Looking for advice/experience from smaller open shooters

[424D57]

After running a full season in production at my request, I'll probably be giving in to my daughter's request for an open rig for next year. Mom has a couple 9 major blasters that the kid runs well enough, and we spend plenty of time talking to other open shooters about their builds, likes/dislikes etc and are starting to ask around for favors to let her shoot various friends guns for evaluation. This will ultimately be an S_I platform build (or buy).

My intent is to get her to make notes about her thoughts/feelings on each pistol as she shoots them, and record video with markups in coach's eye for later rewview. I have in mind to compare specific aspects of each gun ie:

total muzzle flip

how much she gets pushed out of position

shot timing

grip size/comfort

feel during transitions (ability to stop the gun)

I also hope to get here to shoot enough different setups to get an idea of how certain features affect these aspects of the firearm - ie do 4" barrels generally behave one way for her vs 5", presence/absence of popple holes, heavily lightened vs full slides etc.

She does well with 2011 grip circumference and gun-handling; while it will look funny with the muzzle almost touching her knees while holstered I'm not concerned that the platform is too large. I'm looking for what attributes will best suit her stature directly with regard to shooting.

Here's where the question comes in - I'm not a small guy and don't shoot open. Most of the open shooters I know aren't tiny. My daughter is about 70 lbs soaking wet and already has to work diligently to keep minor loads from pushing her back. What am I missing? What are other adult open shooters likely to miss? For you smaller framed shooters out there (or gunsmiths who've worked with smaller framed shooters on builds) what extra considerations did you fined needed accounting? While at the end of the day I suspect it will be like any other gun fit and 100% personal, I'd still like to hear about specific features that shooters/smiths have found relevant specifically for smaller persons as well.

Fire away - any and all advice much appreciated. If anyone has memory of previous similar discussions I'd love to review those as well but either my search fu failed miserably or there isn't a whole lot of call for such conversation here.

Thanks,

Bryan

[Hi-Power Jack]

Bryan, my reaction is that my TruBor 9mm major "pushes me back"

LESS than my 9mm minor gun without a compensator.

You could look into having the grip made slightly thinner.

I think your daughter will do better with an OPEN gun than with

a PRODUCTION gun

[40S&W]

Possibly think about getting the small STI grip. Don't remember the manufacturer, maybe someone here will chime in. Lighter the gun (especially in the backend and grip)the more felt recoil. Too light up front and more muzzle flip. You will have to tune the chosen gun to the chosen load to optimize the overall performance. Might want to talk to a top line gunsmith who was a professional open gun shooter for gun & handling advise. For a girl that size & age, probably a fully custom gun would be the best choice overall. Yes more money, but then she will want to shoot & overtime will shoot well, depending on skill, much practice, and a lot of ammo tuned to her gun. Good Luck!

[Steve RA]

This might be a hot ticket for a smaller stature shooter:

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=179530&hl=

[ChuckS]

Try and get in touch with Lisa Munson through http://womenofuspsa.com/wp/ or http://babeswithbullets.com/

Lisa is a master-class open shooter of small stature and she should be able to give some advice.

Later,

Chuck

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: I have two boys that I started shooting when they were 6. The best setup for a new open shooter that is light and small is to shoot 9mm minor. My 95 grain steel load is softer than a 22 Buckmark and flatter shooting. Make sure the pistol is light since weight means alot to a lighter shooter. Get a 5" pistol with a lightened slide and plastic C-More. The sideway mounts will help the smaller shooter since they will be more connected with the pistol. I also like a large dot and so do both of my boys. The 14 year old now is shooting a 8MOA dot but the 10 year old likes the 12. I would also suggest you double plug using swim plugs for the inner plugs and ear muffs for the outer. You don't want her to develop a flinch. I would also get a good belt setup to hold all the mags and pistol. Lastly I would try as many guns as you can. Don't let her near open guns that others are using. The sound may scare her off. It does for me. I shot the nationals last year with Lisa Munson and she is great. She will help you and be honest about it. Great lady! Hope this helps. Thanks, Eric

[Mturnbull333]

My daughter has been shooting 2 years open, she is now 15 and about 90 #, what we have found works best for a small statured shooter is a very efficient comp, she is shooting a limcat spearcat and shoots a 178 pf and that's what she likes keeps the gun nice and flat. If you would like you can go to here or Johnny Lims Facebook page to see her shoot.

Lynda Turnbull on face book.