'Hammer bite' is a term used in the operation of
firearms, and in particular
semi-automatic pistols. It describes the action of an external hammer pinching or poking the web of the operator's shooting hand between the thumb and fore-finger when the gun is fired. Some handguns prone to this are the
M1911 pistol and the
Browning Hi-Power.
'Slide bite' is a similar phenomenon which is often grouped with hammer bite. In this case the web of the shooting hand is cut or abraded by the rearward motion of the semi-automatic pistol's slide, not by the gun's hammer. This most often occurs with small pistols like the
Walther PPK and
Walther TPH that have an abbreviated grip tang. This problem is exacerbated by the sharp machining found on many firearms.