Shooting fundamentals come down to grip, sights, and trigger. Grip keeps our pistol pointing in a consistent direction, sights align the barrel to put rounds where we are pointing, and proper trigger use prevents disrupting those sights as we break a shot. I would argue that grip is the most important element of this triad, and it is the hardest to get right. If you could point the pistol in the right direction, locking it into a 200lb iron vice, it wouldn’t matter if your trigger press was completely wrong — the rounds would still go where the sights were pointed. Further, if the grip is properly locked in, follow up shots would occur faster, as the pistol sights return naturally on target. Having a proper vice-like grip is the key to faster, more accurate shooting.
GoGun USA Gas Pedal
The hand is an amazing creation. It has a huge amount of gripping strength, provided that grip stays attached to what it is holding. Unfortunately, gripping flesh or a sweaty pistol can negate even the strongest grips. Our strong hand reaches around the pistol squeezing it, and putting the webbing between our thumb and forefingers up high. Unfortunately, our reaction hand is at a disadvantage — it grips around the pistol from the front, reaching under the trigger guard with the middle finger, and letting our thumb hang out in nowhere.
Competition shooters discovered in the 90s that adding a “thumb rest” could help improve their grip. One of the pioneers in this space was “Dr. Chet.” Yes, Dr. Chet Nierenberg is an actual sports medical doctor. He and Cem Esteban brought the first hand made product to national competition in 1996. Now the competition products were (and continue to be) much larger than someone would carry concealed, but they were great proving grounds for what is possible.
When the Sig Sauer P320 family came along (note that the P320 predecessor was the hammer-fired P250 introduced in 2007), the popularity along with the fortunately-placed takedown lever provided an opportunity to bring a race-gun inspired solution to the defensive pistol crowd. Chet and team originally envisioned a wedge with a wing, but the desire to have a snag-free compact design pushed the product smaller. The current wedge shape evolved, eventually adding a texture to help prevent thumbs from slipping down under recoil.
Gas Pedal Grip
At this point, I should mention that there are more thumb rests on the market than those from GoGun USA and Align Tactical. A quick browse of Speed Shooters turns up a number of solutions, and there are may be dozens of other offerings. It’s also important to note that while you could think that “Gas Pedal” is a generic term for all these solutions, GoGun USA (actually Grip Holdings, which is owned by Dr. Chet) has a trademark on the term. Only his solution may be marketed as a “Gas Pedal.” This last point has apparently caused some controversy in the competitive shooting circles, with a competitor using the mark for a period of time. However, it appears that this name had been used by Dr. Chet and Cem since 1997.
Taking a look at some forum comments, it appears that there are a number of people that love the Gas Pedal. But it also appears that if someone doesn’t get the grip correct, then they’ll have difficulty. The Gas Pedal requires what Dr. Chet calls an “opposable grip.” In short, you don’t use the gas pedal to drive the pistol down, but you press inward and toward the barrel while squeezing with your fingers. This “opposes” trigger finger influence. It also explains the shape, which puts significant material between your thumb and the slide — this is to allow your thumb to ride higher and press inward without interfering with the slide.
Looking at what people have said about the Gas Pedal, I found:
- “One of the best things I’ve discovered so far is the Gas Pedal gives me the same grip every time I draw from my holster. That consistency allows me to shoot more accurately.” https://www.sigtalk.com/threads/gogun-gas-pedal.370960/page-2
- “The Gogun Gas Pedal does not work particularly well for those that want thumbs forward, but is very easy and fast once done correctly.” https://www.sigtalk.com/threads/gogun-gas-pedal.370960/page-3
- “This modification was installed on my p320 Max Michelle, and is absolutely worth the price. Enables far better purchase on your handgun, and superior recoil control, AS LONG AS YOU HOLD IT RIGHT. Your left thumb should be pointing towards the sky and pushing inwards toward the barrel. If you push downward on the barrel, your gonna spray lead into the ground more often than you hit your target. When used correctly, prevents ulnar deviation in your left hand, more than doubling your grip strength. Takes some getting used to, but worth the practice it requires.” https://www.amazon.com/Gas-Pedal-GoGun-Lever-Replacement/product-reviews/B08PC71M9V/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewopt_kywd?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=1&filterByKeyword=ulnar
These reviews nicely sum up some of the benefits and particularities of the GoGun USA Gas Pedal: It helps index and can help build a stronger grip — provided the user acclimates to the grip style it promotes.
Align Tactical Thumb Rest Takedown Lever
In this modern age, there is always competition. This is a great thing, with individuals and companies innovating to build great solutions. In this case, Joel Alson at Align Tactical thought he could build a better thumb rest. After training with thousands of rounds through his P320, his hands would get sweaty and he needed another contact point. He looked at other products, including ones that were reported to break. When used with high power loads, the P320 takedown could crack where the safety blade meets. He thought he could improve upon this, so he made several prototypes. The CZ TSO was one inspiration. His solution uses S7 tool steel and is designed to work with a standard 2-handed thumbs-forward grip.
The Align Tactical solution is built with a 15-degree slant to the lever. The left hand thumb is supposed to rest on it as if using a fingerprint reader. This promotes a more positive grip. However, the user isn’t supposed to press down, but simply resist muzzle rise using the lever.
Some ‘net feedback:
- “Shooting both with and without the thumb rest, you notice the increased control and get back on target quicker for faster follow-up shots. Felt recoil is also reduced slightly.” https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/things-that-dont-suck-align-tacticals-thumb-rest-takedown-lever-for-the-sig-p320/
- “Totally agree, looks way better than the gas and love that it naturally lands under your finger as a shelf to offer increased control in the direction actually needed (and not pushing sideways).” https://www.sigtalk.com/threads/new-p320-thumb-rest-takedown-lever.417819/
Naturally, there is some ‘net tension between proponents of one solution over the other. Most of the tension revolves around which grip is better, and which steel is stronger. I’ll address the grip further below. For me, debating which steel is better is splitting hairs, but maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. I did find a post with pictures on Reddit where someone’s gas pedal broke, and was replaced by GoGuns. Some people say Align Tactical’s S7 tool steel is stronger. I could not find any breakage info on the Align Tactical solution, but it is a new product, so I didn’t expect to see any. We are not equipped to adequately test the strength of either solution, so we’re going to leave the “this steel is stronger” to all the Internet metallurgy experts.
Testing The Takedown Levers
We want to test these two competing products as fairly as we can. After consulting with both Chet and Joel, we decided to run some strings on a target both straight on, as well as around a barricade. We were told that shooting around a barricade might more clearly show the advantages of running the products. We used two shooters, Jamison who is definitely the more consistent shooter, and Shan, who is more of an intermediate shooter. We used a MantisX Pro to measure muzzle rise, and we timed splits on our shots. We have a ton of data; it was an effort to pare down the data to the most relevant information and focus on that.
We have two shooters and two shooting situations, and here is what we are evaluating:
- MantisX Pro muzzle rise (angle)
- Split time
- Subjective feel
The groups were fairly tight for both shooters — though Jamison’s groups were tighter than mine. If necessary during the analysis, we can look at how many shots were out of the main group.
Our test mule was a P320 X Carry with a Sig optic. We figured the shorter muzzle would benefit most from the Gas Pedal or Thumb Rest.
The MantisX Data
We ran through all the testing once using the MantisX Pro “open training” program, which captures squiggly lines of what the pistol is doing, a shot score, and split times. However, after consulting MantisX customer service, they suggested that we run the “recoil meter” program instead. So we went back to the range and captured data a second time. This gave us two full runthroughs of the scenarios.
For the recoil meter muzzle rise data, we captured it all, then boiled it down to average & standard deviation. We captured standard deviation so we could see how consistent the rise angle is; a low std dev means that the angles were consistent. Consistent is good. Since both products claim that muzzle rise is reduced, we should see reduced angle versus the stock P320.
P320 Takedown Lever Comparison: MantisX Pro Recoil Data
Analysis: Both products improve muzzle rise significantly. Jamison prefers to keep inward pressure when shooting, so he is naturally more attuned to the GoGun USA Gas Pedal, and it shows in the muzzle rise angles. His muzzle rise is less with the GoGun USA product. On the other hand, using a traditional thumbs forward grip, I had less muzzle rise with the Align Tactical product.
Percentage Improvement in Split Times
Split times show incremental improvements using either of the levers. It’s interesting to note that Jamison had a larger improvement with the Align Tactical product around the barrier. To be fair, we were picking up the pace toward the end of the testing; I’m not sure how much I can read into this result.
Shot Comparison
Here is the no barricade comparison for Shan:
Here is the no barricade comparison for Jamison:
Here is the barricade comparison for Shan:
Here is the barricade comparison for Jamison:
Subjective Analysis
Jamison and I came to slightly different conclusions. Jamison came in to the test thinking he would prefer the Align Tactical Takedown Thumb Rest. After the test, he is clear – he prefers the GoGun USA Gas Pedal. It fits his grip style best. Jamison grips the pistol by torquing both hands outward at the pinky finger, and inward at the index finger. This technique provides pressure compatible with the Gas Pedal, allowing better control. He also likes the slick feel, without protruding surfaces.
I thought I would prefer the Align Tactical as well – and I did prefer it. With my more traditional “thumbs forward” grip, it felt more natural. My thumb did slide off the Thumb Rest Takedown once during testing, and that slowed me down significantly. In general, I felt more confident and faster with it. On the other hand, in one of our test sessions, the Takedown hit me on my left hand thumb right at the joint and started causing tingling in that digit. It appeared that the takedown was hitting me right at the nerve in my joint. I didn’t experience this problem in my second set of testing, so it could have been a hand positioning issue. This experience did lead me to consider that perhaps the Gas Pedal would be a better fit for me since it did not cause the same issue. If I got used to the oppositional grip, the Gas Pedal could be a better fit. I went back and forth on which solution would be better for me, and didn’t come up with a clear answer. I think either one is an improvement, and either one would require me to adjust my grip a little bit.
Holster Availability
Note that these products will likely require a modification to your existing holster. Some holster manufacturers such as Werkz design and build holsters with sufficient clearance to fit. Otherwise, you will likely have an overly tight fitting holster, with the takedown deforming the Kydex on the left side, or you’ll need to use a heat gun to modify your holster. I prefer an exact fit, and that’s why Werkz holsters fit well without adding too much bulk.
Weapon Lights & Thumb Rests
These two solutions do not interfere with your pistol light selection because they only replace the factory takedown. Note that some thumb rests attach to your pistol’s rail. If the thumb rest uses your rail, it probably provides a rail of its own. However, the lowered rail will likely cause your light to attach lower, and will probably not allow your pistol & light to fit into your favorite holster.
Conclusion
Both of these products can enable faster follow-up shots. If you run a P320, you owe it to yourself to try one of them. If you prefer the oppositional grip, or want a snag-free design, then go with the GoGun USA Gas Pedal. If you want to run a traditional thumbs-forward grip and have a strong ledge on which to rest your thumb, I would suggest trying the Align Tactical Thumb Rest Takedown.
Thanks Shan for your detailed review and glad to hear you like the thumb rest takedown lever for the P320. As mentioned in the article, the fingerprint should press flat upon the ledge for proper placement, however, there should be a moderate application of pressure onto the ledge to ensure the thumb is securely planted for proper traction. The wording of “thumb rest” is a commonly recognized generic term for loosely illustrating how the part is interfaced and really serves to be easily found in searches vs. an instruction. Shooters should stiffen to lock their thumb and wrist together as a single unit to effectively create a wall that prevents the muzzle from rising past it as the main intent. We recommend just not “muscling” the ledge as to prevent a porpoising action where the sights might dip below the target upon recovery of recoil. If too much force is being applied, that would cause slippage in either product as they are both low-profiled.
It is important to also not over-roll your thumb to seek “side traction” like the Gas Pedal is designed for, or it will slip, as the left side of the thumb is now making contact with less surface area. Ours provides half a thumb’s worth (just the right half / not the left half after rolling sideways) of surface resistance and doesn’t require any side pressures, rather it locks onto a consistent index point. Hence, this can be an issue when shooting both products back-to-back as they are interfaced differently and not compatible.
It is best to experiment as you can also torque the locked thumb and wrist forward to simultaneously press the pinky into the bottom of the grip while the thumb is pressed into the ledge. If there was not pressure being applied during testing and it was simply at “rest”, then that would drastically lower the effectiveness of the muzzle flip tests conducted above for rise on the Mantis. Also the product is designed for a neutral thumbs forward grip, such that if you were to rest your trigger finger along the side of the frame, it should equally extend forward the same distance as the tip of your support hand’s thumb. If the support hand has a more aggressively forward canted grip, that would push the thumb past the the trigger finger, causing the cushioned pad of the thumb to go somewhat past the ledge and result in the bottom edge pressing into the distal joint, causing pressure on the nerve. As with anything new, slight modifications to the grip and repetition will help find the optimal usage and proprioception will ensure consistency of index. Feel free to give it a try with this in mind for any follow-up testing and we also have many compatible holster models including Werkz listed on our website. Thanks – Joel Alson, President of Align Tactical