This thread has had me thinking the last several days, but I haven’t yet thought of the right words to say it without a LOT of people likely being triggered, and I realized today, I’m not that person to deny truth in the face of excessive sensitivity...
It’s very popular to tell would-be buyers they need to feel the grips of many pistols and find the one which best fits their hand as if it will shorten their learning curve or heighten their proficiency, but in reality, there is very little truth to that recommendation. In short, it’s bad advice, which is why I’ve stopped giving it myself, as an instructor. So very, very many shooters with varied hand sizes shoot with proficiencies unattainable for the average Joe, regardless of how the pistol felt to them on the first time they picked it up.
Equally, the new shooter’s hand is the most ignorant hand there is. Their hand doesn’t know what a pistol should feel like, so why would we recommend someone to pick the one which feels best? It’s like pointing towards a calendar of sports cars and asking a 5 year old, which of these cars is the fastest? They’ll have a favorite, maybe the shape, maybe the color, maybe just the background behind it... so they’ll pick, and it won’t be based on ANYTHING other than an ignorant forced selection with a largely irrelevant and subjective bias.
I’ve been guilty of it many times, and dozens of new shooters have bought pistols based on my bad advice - pick the one which feels the best in your hand. But I challenge myself to encourage new buyers to be more “woke” to their own ignorance these days. Don’t pick the one which feels best. Pick the one which does what you need, take some shots, learn how to be a shooter, and then buy.
The best consolation path is to buy something they know won’t be their “forever” pistol, and be willing to resell and upgrade once the Newby has worn off and their hand finally knows what it needs for their use.