Tag Archives: Pistols

Weapons

SIG’s 1911 .22

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My buddy Fenris purchased a SIG 1911 in .22.  It’s not really made by SIG like their other 1911 pistols, but it’s made by GSG for them.  The other GSG’s are imported by ATI and are otherwise identical to the SIG, save for Grips and other Markings.

Well, Fenris and I took it out for the first time and we had a mixed box of random bulk rimfire rounds.  We fired 250 rounds through it. The accuracy was remarkable and the reliability was flawless.  Impressive for any rimfire…

Now SIG has a new version…  One I like a bit more.

Oh baby… That’s a good looking .22 Rimfire pistol right there!  Yes, t really is green… OD Green with simple walnut wood grips.

Weapons

Kahr vs Solo

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Kimber’s new little Solo sub-compact is developing into quite the nice little carry package. While the main competitor, the Kahr sub-compacts are just not measuring up anymore.
The best selling Kahrs are the CW series guns. These have a cast slide, polymer frame, and come with just one magazine… but they are only 400 bucks. The nicer forged steel P series guns are right up there in Kimber Solo price territory, but they do come with an extra mag. They are good little guns and I am quite fond of them… but the ones people buy are the CW series and we’ve had some issues with them lately. The new ones from the factory are real notchy, sticky, and sharp. Very unpleasant guns to hold and operate. They are hard to pull the slide back and even more difficult to drop the slide again… the fit an finish look fine on the outside, but the way they work… just very poorly. These CW guns are actually hurting the Kahr brand. Had to take a return on one this week on one I sold, and that’s just not cool. A CW45. Those folks are never going to look at buying another Kahr for the rest of their lives. And I can’t blame them.  At that point you can’t try to talk them into the upper end Kahr pistol – because they look damn near the same.  They just got turned off one to spend more on another that looks the same?  Doesn’t work.
Then you pick up that Kimber solo. Whole other world. It’s like going from a Flinstones Kahr Car, sorry… to a Mercedes Benz.  Smooth action like melted chocolate.  None of the Kahrs can come close to that feeling.  They could – but they don’t.  Kahr persists in their sharp edged slide lock levers and sharp frames textures.  It’s like you reward yourself with buying a Solo, and punish yourself with a Kahr… and I have to say that I hate saying that.  Because I really do like Kahr! They are accurate, reliable, with great triggers… but they feel sharp and rough and are a hard sell.

Kahr needs to revamp their lines.  New cosmetic lines, a more agreeable texture on the grips.  The actions need to feel smooth and when someone – specifically women – try to press the slide release lever, that slide needs to drop with little effort instead of making their thumbs bleed.   Round off the sharp corners on everything.  Make it something you want to hold on to.    You do that… simple reworking of existing stuff without any reengineering… then Kahr would dominate the CCW market and we could price those at 499 instead of 399. The upper end P-series… would be redundant.    Kahr could dominate… they seriously could.

Weapons

Retextured Glock: Done

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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.

 

Weapons

Gun Lust of the Day: SIG P220 Compact SAS

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Full of Want

The SIG P220 Compact SAS.   It’s all I want for Christmas… just this…

In all seriousness, I’ve always wanted a compact P220 and have never had one.  My respect for the P220 goes so far that I could almost forgo the companionship of 1911’s, in favor of the P220’s.  I’ve had several full sized SIG P220’s.  One was a duty weapon for me in Richmond, VA.  Fantastic gun.  However back then, compacts were just not around.   If you wanted one and were flush with coin, there were a couple top level gunsmiths that could do a chop job and make you one.  It was the stuff of dreams.  Then there was the P245, a factory cut down.  I don’t know the difference between the P245 and the P220 Compact, if there is any.  But it’s still the gun I’ve always wanted and never had.   Looking back at the Custom versions from gunsmiths… they featured melting and trigger work and all that.   One I saw was about 2500 bucks into the work.  And now here is a Compact, Melted/Dehorned, with an even better trigger… from the factory.

Why do I not already have one already?

Weapons

Getting a 1911 ready for Duty

4 Comments

I had a message about getting a Springfield 1911 ready for duty use.   The fellow was concerned about having to replace parts, which is a common misconception.  You only have to replace a part if it breaks, and you don’t know if a part is going to.  Preemptive replacing of all the small bits when there is no reason to is wasteful.  A Springfield is a great gun for the basis of a solid duty gun.   The gun is pretty dang good out of the box and I wouldn’t say that it needed much.  But it does need some work.

First, if the gun has it, I’d get rid of the full length guide rod and put in a regular short GI type guide rod and spring cap.  The FLGR adds in more friction, more spots for binding and more friction while it unnecessarily complicates things for no tangible benefit.  Get rid of it.

The rails need to be smoothed out.  Frame and Slide.  These need to be polished.  You can do this yourself with some polishing compound and some elbow grease.  Under the slide, where the hammer drags across it… that needs to be polished as well.  Don’t get too carried away, just make sure it’s smooth.  Sometimes this area isn’t and that’s adding drag where you don’t want it.   I’ve seen some 1911’s where you could pull the slide back a bit and the hammer would allow the slide to stick there.  Let’s take that sticky spot away.

I’d replace the factory Springs with a Wolff spring that’s 2 pounds heavier.  Duty ammo is a touch hotter, so that extra grunt is going to help buffer slide battering, but more importantly the extra push in the slide is going to help chamber a round that might not otherwise want to feed all the way in.  The most common jam in my pistol classes with 1911’s when they get hot and dirty is a failure to feed.   Usually the slide stops about a quarter inch short of home and a tap with the palm of the hand to the back of the slide usually does the trick.  A spring that is a little stronger reduces that type of jam.  Some guys think that they have to ream out the chamber and throat… when really all they need is a smoother action and a stronger spring.   Now, sometimes you do need to have a chamber and throat job.  But most of the time, you don’t.  And most of the time those guys that think they do are running Handloads and blame the gun.  Sure “Factory” runs fine, but with your absolutely flawless handloads – must be something wrong with the gun… they made the chamber too tight.  Uh huh.

Run Factory Ammunition.

Lubrication is critical.  This is why Crusader made Slipstream Weapon Lubricant.   Clean your 1911 with MPRO-7 Cleaner completely.  Get some Slipstream and soak that 1911 in it… apply it generously to all the moving parts and friction bearing surfaces and work that in.  Cycle it by hand a hundred times.  Then strip it, do it again.   Now, get out to the range and go shoot it.  A lot.  Then clean it and Slipstream it again.   The Nano Lube that makes Slipstream black… those particles… will get into the metal, imbed in the surface and will seriously slick that gun up.  This is beyond what your favorite oil can do.  I’ve a Springer GI – nothing fancy.  But it’s slicker than a Nighthawk Custom and it’s never jammed on me… Since I Slipstreamed it.   500 rounds in a single day?  No problem.  No failures.

Smooth, Simple, Slick, and Strong… that’s what the 1911 needs to run flawlessly.

That and Factory ammo.   Speaking off ammo.  We all know the 1911 was designed to run Ball Ammo.  Modern Hollowpoints sometimes don’t run in 1911 without a little work.  Typically those rounds being 230 grains.  I’ve seen many times, and once even in my own Springfield… where a 230 grain JHP round failed to feed.  But the same load using a 185 grain ran flawlessly.  These were Hydrashocks in my gun, but I’ve seen the same thing with others JHP’s.  Going down to 200 or 185’s generally let finicky 1911’s run perfectly.  I happen to prefer Medium to Light bullets for caliber in handguns.  In my experience most guns seem to shoot better than using that rather than heavy for caliber loads, such as 230’s in .45 or 180’s for .40.   But that’s just me.

Weapons

I may have been wrong. Maybe.

9 Comments

At SHOT Show took a look at the brand new and shiny Kimber Solo 9mm.  At for some reason that I can’t put my finger on… I disliked it.  No, let me be clear.  I hated it.  I wouldn’t have one.  Even if it was gifted to me, I’d sell to some unfortunate nitwit who would think it was nifty and then I’d go buy something I liked more and could get more use out of… like blister cream or 8 Track tapes.

And now here it is, six months later.  To be honest, it’s grown on me.  I no longer hate it.  For some reason I can’t put my finger on… I kinda like it, and I wouldn’t mind having it.  But I’d still never actually buy it.

It’s… hmm… I’m searching for the right word for it… “Nice”.  It’s a nice little gun.   And perhaps that’s its problem from the start.  You see, a universally accepted good gun like a 1911 Commander .45 is great looking gun… beautiful, in the eyes of fellows like me.   At the same time it feels just gorgeous in the hand.  It fits.   It also looks like what a Weapon should look like… it looks like it’s going to destroy something, it just hasn’t decided who yet.  It has a form that’s based on it’s function and that function is to put large bullets through bad guys.

And this is where the Kimber Solo Nine Millimeter fails.  Even in the name, just say the name a few times out loud… it even just sounds “Nice”.  Like something Julie Andrews might have in her purse… it’s just well mannered and nice.  Or like something you might spread on a piece of toast.  It’s nice… Pleasant, without being fun or too interesting.   Like having a Brunch with your Grandmother… nice…  And that’s what put me off of the Solo.  It is completely lacking in Sex and Violence.

Julie Andrews approves of the Kimber Solo.

Now, if Kimber was to scale the Solo up… to say .45… then all the sudden it would become very interesting.  Or even something slightly different, like .357 SIG.  But just a 9mm?  Sure, it works… perfectly serviceable.  Certainly better than a .380… it’s nice.   But I won’t buy Nice.  Not for the price.  The thing is retailing for about $630 and for that much salad you have a world of other options that are less “nice” with more Sex and Violence.

Can you imagine the Solo in .357 SIG?  Kind of like a young Julie Andrews playing a lead role in a remake of Bound.  Proper, but she’s a dirty dirty girl behind closed doors.

Alternatives would be perhaps a Kahr MK9, or if you can find one, a Colt Pocket 9 – which I am still wanting one day.  A Springfield EMP9 would also be pretty cool.  But the Solo 9?  It just leaves me feeling less than satisfied.

I think I just might be the first gun writer that has compared a handgun to the star of Sound of Music… Well, at least not to Captain Von Trapp.

Weapons

Respecting Kimber

6 Comments

I’ve had some emails where people think that I am disrespecting Kimber.  Actually I feel that Kimber has disrespected the American Gun Culture.  Taking us for granted.

Personally I have great respect for Kimber.  They changed the 1911 Industry as a whole.  Before Kimber, it was common to buy a new Colt or other 1911… and take it straight to a gunsmith so that they could make the gun simply run.  Kimber comes out with the gun they called the “Custom”.  And it worked right out of the box.  They sold so well, that the other 1911 makers had to step up their games or they were out.  It really kicked Colt in the Sweets hard.

I’m critical of Kimber because in my opinion they have let themselves down.. accepting lower standards and just expecting customers to just take it because they are Kimber and they know better.  Well, that’s just not acceptable.  Kimber needs to get back to building guns instead of making pretty.  The need to take seriously the gun making responsibility.  Guns are for Competition, for Law Enforcement, for Self Defense… These guns can Save Lives.  They should take seriously a sacred responsibility to build guns right.