"First Impressions" 2004 Edition
Written by Randy Mays (all the time).
Photographed by Randy Mays (most of the time).
As 2003 came to an end, the inventory of
untested guns was starting to grow a little. One of the more
interesting pistols got a First Impressions workout on January 2nd at
Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly, Virginia. Wait, didn't the
writer of this very interesting and informative Web site move to Idaho
in 2003? Yes, but 1) there is now jet airplane service across
America, and 2) it was very cold with lots of snow in Eastern idaho
during the holidays. Plus, ammunition was available and
inexpensive in Virginia.
.45 Glock Auto Pistol Cartridge
The new pistol is the Glock Model 37. The Model 37 is, to be somewhat charitable, a work in progress. This model fires the .45 Glock Automatic Pistol (.45 G.A.P.) cartridge. The best way to describe this cartridge with the minimum number of numbers is to say that it fires a .45 bullet from a gun with a .40 caliber grip frame. Why on earth would anyone want to do this? The .45 has a reputation, deserved or not, of being effective. Special operations military people use the .45 ACP and they shoot guns for real in various bad places around the world. The problem with the .45 ACP is that you need a larger grip to accomodate the length of the cartridge. The optimum grip size tends to be arranged around the 9 mm or .40 S&W cartridges, so the .45 "GAP" keeps the bullet diameter and shortens the case length enough to allow for the smaller grip size. That's good, but it proved difficult to reduce the size of the slide in order for the pistol to be reliable. The result is a small grip, but a slide with the width and mass of the slides used on the full size Glock .45 and 10 mm pistols.
No problem. The new Model 37 fits just fine into a G-Code holster designed for the Glock 29 (compact 10 mm). This is ok if you only have one or two Model 37s to maintain, but if you have an entire police department or other security agency, it means you'd have to buy a lot of new holsters as part of a transition from the current 9 mm or .40 holsters to holsters that would work well with the Model 37.
I'm always interested in the first shot from a new pistol. Is the sight picture going to be close to the point where the bullet impacts? Is the recoil going to be a factor in firing a rapid second shot? With the Model 37, the news was good. It shoots where you point it, and the recoil is a little bit like the .40 or .357 SIG. The only problems I did encounter with the Model 37 had to so with the slide release and the magazines holding the slide open all the way. I'm not sure what's wrong, but something is wrong so the pistol went back to the Glock warranty repair department after the first two firing sessions. Since the slide is wider than the frame, Glock chose to install their extended slide stop on the gun. People who have been trained to shoot the Glock know that this is not a "slide release," but many people use it that way even though its only purpose is to lock the slide open. Closing the slide is accomplished by gripping the slide from the top behind the the ejection port, pulling the slide back and releasing it. This uses a gross motor skill rather than a fine motor skill (finding the tiny slide stop lever). I'd just a soon Glock put an older slide release on the pistol, but older slide releases don't fit. The new one doesn't work as it should, so I'm hoping my pistol will come back from Glock as reliable as it should be, and as reliable as I've come to expect with Glocks.
I've owned a lot of Glocks. How many? A lot. I had the first few before I learned some of the secrets of success with this design, trigger reset for example. I had a Model 23, 30, 17, 20, and 35 before I got the hang of these things. Now a subsequent 17, 20, 31 (with two different caliber barrels), 26, 29 and 37 are in the inventory to stay. It would be fun to have a 34 with the longer sight radius, I guess, or a Model 36 if they'd make one in this new caliber, but the current crop provides plenty of fun. The only one of these that's not a lot of fun to shoot is the Model 29, but that is a special purpose firearm - lots of power in a very small package. I have those "express" sights on the 29, because I cannot imagine using it against anything small and far away. Things small and far away are best left alone, for several reasons. One reason is that up close those things may turn out to be large.
One of those "every couple of years" theme articles in the gun magazines has to do with someone's personal collection of guns and why they think those particular models are useful, or the minimum required for someone to protect themselves. I enjoy reading about the "useful" part. I learn from those articles. When someone talks about a "minimum number of guns," my first impression is that the writer is, to use a technical term, crazy. If someone is threatening you, the word "minimum" is not relevant. When the giant worms came into the basement recreation room in the movie "Tremors," it took a lot of guns to save the day. That movie was a documentary as far as I'm concerned, not to mention a strong counterpoint to the safety rule about keeping guns and ammunition separated until needed.
It's getting on toward the end of January 2004. The Glock 37 is back, but hasn't been fired yet. It "feels" better and both magazines were replaced. That's clue right there.
Smith and Wesson Model 649
.45 Glock Auto Pistol Cartridge
The new pistol is the Glock Model 37. The Model 37 is, to be somewhat charitable, a work in progress. This model fires the .45 Glock Automatic Pistol (.45 G.A.P.) cartridge. The best way to describe this cartridge with the minimum number of numbers is to say that it fires a .45 bullet from a gun with a .40 caliber grip frame. Why on earth would anyone want to do this? The .45 has a reputation, deserved or not, of being effective. Special operations military people use the .45 ACP and they shoot guns for real in various bad places around the world. The problem with the .45 ACP is that you need a larger grip to accomodate the length of the cartridge. The optimum grip size tends to be arranged around the 9 mm or .40 S&W cartridges, so the .45 "GAP" keeps the bullet diameter and shortens the case length enough to allow for the smaller grip size. That's good, but it proved difficult to reduce the size of the slide in order for the pistol to be reliable. The result is a small grip, but a slide with the width and mass of the slides used on the full size Glock .45 and 10 mm pistols.
No problem. The new Model 37 fits just fine into a G-Code holster designed for the Glock 29 (compact 10 mm). This is ok if you only have one or two Model 37s to maintain, but if you have an entire police department or other security agency, it means you'd have to buy a lot of new holsters as part of a transition from the current 9 mm or .40 holsters to holsters that would work well with the Model 37.
I'm always interested in the first shot from a new pistol. Is the sight picture going to be close to the point where the bullet impacts? Is the recoil going to be a factor in firing a rapid second shot? With the Model 37, the news was good. It shoots where you point it, and the recoil is a little bit like the .40 or .357 SIG. The only problems I did encounter with the Model 37 had to so with the slide release and the magazines holding the slide open all the way. I'm not sure what's wrong, but something is wrong so the pistol went back to the Glock warranty repair department after the first two firing sessions. Since the slide is wider than the frame, Glock chose to install their extended slide stop on the gun. People who have been trained to shoot the Glock know that this is not a "slide release," but many people use it that way even though its only purpose is to lock the slide open. Closing the slide is accomplished by gripping the slide from the top behind the the ejection port, pulling the slide back and releasing it. This uses a gross motor skill rather than a fine motor skill (finding the tiny slide stop lever). I'd just a soon Glock put an older slide release on the pistol, but older slide releases don't fit. The new one doesn't work as it should, so I'm hoping my pistol will come back from Glock as reliable as it should be, and as reliable as I've come to expect with Glocks.
I've owned a lot of Glocks. How many? A lot. I had the first few before I learned some of the secrets of success with this design, trigger reset for example. I had a Model 23, 30, 17, 20, and 35 before I got the hang of these things. Now a subsequent 17, 20, 31 (with two different caliber barrels), 26, 29 and 37 are in the inventory to stay. It would be fun to have a 34 with the longer sight radius, I guess, or a Model 36 if they'd make one in this new caliber, but the current crop provides plenty of fun. The only one of these that's not a lot of fun to shoot is the Model 29, but that is a special purpose firearm - lots of power in a very small package. I have those "express" sights on the 29, because I cannot imagine using it against anything small and far away. Things small and far away are best left alone, for several reasons. One reason is that up close those things may turn out to be large.
One of those "every couple of years" theme articles in the gun magazines has to do with someone's personal collection of guns and why they think those particular models are useful, or the minimum required for someone to protect themselves. I enjoy reading about the "useful" part. I learn from those articles. When someone talks about a "minimum number of guns," my first impression is that the writer is, to use a technical term, crazy. If someone is threatening you, the word "minimum" is not relevant. When the giant worms came into the basement recreation room in the movie "Tremors," it took a lot of guns to save the day. That movie was a documentary as far as I'm concerned, not to mention a strong counterpoint to the safety rule about keeping guns and ammunition separated until needed.
It's getting on toward the end of January 2004. The Glock 37 is back, but hasn't been fired yet. It "feels" better and both magazines were replaced. That's clue right there.
Smith and Wesson Model 649
I like small revolvers. These
things are simple. The Smith and Wesson Model 649 shown above has
a shroud over the hammer, but the gun can be cocked and fired single
action if necessary. The shroud keeps the hammer from being
snagged as the gun is presented from under a garment. That's a
good selling point. You can use your thumb and accomplish the
same thing with a revolver that has an exposed hammer, but it means you
don't have the correct firing grip on the gun as the gun is coming out
of the holster. From a training standpoint, that is a move away
from goodness. I've shot the 649 a few times. It needs to
be broken in, but it seems to be very reliable and accurate. The
649 fires either a .38 Special or .357 Magnum cartridge. It's a
bit stout with the Magnum loads, but with the grips shown or the Hogue
Monogrips I've installed, you can control the recoil pretty well.
Holsters are not as easy to find for this model. The traditional "J" frame 5 shot "Chief's Special" revolvers are a little bit smaller because they only have to stand up to .38 Special +P loads. The slight increase in size on the 649 is enough to keep it from fittting in a lot of holsters. The inexpensive Uncle Mike plastic holsters are ok and work well with this gun.
It is the weekend of February 1st. I was out teaching a new student how to shoot the Glock 17 on Saturday. He did very well. While at the range, I had a chance to shoot the Glock Model 37 again, and again the following day. Test conditions weren't the best. The temperature was below 20 degrees F and the only targets were steel plates left standing on the snow covered range. That's ok. This is Idaho.
Before trying out the Model 37, I checked out some ammunition alternatives for the Walther PPK/S-1. Mag-Tech has some interesting hollow-point ammunition that worked well. Speer's Gold Dot had one failure to feed - a big no-no. Judging from the recoil, the most powerful load I tried was the Cor-Bon .380 ACP. It was reliable also. I don't think the powder used in the Mag-Tech is very good. It left a lot of dirt on the gun after firing.
What happened to March and April? Well, there were a few trips to Front Sight, and lots of shooting, but not much in the way of words and pictures. Here then is an attempt to catch up.
Holsters are not as easy to find for this model. The traditional "J" frame 5 shot "Chief's Special" revolvers are a little bit smaller because they only have to stand up to .38 Special +P loads. The slight increase in size on the 649 is enough to keep it from fittting in a lot of holsters. The inexpensive Uncle Mike plastic holsters are ok and work well with this gun.
It is the weekend of February 1st. I was out teaching a new student how to shoot the Glock 17 on Saturday. He did very well. While at the range, I had a chance to shoot the Glock Model 37 again, and again the following day. Test conditions weren't the best. The temperature was below 20 degrees F and the only targets were steel plates left standing on the snow covered range. That's ok. This is Idaho.
Before trying out the Model 37, I checked out some ammunition alternatives for the Walther PPK/S-1. Mag-Tech has some interesting hollow-point ammunition that worked well. Speer's Gold Dot had one failure to feed - a big no-no. Judging from the recoil, the most powerful load I tried was the Cor-Bon .380 ACP. It was reliable also. I don't think the powder used in the Mag-Tech is very good. It left a lot of dirt on the gun after firing.
What happened to March and April? Well, there were a few trips to Front Sight, and lots of shooting, but not much in the way of words and pictures. Here then is an attempt to catch up.
The Model 649 shown above went to
Cylinder and Slide for their "revolver package." This almost
doubles the cost of the gun. While the 649 was away, I got a 640
(no external hammer) and left that in a stock condition. The 649
came back from Cylinder and Slide. It was still spitting lead
back into my face, and also shot low. I sent it back and received
it on May 14 and fired it that afternoon. It continues to spit
lead back, with both Speer Gold Dot and Winchester jacketed soft point
125 grain .357 Magnum ammunition. That little problem alone makes
it useless for personal protection with .357 Magnum ammunition.
Things that hit the side of your face can also hit your eyes.
Being blinded by your own revolver in a defensive shooting situation is
not a good idea. The stock 640 also spits back. Both of
these guns are best used with .38 Special +P ammunition I
suspect. The 649 is shooting to the correct elevation now, but
the groups land about 3 inches to the right at 7 meters. That's
unacceptable. I'll try to have a local gun expert help correct
that problem and stop spending money sending the gun back to Nebraska
by Fedex overnight. To Cyinder and Slide's credit, they did a
great job on the trigger. They switch springs and the trigger is
lighter now. I may put the original trigger return spring back in
the revolver. I like the trigger reset you get with a heavier
spring. I need to fire two fast controlled shots in order to be
effective with a small revolver. The Model 640 can do that.
My old favorite Model 64, shown many times on thie Website, can do
that. The 649 can be made to do that (again). None of this
is to sound critical of Cylinder and Slide. They are great
people, and they did a great job on the Walther PPK-S/1 .380
pistol. I'm just very picky about expensive gunsmithing work, and
I'm not quite happy with the 649 yet.
Taurus Model 627 "Tracker" .357 Magnum
Taurus Model 627 "Tracker" .357 Magnum
What on earth is a picture of a Taurus
doing on this Website? Until today, I would have asked that
question of the people who write and edit this material, and they is
me. The difference is that today I decided to try a Model 627 I
got in trade for a pistol awhile back. I loaded this thing up
with Winchester .357 Magnum 125 grain JSP ammunition, and started
blasting away at a standard Front Sight target. Firing double
action, the revolver acted like it was shooting .38 Special +P
ammunition. The grips absorbed the recoil, except for an
occasional thump on the middle finger below the trigger finger, and the
compensator kept the muzzle down for fast follow-up shots. The
remarkable thing is that my grip did not shift after each shot. I
don't have a strong right arm or hand, so other revolvers sometimes
move around in my hand when firing heavy loads. This is one
reason I shoot the Model 64 pretty well - it doesn't do that. The
Taurus stayed put even with the heavier .357 Magnum loads going
off. Remarkable. The 627 is a 7 shot revolver. I have
an "L Comp" from the S&W Performance Center that is also a 7 shot
with a 3" barrel. I think I can fire controlled pairs with the
Taurus faster than I can with the Performance Center revolver, and I am
a Big Fan of Performance Center guns. Live and learn. Do I
plan to trade the Taurus for something else? No chance. I
even ordered a Blade-Tech holster for the Taurus. Blade-Tech
holsters are expensive so this should provide a clue about my attitude
toward the 627. Now, I realize this thing may fall apart, but so
far I like the Taurus Model 627 a lot.
Glock Model 34 9 mm Competition Model
Glock Model 34 9 mm Competition Model
I did not go weak in the knees because
of the positive experience with the Taurus. I don't think I would
ever shoot the Taurus in competition, although stranger things have
happened. I will shoot the Glock Model 34 a Lot in competition,
because I like the way it handles. The 3.5 pound trigger is a bit
light for some applications, but just right for speed in
competition. You still have to practice perfect trigger
control in order to make any Glock run at its best. What the
Model 34 provides is the same exact operating procedures with a longer
sight radius for better accuracy.
This brings things up to date, sort of. I went back to Front Sight with a Glock Model 19, mid-size 9 mm pistol and graduated from the 4 day defensive handgun class. A friend had my Glock 17. He went back to another skill builder class, a 2 day intensive practice session, and "zero'd" the targets and had no points taken off for the malfunction drills to receive a Distinguished Graduate certificate with a perfect score. I went back to another skill builder weekend with the Model 64 and "DG'd" for the second time with that revolver. A weekend in the desert is a competition with yourself and your ability to drink enough water to stay hydrated. The shooting becomes the easy part.
What the heck is this?
This brings things up to date, sort of. I went back to Front Sight with a Glock Model 19, mid-size 9 mm pistol and graduated from the 4 day defensive handgun class. A friend had my Glock 17. He went back to another skill builder class, a 2 day intensive practice session, and "zero'd" the targets and had no points taken off for the malfunction drills to receive a Distinguished Graduate certificate with a perfect score. I went back to another skill builder weekend with the Model 64 and "DG'd" for the second time with that revolver. A weekend in the desert is a competition with yourself and your ability to drink enough water to stay hydrated. The shooting becomes the easy part.
What the heck is this?
Stand by for a bunch of articles on
Ruger's new pistol. I have one on order already. I don't
like DA/SA (double action first shot/single action subsequent shots)
pistols, but I do like ultra reliable .45s with light rails, because
when your shotgun is empty and you need to use a pistol, this is the
kind of pistol that can be very useful. I had a KP-97, Ruger's
polymer framed .45, when they first came out a few years ago. It
seemed top heavy, and I hope this new KP345 doesn't feel the same
way. The grip is supposed to be a little slimmer, and the
ergonomics look good. I can't imagine carrying a gun like this,
but can imagine it being a "truck gun" that won't be bothered by a
harsher environment. I saw one note about the KP345 that compared
the grip to the FN "FortyNine" grip. If that's the case, I plan
on liking this new gun, because I like the "FortyNine" a lot. The
picture above suggests a de-cocker safey like the Beretta 92. At
Front Sight we are taught that leaving the safety on after de-cocking
is a bad idea. The phrase "down is dead" is easy to remember, and
very accurate. The slide release looks ok on the gun, but those
of us who have been trained with Glocks will never use a slide release
if we can reach over with the support side hand and release the slide
by moving the slide back and releasing it. It would be Very Cool
if Ruger followed HK's P2000 design and put a slide release on the
other side of the gun for left handed shooters, but I'm guessing Ruger
didn't do this. They didn't do it on the P-95 or the P-97.
Speaking of P-95s, I've also got a P-95 Double Action Only on back-order. I am not happy with Ruger's single action trigger (and hope I can fix this on the new KP345 - if it needs fixing. I'd just as soon think of the P-95 DAO as a neat 10 shot "revolver." After the hi capacity magazine ban "sunsets" in September, the P-95 will become a 10+ shot pistol.
July 3, 2004 - Wow, it's almost July 4th. I'm writing this in the Saddle West hotel in Pahrump, Nevada. Tomorrow is the Big 4th of July Celebration at Front Sight, an annual event not to be missed. First Family members get to shoot sub-machine guns, machine guns (and we know the difference), have a great dinner, participate in a silent auction, and then watch fireworks. Gee, I might even take the camera along...
In the meantime, here's the story on the new Ruger. Nice. Reliable (except for one failure to feed with a Speer Gold Dot - boo...). Shoots high. I took it out the other day to the SEIPS range near Idaho Falls and fired a box of Winchester 230 grain jacketed hollow points, about 20 rounds each of CorBon's "PowrBall" (defensive) ammunition, and some Speer Gold Dot. I had high hopes for the Speer ammunition since that's my favorite in other calibers. One failure to feed with a pistol that was feeding other hollowpoint bullets is not cause for concern. It's new gun and may need some breaking in. This "shoots high" business took place regardless of the ammunition. The rear sight is adjustable for windage, but not for elevation. A gun that shoots high needs to have the front sight built up (so that when it's in the proper place the point of impact moves down). The new Ruger has a front sight that can be replaced, and I'll write to Ruger and ask for a higher front sight. My only complaint at this point is that this shouldn't have left the factory shooting this high. It's not me. I know what I'm doing. It's not the ammunition; it shoots high with everything. It's the Ruger 345. I had hoped this might turn out to be a good back-up house pistol, and it may yet serve in that capacity. When you live in Idaho, the need for a back-up anything, other than a snowplow, can be measured way to the right of the decimal point, but even out there to the right of the decimal point there are some "one in a zillion" possibilities - and that's why we have shotguns and rifles.
Another feature of the 345 is the heaviest double action trigger I've ever encountered. Since this is "page2h.html," regular readers may have noticed the number of handguns I've encountered in the last few years. This trigger is Heavy, too heavy. Maybe that's to ensure the gun will always fire with lousy ammunition, but I don't use lousy ammunition. Wolff Springs hasn't yet advertised a lighter hammer spring, but I intend to correspond with Wolff about this - and soon. I've got a Beretta 92 with a very light trigger thanks to a different spring and the Beretta works very time.
Later note... I got a call from Ruger and they sent me two new REAR sights to try on the 345. First production guns had a problem with the rear sights and that may have caused the gun to shoot higher than it should have. I haven't installed the new rear sights yet, but will do this very soon.
A random, someone out of sequence, comment: One of the thrills of having a Nevada Concealed Weapons Permit is that you have to qualify with every pistol you want to carry. This involves going to a range in Las Vegas and firing each pistol in front of an employee who is either bored or terrified - bored when someone like me shows up and hits the target every time at the short distances for the test, or terrified when some untrained person starts blasting away trying to qualify. I think you have to fire something like 30 rounds to qualify. In terms of what is taught in the real world, this "qualification" test is a joke, but at least there is a test. Other states issue permits to people who may never have fired a handgun before. That's scary. It's less scary in Idaho where kids are taught sight alignment and trigger control before they reach the freshman year in high school.
Another "new" gun I've been working with is the S&W "K Comp." I'll post another picture of it here Real Soon. The KComp, a Model 19 with a 3 inch barrel and single port compensator from the S&W Performance Center, is back from Robar. The Robar NP3 finish has a dull gray color. It's supposed to contain Teflon and do wonderful things to preserve the gun for many years.
July, 2004 is winding down. The next trip to Front Sight is scheduled for September, for a 4 day practical rifle class. I've been working on a rifle for that session based on experiences from the last rifle class. During the previous class, my super accurate rifle got to be Very Heavy on the second day, and I switched to my backup rifle - a plain 16" barrel Bushmaster. The lesson was that a light weight rifle is a Good Deal for that course. I also had problems with "optics" (my eyes), and may have fixed that with an EOTech holographic dot sight The dot sight has no magnification, but if I can place the 1 mil dot over the target at 200 meters, I should be able to hit the target. I decided to put the sight on the carrying handle of Bushmaster's new light weight upper receiver, and to add a cheek rest to get my head positioned where I can see the sight. My only concerns with this setup right now are a possible deterioration of accuracy as the thin barrel heats up, and I am very concerned about the heat radiated from the barrel to the hand guard. I know from experience that it is difficult to shoot an AR-15 that's getting hot (hot enough in one instance to melt the sling).
August is here, and it just dawned on me after EIGHT YEARS of doing this that maybe I should have a separate First Impressions page for every year until I can't write anymore or start writing about something else. So, here in August I went to teach NRA instructors in Edgefield, South Carolina and had a great time. Part of the training is a real range session where we go through the exercises in the NRA Basic Pistol and Personal Protection in the Home Courses. That's pretty standard stuff although you can demonstrate the advantages of mastering trigger reset by firing a Glock fast enough to keep 5 empty cases in the air all at once.
After we were done, I got a chance to shoot the Taurus Titanium Tracket in .357 Magnum. I wanted to know if the lighter weight would amplify the recoil enough so that my knuckles would get rapped. Recoil was about the same. knuckle rapping was not a problem, and my firing grip did not shift while firing several " full house" rounds (125 grain jacketed hollow points - the good stuff). Now the question is whether or not to trade in the old stainless Tracker for a new Titanium Tracker or keep both. This is tough decision.
Question answered. There's a place for both. It's August 12th now, and this afternoon I had a chance to shoot the Titanium Tracker and the 649 revolver back from Cylinder and Slide. I stopped by the local Sportsman's Warehouse to get some ammunition to try out and wound up with Cor Bon's 140 grain .357 Magnum, Winchester 125 grain jacketed soft point (JSP), American Eagle (Federal) 158 grain JSP, lots of .38 Special practice ammunition, and 7 rounds of 125 grain Speer Gold Dot.
The Gold Dot rounds were the first ones fired from the new Tracker. They worked fine. After that I tried the other loads with interesting results. The Cor Bon cartridges bound up the gun and were hard to extract. They may work fine in another revolver, but not in this Tracker. The American Eagle and Winchester loads were ok. The Tracker handles recoil without any problems. The 649 still shoots a tiny bit to the right, but the trigger is great now, and I'm going to learn to use a file in order to set the sights the way I want them. I have no complaints about the service from Cylinder and Slide. These are great guys and I recommend their work to anyone.
I noticed that the sights on the Tracker were set to the right and, sure enough, that's where the first shots went. I moved the adjustable rear sight a few clicks to the left and the rest of the groups were dead center.
When we teach marksmanship, we want the students to make a perfect shot every time. We tell the students to concentrate on sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger control - and breathing and follow-through. In an emergency, things are different and the shooter needs to get hits on the target as soon as possible. Absolute accuracy is allowed to deteriorate to a point where hits on a sheet of notebook paper or a 9" paper plate are good enough to solve the problem. This can be accomplished at closer ranges by using a "flash sight picture." Instead of having perfect sight alignment, it is enough just to get the front sight to appear in the rear sight notch and place the front sight on the target. The focus remains on the front sight, as always, but the alignment can wander a little. After firing some slower shots with the two revolvers shown above, I "got real" and moved up closer to the target, at distances you might encounter in a real confrontation. Using a flash sight picture, I was able to get thoracic cavity hits in a hurry with both guns. Some instructors use the term "center of mass." I used to use the term when I didn't know any better. There's an old joke that says, "while that explanation might be ok for a medical student, it's still incorrect." Center of mass is not always the place to aim. Bullets that hit the thoracic cavity will be more effective than bullets hitting the geometric center of mass.
S&W 646 on the botttom. S&W PC 686 on top.
Speaking of P-95s, I've also got a P-95 Double Action Only on back-order. I am not happy with Ruger's single action trigger (and hope I can fix this on the new KP345 - if it needs fixing. I'd just as soon think of the P-95 DAO as a neat 10 shot "revolver." After the hi capacity magazine ban "sunsets" in September, the P-95 will become a 10+ shot pistol.
July 3, 2004 - Wow, it's almost July 4th. I'm writing this in the Saddle West hotel in Pahrump, Nevada. Tomorrow is the Big 4th of July Celebration at Front Sight, an annual event not to be missed. First Family members get to shoot sub-machine guns, machine guns (and we know the difference), have a great dinner, participate in a silent auction, and then watch fireworks. Gee, I might even take the camera along...
In the meantime, here's the story on the new Ruger. Nice. Reliable (except for one failure to feed with a Speer Gold Dot - boo...). Shoots high. I took it out the other day to the SEIPS range near Idaho Falls and fired a box of Winchester 230 grain jacketed hollow points, about 20 rounds each of CorBon's "PowrBall" (defensive) ammunition, and some Speer Gold Dot. I had high hopes for the Speer ammunition since that's my favorite in other calibers. One failure to feed with a pistol that was feeding other hollowpoint bullets is not cause for concern. It's new gun and may need some breaking in. This "shoots high" business took place regardless of the ammunition. The rear sight is adjustable for windage, but not for elevation. A gun that shoots high needs to have the front sight built up (so that when it's in the proper place the point of impact moves down). The new Ruger has a front sight that can be replaced, and I'll write to Ruger and ask for a higher front sight. My only complaint at this point is that this shouldn't have left the factory shooting this high. It's not me. I know what I'm doing. It's not the ammunition; it shoots high with everything. It's the Ruger 345. I had hoped this might turn out to be a good back-up house pistol, and it may yet serve in that capacity. When you live in Idaho, the need for a back-up anything, other than a snowplow, can be measured way to the right of the decimal point, but even out there to the right of the decimal point there are some "one in a zillion" possibilities - and that's why we have shotguns and rifles.
Another feature of the 345 is the heaviest double action trigger I've ever encountered. Since this is "page2h.html," regular readers may have noticed the number of handguns I've encountered in the last few years. This trigger is Heavy, too heavy. Maybe that's to ensure the gun will always fire with lousy ammunition, but I don't use lousy ammunition. Wolff Springs hasn't yet advertised a lighter hammer spring, but I intend to correspond with Wolff about this - and soon. I've got a Beretta 92 with a very light trigger thanks to a different spring and the Beretta works very time.
Later note... I got a call from Ruger and they sent me two new REAR sights to try on the 345. First production guns had a problem with the rear sights and that may have caused the gun to shoot higher than it should have. I haven't installed the new rear sights yet, but will do this very soon.
A random, someone out of sequence, comment: One of the thrills of having a Nevada Concealed Weapons Permit is that you have to qualify with every pistol you want to carry. This involves going to a range in Las Vegas and firing each pistol in front of an employee who is either bored or terrified - bored when someone like me shows up and hits the target every time at the short distances for the test, or terrified when some untrained person starts blasting away trying to qualify. I think you have to fire something like 30 rounds to qualify. In terms of what is taught in the real world, this "qualification" test is a joke, but at least there is a test. Other states issue permits to people who may never have fired a handgun before. That's scary. It's less scary in Idaho where kids are taught sight alignment and trigger control before they reach the freshman year in high school.
Another "new" gun I've been working with is the S&W "K Comp." I'll post another picture of it here Real Soon. The KComp, a Model 19 with a 3 inch barrel and single port compensator from the S&W Performance Center, is back from Robar. The Robar NP3 finish has a dull gray color. It's supposed to contain Teflon and do wonderful things to preserve the gun for many years.
July, 2004 is winding down. The next trip to Front Sight is scheduled for September, for a 4 day practical rifle class. I've been working on a rifle for that session based on experiences from the last rifle class. During the previous class, my super accurate rifle got to be Very Heavy on the second day, and I switched to my backup rifle - a plain 16" barrel Bushmaster. The lesson was that a light weight rifle is a Good Deal for that course. I also had problems with "optics" (my eyes), and may have fixed that with an EOTech holographic dot sight The dot sight has no magnification, but if I can place the 1 mil dot over the target at 200 meters, I should be able to hit the target. I decided to put the sight on the carrying handle of Bushmaster's new light weight upper receiver, and to add a cheek rest to get my head positioned where I can see the sight. My only concerns with this setup right now are a possible deterioration of accuracy as the thin barrel heats up, and I am very concerned about the heat radiated from the barrel to the hand guard. I know from experience that it is difficult to shoot an AR-15 that's getting hot (hot enough in one instance to melt the sling).
August is here, and it just dawned on me after EIGHT YEARS of doing this that maybe I should have a separate First Impressions page for every year until I can't write anymore or start writing about something else. So, here in August I went to teach NRA instructors in Edgefield, South Carolina and had a great time. Part of the training is a real range session where we go through the exercises in the NRA Basic Pistol and Personal Protection in the Home Courses. That's pretty standard stuff although you can demonstrate the advantages of mastering trigger reset by firing a Glock fast enough to keep 5 empty cases in the air all at once.
After we were done, I got a chance to shoot the Taurus Titanium Tracket in .357 Magnum. I wanted to know if the lighter weight would amplify the recoil enough so that my knuckles would get rapped. Recoil was about the same. knuckle rapping was not a problem, and my firing grip did not shift while firing several " full house" rounds (125 grain jacketed hollow points - the good stuff). Now the question is whether or not to trade in the old stainless Tracker for a new Titanium Tracker or keep both. This is tough decision.
Question answered. There's a place for both. It's August 12th now, and this afternoon I had a chance to shoot the Titanium Tracker and the 649 revolver back from Cylinder and Slide. I stopped by the local Sportsman's Warehouse to get some ammunition to try out and wound up with Cor Bon's 140 grain .357 Magnum, Winchester 125 grain jacketed soft point (JSP), American Eagle (Federal) 158 grain JSP, lots of .38 Special practice ammunition, and 7 rounds of 125 grain Speer Gold Dot.
The Gold Dot rounds were the first ones fired from the new Tracker. They worked fine. After that I tried the other loads with interesting results. The Cor Bon cartridges bound up the gun and were hard to extract. They may work fine in another revolver, but not in this Tracker. The American Eagle and Winchester loads were ok. The Tracker handles recoil without any problems. The 649 still shoots a tiny bit to the right, but the trigger is great now, and I'm going to learn to use a file in order to set the sights the way I want them. I have no complaints about the service from Cylinder and Slide. These are great guys and I recommend their work to anyone.
I noticed that the sights on the Tracker were set to the right and, sure enough, that's where the first shots went. I moved the adjustable rear sight a few clicks to the left and the rest of the groups were dead center.
S&W
649 and Taurus Titanium Tracker
When we teach marksmanship, we want the students to make a perfect shot every time. We tell the students to concentrate on sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger control - and breathing and follow-through. In an emergency, things are different and the shooter needs to get hits on the target as soon as possible. Absolute accuracy is allowed to deteriorate to a point where hits on a sheet of notebook paper or a 9" paper plate are good enough to solve the problem. This can be accomplished at closer ranges by using a "flash sight picture." Instead of having perfect sight alignment, it is enough just to get the front sight to appear in the rear sight notch and place the front sight on the target. The focus remains on the front sight, as always, but the alignment can wander a little. After firing some slower shots with the two revolvers shown above, I "got real" and moved up closer to the target, at distances you might encounter in a real confrontation. Using a flash sight picture, I was able to get thoracic cavity hits in a hurry with both guns. Some instructors use the term "center of mass." I used to use the term when I didn't know any better. There's an old joke that says, "while that explanation might be ok for a medical student, it's still incorrect." Center of mass is not always the place to aim. Bullets that hit the thoracic cavity will be more effective than bullets hitting the geometric center of mass.
S&W 646 on the botttom. S&W PC 686 on top.
The S&W 646 (.40 S&W) is my
favorite competition revolver. The Performance Center 686 in .38
Super may be one of the best looking revolvers every made.
Even favorite items can have problems. Today (September 11, 2004) we had an IPSC match near Idaho Falls and I took the 646. Sportsman's Warehouse had a good deal on 250 round packages of .40 S&W ammunition so I brought that ammunition to the match. On the first stage, I had a lot of misfires and figured the moon clips weren't thick enough or the primers were too hard, and I went to get additional ammunition. One of the experienced competitors reminded me that this could be caused by a loose retaining screw on the mainspring. I've learned to listen to guys in Idaho, so I took the unloaded 646 and my Leatherman tool gadget and checked the retraining screw. Sure enough, it was loose. Tightening it up fixed the problem. By then my score was shot for the day, but the point of these matches is to learn things. If all I wanted to do was shoot and hit the target, I'd have taken the Glock 17 instead.
Stones River Hunter Education Center near Nashville, Tennessee
This photo taken during a Labor Day 2004 weekend visit to this new facility. Notice how the range is constructed to keep all of the projectiles (bullets) within the range boundaries. This is state of the art range design. In Idaho, we use the Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Oregon as backstops.
In September, we went back to Front Sigtht for the Four Day Practical Rifle course. I had taken this before with a couple of rifles. The first couple of days I used an AR-15 with a very nice upper receiver that had a match barrel and some pretty fancy DPMS and JP sights. The problem with that gun was that it was too beavy for a "practical" (rhymes with "tactical," a much overused word. I switched to a standard, lighter weight Bushmaster carbine (16" barrel) and had a great time through the remainder of the course. I didn't graduate, and that was the first time I had not managed to get a high enough score to graduate from a Front Sitght course. I figured that maybe a lighter rifle was a great idea, and also some better optics in place of the iron sights.
Bushmaster carbine used in previous class.
Even favorite items can have problems. Today (September 11, 2004) we had an IPSC match near Idaho Falls and I took the 646. Sportsman's Warehouse had a good deal on 250 round packages of .40 S&W ammunition so I brought that ammunition to the match. On the first stage, I had a lot of misfires and figured the moon clips weren't thick enough or the primers were too hard, and I went to get additional ammunition. One of the experienced competitors reminded me that this could be caused by a loose retaining screw on the mainspring. I've learned to listen to guys in Idaho, so I took the unloaded 646 and my Leatherman tool gadget and checked the retraining screw. Sure enough, it was loose. Tightening it up fixed the problem. By then my score was shot for the day, but the point of these matches is to learn things. If all I wanted to do was shoot and hit the target, I'd have taken the Glock 17 instead.
Stones River Hunter Education Center near Nashville, Tennessee
This photo taken during a Labor Day 2004 weekend visit to this new facility. Notice how the range is constructed to keep all of the projectiles (bullets) within the range boundaries. This is state of the art range design. In Idaho, we use the Montana, Utah, Wyoming, and Oregon as backstops.
In September, we went back to Front Sigtht for the Four Day Practical Rifle course. I had taken this before with a couple of rifles. The first couple of days I used an AR-15 with a very nice upper receiver that had a match barrel and some pretty fancy DPMS and JP sights. The problem with that gun was that it was too beavy for a "practical" (rhymes with "tactical," a much overused word. I switched to a standard, lighter weight Bushmaster carbine (16" barrel) and had a great time through the remainder of the course. I didn't graduate, and that was the first time I had not managed to get a high enough score to graduate from a Front Sitght course. I figured that maybe a lighter rifle was a great idea, and also some better optics in place of the iron sights.
Bushmaster carbine used in previous class.
In the most recent class, I got one the
Bushmatster leightweight upper receivers, added a "tac sling" (there's
that word "tactical" again), and an EOTech holographic sight.
Here's the result.
Bushmaster's new upper receiver
incorporates a thinner, lighter barrel assembly similar to the barrel
on the original AR-15. I was concerned that if this barrel heated
up, accuracy would suffer. In a "practical" class, this didn't
matter. We fired from 15 to 200 yards under time pressure so the
objective was alway to get the gun on target and get a hit. There
was plenty of time for the barrel to cool as we moved from one distance
to another.
The EOTech holographic sight is great. If you see the aiming dot on the target and don't move the rifle while pressing the trigger, you will hit the target. The sight picture looks like this:
The EOTech holographic sight is great. If you see the aiming dot on the target and don't move the rifle while pressing the trigger, you will hit the target. The sight picture looks like this:
The red ring and center dot will move
around, but as long as you see the dot on the target it doesn't
matter. I'm sure someone can explain how this works, but I can't
and I don't care. It works. I found out it works in two
ways. On the final day of the class we had two exercises after
the skills test. One was a man-on-man exercise where speed and
accuracy were important. You had to knock down your steel targets
before the other person. I made it to the final round and we
called the last round a draw. The other exercise was spotted fire
at 400 yards. One of the instructors with binoculars told us
where the shots were hitting and we made corrections. After maybe
three shots, I was able to hit a steel target four times in a
row. The top of the dot can be a precision reference. The
EOTech sight is Recommended.
Now that I've managed to graduate from the Practical Rifle class, it's time to go back to handguns and shotguns. With the winter months arriving, there are Handgun Skill Builder and Shotgun classes to take. Each class at Front Sight comes with a guarantee: now matter how well you are doing when you arrive, you'll have improved your skills by the time you leave.
It's NOVEMBER! Wow. New guns include a S&W Model 686 7 shot with a 5" barrel. This gun came with a red fiber optic front sight, and that's fun, but I'm old fashioned. I sent the revolver back to the Performance Center to get their usual improvements and asked that the red dot front sight, and the read "V" notch sight be replace with plain black sights. Another new item is the S&W Model 67. This is the stainless version of the Model 15 (blued) Combat Masterpiece, the same gun issued to pilots during the Viet Nam era. I thought the Model 67 would have a narrrow barrel, but instead it came with the bull barrel found on the Model 65 (.357 Magnum) revolvers. The Model 67 barrel is marked "S&W .38 Special +P.
S&W Model 67 2004 Production
Now that I've managed to graduate from the Practical Rifle class, it's time to go back to handguns and shotguns. With the winter months arriving, there are Handgun Skill Builder and Shotgun classes to take. Each class at Front Sight comes with a guarantee: now matter how well you are doing when you arrive, you'll have improved your skills by the time you leave.
It's NOVEMBER! Wow. New guns include a S&W Model 686 7 shot with a 5" barrel. This gun came with a red fiber optic front sight, and that's fun, but I'm old fashioned. I sent the revolver back to the Performance Center to get their usual improvements and asked that the red dot front sight, and the read "V" notch sight be replace with plain black sights. Another new item is the S&W Model 67. This is the stainless version of the Model 15 (blued) Combat Masterpiece, the same gun issued to pilots during the Viet Nam era. I thought the Model 67 would have a narrrow barrel, but instead it came with the bull barrel found on the Model 65 (.357 Magnum) revolvers. The Model 67 barrel is marked "S&W .38 Special +P.
S&W Model 67 2004 Production
I had a chance to fire this revolver
today (11-7-04) and it worked great with normal and +P loads. I
used the Miculek grips rather than the ones shown in the picture.
With regular loads, the gun doesn't move in the hand when firing.
With +P it moves a little, but a single loop of friction tape around
the grip would fix that. This revolver is over-built for the
caliber and should last a long time. I'll send it back to the
Performance Center for their magic, but it's a pretty good gun right
out of the box.
Looks real nice. Doesn't work.
On the other hand, "sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug." I got a new Auto Ordnance (owned by Kahr Arms) M-1 Carbine. Davidson's sent one and the stock was scratched. Then they replaced it. Good for them! The second one didn't fire commercial .38 Carbine ammunition. Davidson's sent a THIRD carbine. Double good for them. The third one went to the range today. Click. Click. Light primer hits, no firing of the cartridge, back in the case. There won't be another Auto Ordnance M-1 carbine coming to this collection anytime soon. Too bad. I liked this gun a lot. It's lightweight. When you look at the tiny little details, you see things like a bolt that moves when it's in battery (I don't think that's a good sign), and the clicking sounds when it's supposed to go bang.
An expert, and I'm an expert, would say to try a different brand of ammunition. Wrong. If a brand new CNC machined copy of something that's worked in the real world for over 50 years won't fire new production American Eagle ammunition, then it's gone. It's not easy to find inexpensive .30 Carbine ammunition in Idaho Falls.
Taurus 24/7 .40 S&W
Looks real nice. Doesn't work.
On the other hand, "sometimes you're the windshield, and sometimes you're the bug." I got a new Auto Ordnance (owned by Kahr Arms) M-1 Carbine. Davidson's sent one and the stock was scratched. Then they replaced it. Good for them! The second one didn't fire commercial .38 Carbine ammunition. Davidson's sent a THIRD carbine. Double good for them. The third one went to the range today. Click. Click. Light primer hits, no firing of the cartridge, back in the case. There won't be another Auto Ordnance M-1 carbine coming to this collection anytime soon. Too bad. I liked this gun a lot. It's lightweight. When you look at the tiny little details, you see things like a bolt that moves when it's in battery (I don't think that's a good sign), and the clicking sounds when it's supposed to go bang.
An expert, and I'm an expert, would say to try a different brand of ammunition. Wrong. If a brand new CNC machined copy of something that's worked in the real world for over 50 years won't fire new production American Eagle ammunition, then it's gone. It's not easy to find inexpensive .30 Carbine ammunition in Idaho Falls.
Taurus 24/7 .40 S&W
Sometimes you're the windshield...oh, I
said that already. Well, when something looks like it's too good
to be true it is often too good to be true. Out of curiosity, I
got a Taurus "24/7" pistol. It was hard to pass up the $300 price
at a local gun shop. The gun went to the range today. I put
a sheet of typing paper out at 25 yards, worked real hard on the "3
secrets" (sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger control) and
fired 10 rounds. I looked through my binoculars. There were
NO HOLES on the paper. Something's wrong here. I am a Very
Good pistol shooter. I can hit that paper from a concealed
holster in 3.5 seconds with time to spare. I don't miss.
So, I looked again and there was a group of holes on the target backer
about 8 inches left and above the point of aim. There is a
technical term that describes that kind of performance: "this gun
sucks." Now, here comes the interesting part. The sights
are not adjustable, and Taurus' Lifetime Warranty doesn't cover
sights! It's going back anyway...tomorrow.
Aside from not being accurate, the gun has a nice feel to it. With the proper grip, it's possible to handle rapid firing of 165 and 180 grain .40 caliber ammunition. This gun has potential. Too bad Glock or SIG didn't make it so that it shoots straight. Ok, I have now vented my alarm and dismay at this thing. Let's see if Taurus can fix it.
Guess what's arriving this coming week? Here's a hint...
The Limited Production S&W Model 21 .44 Special
Aside from not being accurate, the gun has a nice feel to it. With the proper grip, it's possible to handle rapid firing of 165 and 180 grain .40 caliber ammunition. This gun has potential. Too bad Glock or SIG didn't make it so that it shoots straight. Ok, I have now vented my alarm and dismay at this thing. Let's see if Taurus can fix it.
Guess what's arriving this coming week? Here's a hint...
The Limited Production S&W Model 21 .44 Special
Tomorrow is the Monday for Thanksgiving
week. We have a lot to be thankful for here in Eastern
Idaho. Yesterday, in spite of bitter cold we managed to have a
small ICORE revolver match, and this afternoon the weather was good
enough so that 1) I was able to spend time with a student. The
Model 21 came in ok, and has yet to be fired. I may not fire this
gun at all. It came with a display case and maybe this is a
revolver, no matter how expensive, that belongs in a display
case. It looks just like the picture. I wish that Smith and
Wesson would make a stainless steel model. I'd get one. I'm
still looking for a new S&W Model 681 (.357 Magnum fixed sight
version of the 686).
The Ruger P345 came back from the factory repair, with a very nice test target. It is unfortunate that the rear sight is canted to one side and the pistol will have to go back. It's difficult to imagine how someone could ship a gun back to a customer in that condition. I think the P345 has become "trading material" at this point. Someone who can live with lower standards may think this gun is great and he is welcome to it. I say "he," because the double action trigger pull on this pistol is so heavy I don't think a lot of women could shoot it.
The Auto Ordnance (Kahr) M-1 Carbine is no longer around. I ordered one, and received a carbine with a scratched stock, then got a replacement that didn't work, then got a replacement that never fired at all. Three strikes...
I am expecting a new pistol Real Soon, a Walther P99 QA in .40 S&W caliber. Here is a picture.
The Ruger P345 came back from the factory repair, with a very nice test target. It is unfortunate that the rear sight is canted to one side and the pistol will have to go back. It's difficult to imagine how someone could ship a gun back to a customer in that condition. I think the P345 has become "trading material" at this point. Someone who can live with lower standards may think this gun is great and he is welcome to it. I say "he," because the double action trigger pull on this pistol is so heavy I don't think a lot of women could shoot it.
The Auto Ordnance (Kahr) M-1 Carbine is no longer around. I ordered one, and received a carbine with a scratched stock, then got a replacement that didn't work, then got a replacement that never fired at all. Three strikes...
I am expecting a new pistol Real Soon, a Walther P99 QA in .40 S&W caliber. Here is a picture.
Notice the trigger guard. It's new
on this model. There's no small hump in the bottom of the trigger
guard. This one will be easier to shoot with gloves (something we
do here in Idaho during part of the year).
The Taurus 24/7 is back at Taurus to see if they can get it to shoot straight. There are a couple of new S&W revolvers back at the Performance Center getting the "treatment." All should be coming back soon.
The Taurus 24/7 is back at Taurus to see if they can get it to shoot straight. There are a couple of new S&W revolvers back at the Performance Center getting the "treatment." All should be coming back soon.
Beware of Walther P99 .40 factory
magazines when shooting 165 grain bullets! The new P99 .40
works great...except that when I switched from American Eagle .40
S&W 180 grain ammunition to Blazer 165 grain, the base plates came
apart. In a real life gunfight, this would be Bad. I wrote
to Walther (they are paired with S&W here in the states) and they
sent two new base plates (marked "S&W" - as in SW99
magazines). Problem solved. I took the P99 .40 our today
and shot a lot of different ammunition, all 165 or 155 grain and
everything worked fine. The PMC 155 grain loads were the mildest, while
American Eagle and Blazer had a little more recoil. Right now the
only "problem" is that I need some good magazine pouches for the .40
caliber magazines. The Walther magazines are smaller than the
Glock magazines so they're either loose in Glock magazine holders or
tight in the Fobus pouches made for the P99. Life is complicated
as usual. When testing the P 99 .40 today, I shot at a target
that had some 12 gauge slug holes in the center. My "present and
fire controlled pairs" from 3 meters shots were going through the slug
holes most of the time. This is a very nice pistol, and
Recommended.
Shotgun News
"Shotgun News" is the name of a well liked magazine that has a lot of ads for guns and accessories. In this case, the term "Shotgun News" refers to...news about shotguns! During a recent 5 Day Tactical Shotgun class at Front Sight, I had a chance to see people having a great time with Benelli shotguns. Here are some pictures of Benelli's from the Benelli Web site. The people in the who had Benelli's tended to use the one in the middle picture - the one with the pistol "grip" (stock).
Since I like the feel of the Mossberg 500
and 590, I decided to get the M1 Tactical shown in the bottom
picture. The sights on the 18.5 inch barrel look just like the
plain and simple sights on a Glock. This morning (December 18), I
fired the M1 in a "5 Stand" shotgun match at Western Wings
(www.birdsandclays.com) near Robert, Idaho. Later, I took the gun
to the Southeaster Idaho Practical Shooters' range and fired some slugs
at 50 yards. Wow. This is a great shotgun. No more
forgetting to cycle the pump shotgun. The Benelli is not
cheap. It costs at least twice as much as a very nice pump
shotgun, but it is nice.
Here's another new item that I've not had
a chance to fire yet...
Walther G22 .22 Long Rifle "BullPup"
Rifle
I know it says rifle, but this is a
carbine if I've ever seen one. I put an El Cheapo red dot sight
on the carrying handle. This is going to be a lot of fun to
shoot. Notice the ejection port and the charging handle just
above and a little to the right of the "G22" logo on the stock.
Notice there is a magazine just below the port on the bottom of the
stock. Now look to the left along the bottom of the stock and
you'll see a second, spare magazine. At the very back (butt),
notice the spacer. The stock can be lengthened - just like the
Beretta "Storm" carbine. Above the trigger is an ambidexterous
safety. And there are lots of rails to hang useless stuff on this
gun (laser, flashlight, etc.) . This little .22 is going to tear
up a lot of tin cans.
Late
December Update: The Taurus 24/7 is still at Taurus for
sight adjustments. The Ruger 345 is on its way back to get the
sights level. Two S&W revolvers are back at the Performance
Center gunsmith shop for "The Treatment."
TruGlo
Sights
Experimentation.
Always willing to try something new, I got some of the TruGlo
Glock sights shown in the two pictures above. I put the sights on
the slide of a Glock Model 31 (.357 SIG) and gave that setup a try at
the range today. I didn't bring the sight adjustment tool to the
range so I wasn't too concerned about the groups being a little bit to
the left. That's easy to fix if the elevation is ok. The
way these sights work, you move the gun to complete the triangle, and
put the triangle on the center of the target. This seems to work
well at close distances, and even works pretty good on steel plates at
50-60 feet. I'm going to take the sights off the gun and replace
them with Henie Slant Pro sights. The reason? I'm old
fashioned. I shoot with one eye closed, and I'm used to the
standard black sights. Now, are these sights useful to someone
else? Yes, I think they might be. If someone started out
with these sights and trained with them, I think they would do pretty
well. The geometry of the sights makes them easy to see and align
- and if this is the first time you've been taught to align sights and
then align the sights in a hurry, this is a good setup.
It was also fun to shoot a Glock with the
"old" stocks. The Model 31 here is one of the first ones, made
before Glock put finger grooves on the stocks.
Year End
Wrap-up.
This was the "year of the revolver" in
many ways. The year included evaluations and experiments with
several Smith and Wesson snub-nose revolvers, along with several new
production revolvers that were either made in the S&W Performance
Center or regular production revolvers sent back for gunsmithing
services. Two Taurus revolvers made their way into the inventory
during 2004. At year's end, Davidson's Internet gun sales site
was offering Ruger GP100 revolvers in .38 Special (not the usual .357
Magnum) so I got one of those as a "project" gun - to see what kind of
improvements, if any, can be made to this very basic model. This
GP100 is blued with a 3" barrel and fixed sights. This is the
kind of revolver a security guard might carry because he or she cannot
afford a Smith and Wesson (or a Glock). Of course, if you
can't hit the target, it doesn't much matter what the gun cost in the
first place. If you can hit the target, it also doesn't matter
what the gun cost.
During 2004, the shotgun of choice changed
from the Mossberg 500 to the provisional first choice of the Benelli M1
Super 90 (minus the pistol grip and ghost ring sights). The rifle
situation got sorted out, too, with the addition of a Bushmaster AR-15
lightweight upper receiver and an EOTech holographic optical
sight. I haven't had a chance to take one of the Front Sight
shotgun courses with teh Benelli yet, but was able to graduate from the
four day rifle class with the new AR-15 setup.
There were a couple of disappointments
during the year. The new Taurus 24/7 lacks adjustable sights and
this became a problem when the fixed sights weren't even close to the
point of impact of 180 or 165 grain bullets. The pistol shot "way
left." The 24/7 was sent back to Taurus and hasn't returned
yet. Another disappointment was the Auto Ordnance M1
Carbine. Davidson's sent three of those. The first one
might have worked, but had a scratched stock. The second and
third M1s had all kinds of mechanical problems, including misfires.
One of the more exciting new guns was the
Walther P99 QA model in .40 S&W. When I fired 180 grain
bullets the gun worked fine, When I fired regular Blazer 165
grain loads, the baseplates of both magazines blew off. They
didn't fall off, they left in a hurry. Smith & Wesson, the
U.S. Walther importer, sent two new baseplates that fixed the
problem. The new baseplates say "S&W" on the bottom, and must
be made for the domestic SW99 version. I understand that Walther
no longer makes the long trigger pull double action only version of the
P99 - the P990. In spite of the long trigger pull length, I liked
the P990, but I may have been the only one who did.
Back in July, I left a Colt .38 Super with
Joel Peters at www.peterscustom.com
in Stevensville, Montana. I got that pistol back in time to fire
it in an IPSC match in Idaho Falls in December. The pistol's
accuracy and ease of operation resulted in a high score in the match,
and the main reason was that I got all of the plates off of a "Texas
Star" reactive target in far less time than most of the other
competitors. I find the Glock easy to master, even though the
grip is a bit annoying to the point where I wind up wearing some tape
on my hand to avoid a blister - when shooting several hundred rounds in
a class. I think the 1911 is going to be a little tougher to
learn to operate well, and that's why my first scheduled class at Front
Sight in January 2005 will be the basic pistol class, and I'll have the
1911 there.
A new "First Impressions" page will begin
right after the first of the year. I'll go ahead and put the link
to it here, although there may not be anything posted right away.