Tag Archives: Handguns

Weapons

SIG’s Adaptive Carbine Platform

7 Comments

SIG has jumped on the pistol to PDW bandwagon.  Joining ranks with Hera and CAA, SIG now has a kit you can attach your handgun into, to turn it into something different. Whatever it is, it’s not a Carbine and this is a poor use of the word.   SIG would have been much better off to have simply created a real pistol caliber carbine.

There are a lot of critics of the result of turning your pistol into an SMG wannabe.   Guys who want this would probably be better off with a real SMG type weapon such as an Uzi or Steyr TMP or something along those lines.  These are your basic “PDW” platforms… Personal Defensive Weapons.  They have their place and purpose.  Now, converting your SIG or Glock into one of these type guns seems questionable to many.  But when you lock your Glock into such kit, you do gain some things… Stability is one.  Recoil is reduced and Control is enhanced… Accuracy is improved.  Quicker target engagement and ease of target engagement is gained.   If you use it properly as demonstrated in the video by SIG’s shooter.   Holding the weapon out against the sling gives you an anchor point.  It’s not as ideal as a stock, but it does work.   The unit with the folding stock is better, but then you have an SBR.  A Short Barreled Rifle.  This is a Class III type firearm and as you can tell, it’s obviously more evil and malicious than using a floppy single point sling.  One other thing to be aware of is that attaching a vertical foregrip as shown in the video, well that’s the spawn of Satan as well… Doing that creates a new form of wickedness called an AOW… or “Any Other Weapon”.  Something the ATF has been unable to appropriately classify.  So you can have this SIG ACP kit on your gun and legally it’s just a pistol still.  Until you put that Vertical Foregrip on it and then you have an unregistered AOW.    You can’t do that unless you go through the same Red Tape as you would to register your SBR.   Now, you can put a Bi-Pod on your handgun.  That’s legal.  You can even fold down one leg as use it as a VFG… Because it’s still a Bi-Pod.  So watch out for that.  AOW’s, SBR’s… Oh my.  So many ways to commit a felony.

The only thing that could make this SIG ACP any better would be to mount a Taurus Judge in it.

Weapons

Suggestion for Ruger

18 Comments

Your new .22 Pistol will sell very well.

But what would do better… would be to make it in .22 Magnum.  People keep asking for the KT PMR-30… and KT can’t deliver the volume.

Make your SR-22 pistol an SRM-22, in .22 Magnum with night sights and a real high capacity magazine… and you would have a ferocious Home Run Hit on your hands.

Weapons

CZ vs The High Power

30 Comments

Don’t get me wrong here… I love the CZ 75, and clones.  The P-01 and SP-01’s are fantastic.   CZ does indeed deserve much love.

But not matter how good the CZ is… it’s a mere shadow of the awesomeness that is the High Power.   The High Power is the original design that the CZ apes.  The High Power, even in 9mm, is one of the greatest handguns of all time.  I know that Colonel Jeff Cooper spoke very highly of the CZ, laying on it much accolades… but I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Cooper was mistaken and he should have named the High Power as the advanced handgun that could unseat the 1911 as the next greatest thing ever.

Look at it… Similar single action function to the 1911.  High capacity.  Low recoil.  Attributes that many of the top shooters are advocating.  So many shooters are going for expensive custom 1911’s chambered in 9mm.  Efforts to regain what was there all along… in the High Power.

If I was sitting at a chair around the board table at CZ USA, a company that has listened to my suggestions before… I’d strongly suggest that they take the CZ75 platform, and not just many a single action only version for competition… But make a new High Power of it, suitable for Duty use. No magazine disconnect or brake, night sights, lock and load carry, and a higher capacity than the original.  Make it look like a High Power.  And put it out with those awesome grips that are on the SP-01 and P-01 pistols.

Weapons

Defending the Judge

26 Comments

Got a rather long passionate email about the Taurus Judge and everything that is good about it.  The problem though… is that it’s still a Taurus Judge… in .410.  See, regardless of the benifits of the Judge… It’s good at neither shooting the .45 Colt or the .410…

It’s quite true that there are people that have unrealistic expectations about The Judge. It’s not a “monster-slayer,” but you could also say the same thing about a number of other guns out there. (This is mostly due to TV and movies, coupled with a general intellectual laziness whereby most people will see said movie, say, “OOOH, That’s cool! I want one,” and never bother to do their homework. Most serious gun owners actually know better anyway.)

That said, The Judge does have some good points that shouldn’t be glossed over. If you do, you’re just as bad as the people mentioned above.

The primary purpose of this gun is anti-snake. Most ranchers carry some kind of light rifle or shotgun, (at the very least in a vehicle) while they are surveying or doing some kind of work on their property. It is not possible or convenient to carry said shotgun or rifle for every single conceivable task or location. It is significantly more convenient to carry something in a holster attached to one’s hip than slung across one’s shoulder. (I would LIKE to carry my M1-A, and, although it’s perfectly legal in Texas, it’s inconvenient on a motorcycle, and worries the sheeple, which is necessary grief! I CAN carry my concealed handgun.)

I had an uncle who was deathly afraid of rattlesnakes, (just shy of paranoid, but for good reason!) His primary method of ridding himself of a known rattlesnake was to run over it with a vehicle, and then chip its head off with a shovel while the snake was pinned. This worked well if one had a vehicle and shovel. He’s been in situations where he was missing one or both. To make matters worse, they sometimes bite without rattling, and killing one with just a shovel requires that one get unnecessarily close to the snake.

With The Judge, if you see a snake that you can’t avoid or work around, one or two shots with #9 shot will take care of it. That give you three extras, “just in case.”

That which applies to the rancher applies to the fisherman who is concerned about water moccasins, (which are VERY aggressive!) or bears. The Judge is indeed weak tea vs bear, (even with Speer Gold Dots,) but the revolver will “dual-hat” between .410 and .45LC, and sometimes that’s a better choice overall.

A good secondary purpose would be small game and / or light varmint at close range. As above, it’s easier to carry than a long-gun.

A good tertiary purpose would be anti-carjacking in areas where one is paranoid about over-penetration. This is a bigger concern if you live in a big city, and not so much for a small town or country. Then again, in such areas, carjacking is less of a concern.

The Judge would not fit in the role of skeet shooting, unless you’re insanely good and want a challenge, or are a dingbat, and like the idea of shooting skeet with a handgun.

The Judge is too big to conceal unless you are a big-and-tall person wearing the right clothing with the right holster. Even then, there are better choices.

For home-defense, there’s very little reason not to have an actual shotgun.

That said, don’t be too hard on The Judge. Educate the people who have Holywood ideas about guns and their capabilities.

 

Weapons

Two Tones

20 Comments

On WeTheArmed, I posted a picture and asked a simple question.  “Which one?”

The Top One, or the Bottom One?

In the thread, several guys liked the one on top, but overwhelmingly, people were digging the one on the bottom better. I like them both… At first I liked the top one as it has that classic “Custom” look that I dig… dark on top.  But the bottom one… it grew on me and I see why everyone liked it.  The lighter weight alloy frame, practical long wearing stainless… It’s certainly the smartest configuration.  It would be awesome… but I still like the top one… just for the looks of it.  See, growing up, all the custom guns (1911’s) were two tones, blued slides on stainless frames.   That’s just the look that’s stuck with me.

The question is, how to I get one like that?  Beretta doesn’t offer it and I don’t want to buy two.  I don’t know why I am jonesing for a 92… but I am.  Really, it’s the only 9mm, other than a Browning High Power that I want.  Er… those and a SIG P210… and a Colt Pocket Nine… and… and… and… I’m kind of an addict, aint I?

Weapons

Guns I hate.

16 Comments

As much as I love firearms… There are some guns I absolutely hate. No justification… I just hate them. People will of course jump to to defense of these… But I still hate them. The Howa Axiom. The stock is awkward and owners are always futsing with them. The rifles are heavier than they should be. And the stock fore end feels chinsy as hell. The Desert Eagle. “I just want to hold one.” Huge, heavy, ugly, and useless. The Taurus Judge. I hated them since I first saw them. I hate selling them to people who don’t know anything about guns and have the impression that the .410 is some monster slayer. The Henry Golden Boy. I don’t mind selling Golden Boys… I just hate selling them to guys who want to scope them up… No, you can’t drill and tap the soft brass receiver. You have to use a cheesy cantelever mount. The Browning BLR. I cant stand the BLR’s bolt. That gigantic phallus that comes at your eye when you cycle the action… It’s rude. The Remington 700 BDL. Really, who uses the iron sights? Why leave them on? And if you take them off, you leave the screw holes that you have to plug up… So all that nice polished blueing is scared and flawed. Just leave the bloody sights off to start with. Seriously. The Walther G22. The carry handle and rear sight are cheesy as hell, and useless. The gun feels as cheep as something from a box of cracker jacks, and is about as reliable as Joe Biden trying to play it straight. There… I said it. These are the guns I hate.

Weapons

Retextured Glock: Done

2 Comments

Sanding, grinding, filing, and then stippling… I reshaped and retextured the gripframe of my Glock.  Let me explain this from square one. I wanted to make my Glock 23 fit my hand better, and I wanted a new texture that would be grippy, yet not snag on my clothes like the RTF2 finish can sometimes do.

The first of the process was to identify just what I wanted to change to make it fit better.  These areas got attention with some very careful application of a rotory hand tool that is normally the bane of all would be weaponsmiths.  Then I used a hand file and some sandpaper to make it feel better in my hand.  This is where I have to warn those that would follow my example – I’m a Professional Ogre, so don’t try this at home unless you are prepared to deal with the consequences.  “Hello, Glock?  Yeah, I pooched my pistol.”

After the prep work, it was time to do the stippling.  I used a sharp pointed soldering iron that I used to use for repairing laptops back when I could tolerate doing such work.  I don’t do that anymore so don’t ask.  This soldering iron gets pretty damn hot, and probably a lot hotter than is necessary or a good idea for this purpose, because it could easily go straight through the frame.  “Hello, Glock?”  So I had to be extremely careful and use a light touch.   The resulting grip shape and texture accomplished my goal perfectly.  It might not be pretty, but it feels a lot better in my hand than the original.

If you want this work done to your Glock, but you don’t want to do it yourself… This can be arranged through Crusader Weaponry.  Send your gun to Joe, so he can do his magic to it… slick it up, trigger work, maybe even refinish into a new color… and if you want the grip frame retexured by the Ogre, I would be happy to do it at a very reasonable price.

Training, Weapons

The Glock 23 in School

14 Comments

The MAG-40 class is a subject unto its self.  And will be.  My thoughts at the moment are about the Glock 23 .40 caliber pistol that is on my hip right now, and was with me through the course.  Riding of course, in my Sharkhide rig from Adams Holsters, which was asked about all the time through the course.  Sharp looking rig, good rig, and it worked great through the class.

I will make this point as clear as I can.  The Crusader Modified Glock 23 RTF2 performed flawlessly. It shot point of aim, point of impact when I did my job right.  The gun was digesting some horrid ammunition.  I did what I had sworn that I would never do… I used steel cased ammo for the class.  500 rounds of Tulammo, 180 grains.  Let me tell you, this stuff is complete crap.  I could feel the differences in pressure from one shot to the next.  Some rounds felt like 10mm loads, others felt like they were damn near squibs. But it was cheap. 14 bucks a box, so I snagged it.  I am impressed with the Glock in that it shot all of that very well.  I had zero malfunctions of any sort.  Period.

I do believe that my groups could have been better with some better ammo, but I can’t make any excuses.  Just before the course, Gundoc gave my Glock a Trigger Job, which caused me some stumble at first – all the sudden I had a different trigger than I was used to!  But I quickly adapted to the new pull and I was well pleased with the result.  The same weight, but it was crisper and there is no over-travel.  Very nice.  Using this combination, I shot a 298 out of 300.  I’ll take that. I’ll happily take that.  I wanted 300.  I wanted it bad.  But the shots I dropped, high and left, were not the fault of the gun or the ammunition.  Those were my mistakes and I’ll own those.

I’ve taken other guns to other courses and sometimes I come away unhappy with the gun or pleased, depending on things.  I was less than satisfied with Beretta and CZ in some shoots… HK and SIG has pleased me… and now this Glock has pleased me a great deal.  I am very confident with this pistol and I am more and more impressed with it.

I think I’d like to change up the Warren Tacticals.  I like the straight 8 configuration, but I wish the front sight had a white ring around the tritium insert.  There was a couple instances where I lost the front sight post…. totally my fault, but I think some more visibility would have been a help.

Other pistols in the course I observed had some issues.  I observed a couple XD’s with light primer strikes, and one that had a trigger return spring that failed and the shooter, Gail Pepin, had to change to another weapon.  Kimber’s had some issues after the first day… one just didn’t want to run.  Others had failures to eject.  S&W M&P’s ran gun, only a couple failures to feed a couple times.  I saw no failures with any of the Glocks on the range.  Now, my Glock did give me some trouble with failing to lock back on an empty mag.  Reason being, Gundoc also gave me an extended slide release and my Ogreish thumb kept riding it.  This didn’t slow me down though and my mag changes were just fine.  It’s easy to count 6 Shots when you only load 6 rounds n the magazine every time.

The solid reputation for accuracy and reliability of Glock handguns is well earned.

If I was going to take the MAG-40 class again, I think I would bring a 4″ revolver.

 

Military

Two were sworn to defend.

29 Comments

Yet again, American Soldiers were killed by a lunatic gunman. This time, two of them in an IHOP.  Sidearms and fixed bladed knives should be PART OF THE UNIFORM for ALL SERVICEMEN.
Yes, it would require more training.  So what?  Add it to Basic Training to come right after Basic Rifle Marksmanship.  Expand the Hand to Hand training as well.  Give them an extra 2 weeks training during Boot Camp for this.  But if you can’t trust them to be Armed and Responsible, then they should be in the Service to begin with.

Part of the Uniform.  Always on them.  Always.