If you read our post on what handgun to buy, we talk about ergonomics not being the most important reason to buy a gun, and it is not. But how do you know if the ergonomics are “good enough” to be used for a defensive handgun?
We do a few tests to make sure we can get a good grip on the handgun. First and most important, we shoot the handgun to make sure we can handle, control and accurately shoot the handgun. That will give you a good baseline with the best possible conditions.
How do we test for bad or extreme conditions? One is the soap test. The soap test is a simple but somewhat messy test that tries to simulate blood.
Caveats
Some things to note about this test. If you are using a polymer handgun like a Glock or HK VP9 you can just wipe of the soap with a wet rag. You don’t have to worry too much about getting soap into things, unless you went crazy with the soap and the gun was very loose. Just make sure you get all of the soap off the gun.
If you used a handgun that is metal and or has removable grips like a 1911, CZ, Sig, etc… You may have to take the grips off to get all of the soap out of the crevices. If you are not comfortable taking the grips off, I would not do this test.
The Test
Follow the steps below:
- Get a bottle of dish soap
- Follow all gun safety rules
- Make sure the handgun is unloaded and the ammo is far away so you or someone else does not accidentally load the handgun
- We use a barrel blok to further identify the handgun is unloaded
- Over the sink, put a quarter size amount of soap on your strong (primary) hand that you hold the handgun with
- Grip the handgun with one hand and smear the soap around the grip
- With your support hand, try and move the handgun while holding it with your strong hand
- You are trying to see if the handgun easily moves within your single handed grip. It should not, but you also need to make sure you have a proper and strong grip to begin with
- With the help of another person, do the same test with soap but use both your hands to hold the handgun as you would when you shoot
- Make sure the gun is unloaded and you are following all safety rules
- Let your helper try to move the handgun while it is in your grip
- This test is also good with no soap to test your grip
Extreme Soap Test
Extreme soap test. Repeat the process above but put on rubber gloves. Why rubber gloves? Because it looks cool! Well, I think it looks cool. But the reality is there may be a reason you would have rubber gloves on while shooting. Nothing nefarious, stop watching the movies. What about a medical situation after an incident and the threat comes back?
Law enforcement wear gloves all the time dealing with people. Things happen quickly, being prepared to shoot with rubber gloves on is something you should think about and putting soap on the rubber gloves simulates blood on the gloves. We don’t recommend live fire for this drill. If you do live fire you need to guarantee it is in a safe and controlled environment. It would probably be best to only load one round in case you drop the handgun or the handgun slips a lot after you shoot.
