bobtail for .45?

40+ years ago I fractured my 5th Metacarpal on my shooting hand.   The little finger knuckle is now roughly 1/3" further into my palm than the other knuckles.

I was recently shooting my Buckmark Target Field, which has a bit of a bobtail and it made the grip much easier to gain consistently.  In the past I tried an arched mainspring housing on my 1911, but that didn't fit my hand the same way. 

Does anyone shoot their .45 with a bobtail?  If so, what are the pros and cons - it would be very expensive to purchase a bobtail .45, accurize it only to try it.

Thanks.

My Bullseye guns are not bobtailed but I have a carry 45 which is and I love the feel of it in my hand. I would think if it feels better in the hand and provides a better grip for you then it would be a good thing. Do you ever make it down to Beloit to shoot matches there? I could let you check it out there.

Also getting a bobtail done by a competent smith is not overly expensive. Mine is a Springfield and I had their custom shop do it.

Thanks for the offer to try yours!  I don't make it to Beloit since my son left school there.  I'll check at the local range to see if they have production bobtail, like a Dan Wesson. in their rental fleet.

Beloit runs excellent matches if it is within driving distance for you. A lot of us Illinois shooters go up there and they do get folks from Minnesota.

I tried gripping a Kimber round tail and a Dan Wesson V-bob.   Neither were used, so I could not shoot them, but the V-bob fit my hand really well and I could tell I was getting more even pressure on the back strap.

Too bad both those are 4.25" barrels.  I'd love to try mating the DW lower with my Marvel upper.

The 4.25 barrel is still the same lower. Mating up to the Marvel would not be affected.

BTW, part of the inspiration for me bobbing my Springer was my BIL's Dan Wesson V-bob.

I have never tried mating my Marvel with my bobbed Springer lower, which actually is a 4 inch barrel, but I might give that a try to validate it could mate up.

I'd love to hear about/see your experiment of mating them up!

I hear the only drawback is that the commander dust cover is shorter and the spring would show and possibly shed oil.

Ok, so I swapped it over today and there is in fact the gap you mentioned due to the shorter dust cover. The gun did function in dry fire so I am confident it would shoot. My Springer is a 4 inch barrel and the V-bob is 4.25 so I called my BIL and he did both a visual and a measurement. The V-bob gap would be slightly less but would have one.

My Commander with a Nelson. No gap.

Pardini GT45 has a nice beavertail if that's what you're looking for

That's my girl there with her new grips

Very nice.  

The heel of the grip is called a bobtail when it is rounded to eliminate the sharp point at the bottom of the mainspring housing.

pictures

Never liked the feel of a bobtail.  Always felt like it was trying to get away from me. Even back when I used to shoot a model 52 I altered the back strap to get rid of the rounded heel.  Made it flat like a 1911 flat mainspring housing.