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ARs & Small Hands

Nicole

Nicole

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As a petite female with arms and hands to scale, I'm always on the lookout for guns & parts that allow me a more ergonomic shooting experience. Found a new one today.

We had a Stag 3L come in today sporting a DiamondHead VR-S T (or TD - haven't deciphered the terminology that far yet) forearm. The nifty thing about this is the rounded triangle shape. The bottom is flat and both sides angle in to meet the top rail. The flat bottom of the forearm sits nicely in my hand and the slim profile as it rises means I can actually wrap my hand around the forearm in a way I normally can't. Very nice. Highly recommend!

This is where they come from: V-RS Drop-In & Free-Floating Rail Systems

Head to head against a A2 forearm:





Head to head against a round S&W Performance Center forearm:





And with my hand to demonstrate (I am 5' 4", wear a women's S glove and have hands that not particularly beefy nor delicate)(and hush about my hand position - I was holding the gun with one hand and taking the picture with the other, this is not a shooting form post!) As you can see, a normal forearm sits on top of my hand, perching there. With the Diamondhead, I can get my fingers up near the top of the forearm, and since the forearm tapers as it rises, my fingers can pull it down into my palm without me having to actually make it all the way to the top.

This is the normal experience I have with an A2:





And with the Diamondhead:


 
The diamondhead looks Nice and compact. I have a Troy Alpha rail and it too has a small diameter and the Troy grip is also very narrow and looks like it would work well for small hands. It puts your hand higher up and is more like an AK grip than a standard AR.
 
+1 for modular rails. The samson that comes stock on the stag 3g is awesome. Also have the troy vtac carbine ones, those are super light and super thin.
 
01SVTvert said:
The diamondhead looks Nice and compact. I have a Troy Alpha rail and it too has a small diameter and the Troy grip is also very narrow and looks like it would work well for small hands. It puts your hand higher up and is more like an AK grip than a standard AR.
Click to expand...

yeah it looks awesome
 
Nicole,

Any issue with heat after sustained shooting?

Have you had any success finding a more compact pistol grip that would complement this?

With so many women delighted with the AR during the Women On Target events, it would be nice to be able to show a gun that is built for smaller hands.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Chris said:
Nicole,

Any issue with heat after sustained shooting?

Have you had any success finding a more compact pistol grip that would complement this?

With so many women delighted with the AR during the Women On Target events, it would be nice to be able to show a gun that is built for smaller hands.

Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

Sadly, I have no idea. The forearm is on a shop gun that is already spoken for so no shooting it. :(

My personal rifle has a Stark grip - it's not particularly slim, but it feels good to me. I actually find the regular A2 pistol grips to be fairly narrow, too much so for my hand. The Stark has just enough more to it to fit me nicely.

Based on my personal experience and having worked with a number of ladies whose SO's introduced them to rifles before they shot with me, the biggest part of making rifle shooting work for them is to move the weight of the rifle back.

Short barrels and short stocks (I use the short Ace Entry and that seems to get good responses from other women who try it). A normal sized rifle is throwing the weight waay too far forward - most women do not have the arm reach or upper body strength for a standard rifle to be immediately and intuitively comfortable. (Not that they can't do it, but it's tricky and an unnecessary complication).

I have also found that putting them in a 3-position/slow fire standing position, like so:

loc_lgp_clubnews4hriflepic.jpg


instead of so:

position-41-300x200.jpg


works wonders. The first position lets them stop fighting the weight of the rifle. It's hard to deal with sight alignment, recoil, noise, trigger control, breathing etc AND try to support a significant weight on your extended arm, particularly when doing so is not a routine experience. When they have a bit more experience and are used to shooting, then they can transition to positions that are less supported.

Explain about dropping the weight of the rifle down through the bones and make them really throw their hip out there. You can darn near see the lightbulb go off. Especially with the dancers and gymnasts.
 
As someone with large hands, I can see a definite benefit to this slim sized hand guard, especially while wearing winter gloves.

Thanks for introducing it on the board, I had not seen it before.
[h=2][/h]
 
I agree that I he VRST hand guard is the most comfortable and ergo aluminum rail ever.

For a smaller pistol grip try the magpul personal defense weapon grip. It is much better for people with smaller hands. And they are inexpensive as well

it is the Magpul Moe K Grip

Chris said:
Nicole,


Have you had any success finding a more compact pistol grip that would complement this?


Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...



Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
Last edited:
My next build will be for my wife. She is 100lbs at best so even my m4 style is heavy and bulky for her. I was looking at a short ace stock and something like this for a hand guard. Thanks for the info.
 
for those looking into lighter weight lady-friendly rifles, this is the only real good shot of my girlfriend's AR:

551422_10100525314257954_1824078966_n_zpsf2b664fc.jpg~original


ACE entry stock, LRB lower and upper, YHM extended carbine free float handguard, magpul MBUS, magpul AFG2, AR-stoner 16" M4 profile barrel. she has no issues shooting it and at this event she was hitting steel at 100 yards quite easily.

we actually based it on nicole's EPR (evil pink rifle) for those of you who have seen it as they are both about the same height and it worked out fantastic. if anyone would like to ask questions about her rifle or would like me to ask her any specific questions please PM me for the best response!

the funny thing is that before i got a similar style of handguard for my carbine i was actually going to go with the diamondhead handguard myself!
 
Troy TRX is another alternative for those who prefer a thinner hand guard.
 
The AR I built for my girlfriend has an A2 shorty stock, Magpul hand guard with the AFG2. Its a light carbine and the AFG2 works good with her small hands.
 
One of the smallest diameter handguards is the Noveske NSR. It is even smaller than the Troy Alpha. The Noveske is also feather weight. If you have larger hands, a slightly larger, but a lot heavier handguard is the JP. I like tubular guards, although the Noveske is not technically tubular. I have a Seekins AR on order, with the SP3 triangular guard.
 
I have relatively small hands and settled on the Stark pistol grip. My only complaint is that the plug for the storage space in the pistol grip constantly fell out. I gave up and no longer use this storage space. I have found that most free floating tubes work just fine. Since I shoot competitively in Tactical class (USPSA) I don't need any rails to mount equipment and the tube itself is a pretty good fit for my hands. My biggest problem is reaching the mag release without changing my grip.

I tried an Arredondo mag release that is extended in the direction of the index finger but found that it was not long enough for me. I built my own release tab that mated with the Aredondo button but extended far enough for my index finger to reach. Works grear, mag changes can be made without ant change of grip. The procedure is pretty easy, I just used a piece of aluminum bar stock to make a copy of the Arredondo part, just a little longer.
 
My fiance has an MOE k grip on her AR and its tiny. Right now it has a troy Alpha rail though I'm thinking of possibly having her order an NSR rail.

Mike

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
 
hrmm.... how does it compare to the Magpul MOE handguard?
gonna bring that on the 15th? :)



Nicole said:
As a petite female with arms and hands to scale, I'm always on the lookout for guns & parts that allow me a more ergonomic shooting experience. Found a new one today.

We had a Stag 3L come in today sporting a DiamondHead VR-S T (or TD - haven't deciphered the terminology that far yet) forearm. The nifty thing about this is the rounded triangle shape. The bottom is flat and both sides angle in to meet the top rail. The flat bottom of the forearm sits nicely in my hand and the slim profile as it rises means I can actually wrap my hand around the forearm in a way I normally can't. Very nice. Highly recommend!

This is where they come from: V-RS Drop-In & Free-Floating Rail Systems

Head to head against a A2 forearm:

Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Nicole said:
To my hand, the Magpul is middle of the road - it's not bad, but it doesn't offer me any significant improvement over the average handguard.

The 15th?
Click to expand...

Nicole, the 15th is when we are all coming over to your house for dinner.... [smile]

P.S. I have the MOE hand guard on my Windham MPC and the Diamondhead on my Stag 3. Both look and feel great with no heat issues (at least anymore so than the standard hand guard)
 
Last edited:

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