to the magwell.
Overlapping the magwell is a non-issue, however in this position I would still have 2-3 out of 10 reloads where I still couldn’t get the mag release and pressed all the way. For me that’s a big issue. Take that with a grain of salt as I have short wide thumbs that require me to break my grip to hit the release anyway.
All in all I enjoy shooting with the GAS. I will be removing it from my duty gun because the reload issues, and becoming slick when wet cause me some concern. That being said I really like the concept of a swell for aiding in support hand grip and feel that it was executed fairly well, especially for the cost, by Scott. The GAS will be taking up residence on my Gen 5 17 I use for concealed carry and occasionally competition.
Moving forward in the future I may try the permanent solution from Double Alpha Academy. They offer a grip kit that uses an epoxy and silicone carbide mixture as I think that will cure the grip slipperiness issue, and allow me to form it in a way that the swell does not interfere with my ability to reach the mag release.
