22XX Thumb Rest

[quickster47 †]

The key to pistol shooting whether one, two or three handed is to do the same thing, all the time, every time.  In other words, BE CONSISTENT.

Think of a Thumb Rest as a shelf for your thumb.  And no, your thumb is not likely to get tired and need a shelf on which to rest after you've been shooting for awhile.  The value of this piece of gear is that it provides stability and consistency.  While technically your thumb does rest on the shelf, the stability comes from the web of your hand, between your thumb and index finger, wrapping around the rear edge of the thumb rest.  So right off the bat you have extra vertical stability without having to wrap your hand around the hand guard or rail.

Perhaps even more important is the consistency factor.  As your support hand now has a fixed place to go, you achieve the same grip and location every time you mount the pistol.  No muscle memory required and you're never gripping the forend slightly in front of, or behind, the location where you last supported the pistol.

In my experience shooting thousands of rounds of bullseye before personal computers, cell phones and professional wrestler governors, it's to make sure that thumb doesn't put ANY pressure side to side or up and down on the pistol i.e., that the thumb "rests" there.  The other way to do it without a thumb rest is to just stick that thumb up in the air as if you're hitchhiking.  But that's just me.

For me it anchors the thumb, the most active sensor/part of the hand so that hand muscle action is directed on a coordinated harmonious squeezing of the fist and trigger finger, or as the metaphor of my old instructor from pre-historic times at the agency would say: "Imagine you are smoothly squeezing a lemon with your hand and trigger finger, not just with a jerking motion of the trigger finger".

Even though not all my powder burner pistols or airgun pistols have thumb-rest grips, I do prefer thumb-rest grips on all my pistols because it gives a consistent anchor point for my hand each time I pick up the gun.  No readjustments necessary for the same trigger pull.

So now then, the problem we have is how to mount a usable thumb rest on a Crosman 22XX pistol.  That took some serious pondering and fortunately whilst I was spending so much time in Mississippi taking care of my mother I had plenty of that kind of time.

More later...

Carl

[Trophyhunter49]

 

[mudduck48]

I believe the reason I hate the so called thumb rest is, on all of the guns that I own, with the thumb rest, it is to dam big. I have small hands. I want to grip the revolver or pistol and shoot. And here is my thumb, sticking up in an unnatural position. The best grip, that I have found for me is the 1911 Colt pistol. Of course, with cataracts in both eyes and my arthritis, it doesn't really matter any more.     

[Noah]

I'd like to try a thumb rest!

[JMJinNC]

I like that a lot. What's your opinion on adjustable palm tests?

JMJ

[bgmcgee]

Interesting for sure. Looks like a lot of time and work went into that. I'm sure it doez make a difference.

[quickster47 †]

I like that a lot. What's your opinion on adjustable palm tests?

JMJ

I do like adjustable palm rests very much.  For my P-Rod I made my own and adapted it to the gun.

Carl

[quickster47 †]

First thing I needed to do was find a thumb-rest that was functional, adaptable, well made, looked good and most of all, affordable.  After scouring the Internet for many days I finally came up with a dozen or so choices and actually ended up ordering a total of ten different pieces from the different vendors.  However, when you're in a hurry for something you ordered from the Internet invariably the weather gods hear about it and always seem to play havoc with the weather.  And that was definitely the case as we had a couple of days of snow and of course, UPS cannot deliver to where I live when it snows because of the hills that get iced over.  Sigh...

When all the pieces eventually arrived I spent a couple of days evaluating them, deciding how I would mount them, and then finally making a decision on which one would be best suited for my purpose.  I ended up using Evike Inc. (http://www.evike.com), a leading distributor, innovator, showroom, and developer of Airsoft equipment, and ended up using the following thumb rest:
Matrix IPSC CNC Adjustable Thumb Rest for HICAPA Series Airsoft GBB Pistols - (Silver) Y7-542 (ACC-MTX-TR-S)

Now that I had my thumb-rest, I had to decide on some sort of mounting scheme for the 2240 I was using as my test bed.  Rummaging around my shop I found some 0.25" square aluminum stock and decided this would be perfect.  After several hours in the shop with one of my many spare trigger frames and some of the 0.25" square aluminum stock I finally came up with a usable piece or two after several failed attempts.

I know there are some folks who don't even like a thumb rest on their grips and that is perfectly okay.  I also know using a frame mounted thumb-rest is not for everyone but the only thing I can say is, if you haven't tried one you owe it to yourself to at least give it a go.  If you want to improve your target shooting or just your plinking, try a frame mounted thumb-rest.  The benefits of mounting a thumb-rest on the pistol are well established, and many of the top powder burners shooters choose to use one on their competition guns.

Carl

[quickster47 †]

Here are a few pictures.

First one is the Evike thumb-rest I used on this 2240.  There are several different colors available for the thumb-rest proper but I just choose silver for this one.

Second one is the trigger frame with two holes drilled 1" apart and tapped for 2-56 screws.  This was probably the most difficult task as there is not a lot of room to work with.  Not a lot of room is also the reason for choosing 2-56 screws.  But with some blue Loctite the thumb-rest is not going anywhere.

Third one is the piece of 0.25" square aluminum stock cut down, and drilled and tapped.  The two mounting holes for the 2-56 counter sunk screws was not much problem but I learned that drilling and tapping the holes for the 2.5mm thumb-rest mounting screws was a little bit of a pain because the mounting holes in the thumb-rest was not consistent from piece to piece.  Close, but not exact enough to make several of my mounting pieces as one time.

Carl

[quickster47 †]

Couple more pictures of the pieces before assembly and then the assembly.

Carl

[quickster47 †]

Here is another type of thumb-rest mounted the same way on a different 2240.  Same mounting idea just a little bit different rest that does not have an adjustable angle.  It works just as well however.

Carl

[BillK]

That looks real good.
My hands are just not large enough for my thumb to reach that far.  The RB target grips seem to fit me real well.

[JMJinNC]

I like that a lot. What's your opinion on adjustable palm tests?

JMJ

Love the gun!

My bad. Terminology- I think I meant palm shelf, the supports on the bottom of the pistol grips. Have you ever put one on any of your pistols?

JMJ

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwig4tfmuYbLAhVIXR4KHa2HAQ0QjhwIBQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.midwayusa.com%2Fproduct%2F629095%2Ffalcon-industries-ergo-tactical-standard-pistol-grip-with-palm-shelf-ar-15-rigid-synthetic-black&psig=AFQjCNFNjO0st_68I17Fuoa7XSJ4aEmpng&ust=1456061454787269&rct=j

[mudduck48]

You must have some really big hands. My thumb comes about 1/2" shy of the safety. I looked at it again, now I get it. You are resting your left thumb on this thing, that's it.

[quickster47 †]

I looked at it again, now I get it. You are resting your left thumb on this thing, that's it.

Exactly ducky, the thumb of your left hand rests on the thumb-rest.  Nothing more nothing less.  Certainly not the thumb from your left hand.  That would definitely be a stretch. 

Here is a picture.  The thumb of my right hand is resting on the left-hand cocking style knob.  Normally I don't shoot that way but this knob is an aluminum long version and hangs over quite a bit.  The thumb of my left hand is resting on the thumb-rest.

Carl