The CoC® Silver Bullet Hold: Rules & World Records

IronMind developed the Captains of Crush® (CoC) Silver Bullet Hold as both a training tool and as an event for grip strength contests: visually appealing and intuitively obvious, the CoC Silver Bullet Hold has been featured in grip contests from California to Russia, with stops in Finland, England, Ukraine...

Whether you think your hand is too big, too small or just right for a gripper, the Silver Bullet is perfect.  Hold on as long as you can.

mike burke coc silver bullet Mike Burke delivered the single most dominating performance ever seen in the grip strength world when he won the competition at the 2013 LA FitExpo in commanding style: Burke set world records on the Apollon’s Axle and the CoC (Captains of Crush gripper) Silver Bullet Hold, plus he pulled 117.5 kg on the Rolling Thunder, to tie Mark Felix for the win on that benchmark grip strength event. For his encore, when his hands should have been toast, Mike Burke certified on the Captains of Crush No. 3.5 gripper! When Mike Burke retired, he left big shoes to fill, and so far nobody has. IronMind® | ©Randall J. Strossen photo

 

Tanner Merkle CoC No. 4 Silver Bullet Tanner Merkle on his way to setting a new world record of 30.98 seconds for the CoC Silver Bullet Hold using a Captains of Crush No. 4 gripper. IronMind® | Courtesy of Clay Edgin
Print a copy of the rules and referee form here 
You'll find the CoC Silver Bullet and the CoC Silver Bullet Disc in our on-line store.
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Men's Current World Record Holder

Captains of Crush No. 3

Dmitriy Suhovarov 58.53 sec. May 14, 2016

Men's Past World Records

Captains of Crush No. 3

Kody Burns 57.15 sec. May 2, 2015
Igor Kupinsky 54 sec. July 27, 2013
Mike Burke 53.97 sec. January 20, 2013
Alexey Tyukalov 52.49 sec. September 29, 2012
Juha Harju 46.6 sec. September 9, 2012
Mark Felix 43.25 sec. January 9, 2012

Men's Current World Record Holder

Captains of Crush No. 4

Tanner Merkle 30.98 sec. January 27, 2019

Men's Past World Records

Captains of Crush No. 4*

Gabriel Sum 19.95 sec. November 3, 2018
Clay Edgin 19.44 sec. May 5, 2018
Jesse Pynnönen 19.12 sec. February 3, 2018
Alexey Tyukalov 17.8 sec. May 7, 2017
Jedd Johnson 15.32 sec. February 18, 2017
Clay Edgin 5.62 sec. January 8, 2017

*Started January 8, 2017


Women's Current World Record Holder

Captains of Crush No. 2

Amy Wattles 45.42 sec. January 26, 2014

Women's Past World Records

Captains of Crush No. 2

Amy Wattles 30.05 sec. June 30, 2013
Elizabeth Horne 23.22 sec. September 23, 2012

 

The IronMind® CoC Silver Bullet Challenge: World Record Attempt Rules
  1.  A genuine IronMind Captains of Crush® No. 2 (women), or No. 3 or No. 4 (men) gripper must be used.
  2.  The gripper must be new, in an unbroken package and opened on the spot.
  3.  Ordinary chalk (magnesium carbonate) may be used on the gripping hand, but nothing else is permitted (liquid chalk, for example, is specifically disallowed).
  4.  A genuine IronMind CoC Silver Bullet weight may either be an IronMind CoC Silver Bullet Disc or an IWF or IPF certified (calibrated) 2.5-kg plate.
  5.  The CoC Silver Bullet is inserted by the competitor no deeper than up to the top edge of the clear band, so that the script Captains of Crush® is legible, and so that all four fingers are in contact with the CoC gripper handle (dropping the pinky completely off the end of the gripper handle is expressly prohibited). The CoC Silver Bullet must be aligned with the handles of the gripper, which cannot overlap with the CoC Silver Bullet in what we call a three-point position.
  6.  Using one or two hands, the competitor closes the CoC gripper in his/her own time so that the two handles hold the CoC Silver Bullet in place and once this position has been achieved, and only one hand is holding the gripper shut, the referee gives the signal to start the clock.  If the competitor fails to get a secure hold on the CoC Silver Bullet, s/he is allowed one chance to reset it. 
  7.  The hand must be held with the gripper approximately vertical, and the referee may give one warning to correct the position. No contact between the lifting arm and the body is permitted.
  8.  Time stops when the Silver Bullet drops from the handles or when the referee observes any contact between the pinky and the CoC Silver Bullet, or any other illegal position.
  9.  Independent of the timekeeper, a referee (whose sole responsibility is the assure that the rules regarding placement, hand position, ect. are being followed) must officiate the attempts. 

*Women's rules are identical to those followed by the men, except that a CoC No. 2 must be used, rather than a CoC No. 3 or CoC No. 4.