The T-Handle

Being a quadriplegic, gripping a rifle's forend and pulling it snugly against my cheek and shoulder has always been problematic. At first, I made use of any protuberance (such as a sling swivel) on the gun to wrap my contracted fingers around. This worked better than no grip at all.

It didn't take long to realize that a loop of nylon webbing threaded through the swivel would give me more to hook on to and allow me to pull the stock tighter against cheek and shoulder. This system has worked quite well for me over the years. It increased my accuracy level and gave me a more secure way of safely holding onto the rifle.

But, one can always use a better mousetrap. My friend Mike Baszynski is always up to the challenge of fabricating devices to make me a better, safer shooter. In this case, he started by welding two pieces of 1/4 inch soft steel rod into a T-handle. The idea was to attach the T-handle to the swivel stud on the forend portion of the rifle stock.

A QD swivel was sacrificed for the cause. The oval belt loop was removed leaving the flat portion with the pin hole. Mike cut a thread at the end of the T-handle and attached it to one end of a long nut used for attaching threaded rods. The other end of the nut he slotted to match the flat portion of the defiled swivel. A hole was drilled to match the one on the swivel I had a handle to grip my rifles with. A coat of black paint improved its appearance.

After fitting it to one of my rifle's studs, I was quite pleased. Mike took it and gave the T-portion some judicious tweaks in the vice to bend it to fit my hand better. Because the slot keeps everything aligned fore to aft, my pull brings the stock straight back into my shoulder. The straps I had used previously allowed lateral pull that had to be countered by my leading hand.

Best of all, one T-handle fits all! It takes only a matter of seconds to detach it from one rifle and connect it to the swivel stud on another.