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The economics of ergs?
In the kerfuffle about the ergos of the ancient Browning Grand Puissance, I noticed once again that not everyone's hands are the same.
To me the GP fits like a glove, especially with the Spegel grips.
Yes, there's still hammer bite, but she shoots so damn sweet.
As long as I avoid Magtech, she's been as reliable as any Glock I've owned. I cannot bring myself to blame the gun for not liking a certain brand of ammo.
However, I can totally understand it not fitting someone else's hand.
I get a view of that when comparing Harvey's, Marv's and my M&P 9. We don't necessarily agree about what size backstrap to use.
I love my .38 Super Gov't Model, Harvey just thinks it's "heavy."
Harvey and FuzzyGeff really took to the old S&W Sigma. I liked my Glock 17.2 better.
Harvey sets her stock shorter than I do on her AR when the stock is adjustable.
Marv tends to prefer his optics mounted higher above the rail than I do.
It's a matter of preference and even if you hit the 99th percentile of users, there will still be outliers who don't fit.
The difference, today, is those outliers will hop on the internet and complain as loud as they can.
I owned a BHP a little over 40 years ago, and I found it to be the most comfortable double-stack I ever shot, before or since. But the thumb safety was too small and flat for me to manipulate reliably, the trigger sucked, the mag disconnector was a PITA, and it wouldn't feed the 115-grain JHPs that were in vogue back then. (Mine didn't hammer-bite me.) I solved all those problems by selling the gun. But I know a lot of people who love the BHP and would never get rid of theirs. That's how America works. If I don't like something but you do, you can hang onto it, even if you're obviously wrong. I hope you enjoy your BHP for a long time to come. (I'm giving the Springfield SA-35 a serious look, because it seems to have fixed all the things I didn't like about the OG.)
ReplyDeleteThe big paddle ambi-safety I have is much easier to work than the original teeny thing. Mine looks to be larger than what Springfield is offering on just one side of their gun too.
DeleteMy trigger is pretty darned good. I just have to make sure that the front of the magazine where the disconnect nubbin rubs is nice and smooth. I've won bowling pin shoots with it.
I'm not a fan of magazine disconnects. I've left it installed because I wanted an HP in the collection, warts and all.
The back-then 115gr JHP didn't feed in about half the world's 9mm back then. I am happy that the ammo makers didn't make everyone change their guns and fixed their bullet designs.
What I love about America is when YOU are obviously wrong I can take advantage of that and get a new pistol! Cue Team America Theme...
But I do not, and never will, carry the HP. It's a range toy, despite that I shoot it well and it's comfortable in my hand. It's also all steel and parkerized, which means a tendency to get rusty next to my humid body. I much prefer modern passivation technologies.
I forgot to add, if I could have found a 1911-style thumb safety at the time, I might very well have hung onto my BHP. That was the deal breaker; its other shortcomings could easily be worked around, especially after the ammo makers started making JHPs with the proper OAL.
DeleteThank you for responding to my comment. A large, 1911-style thumb safety would have been the bee's knees for my BHP. And the only other 9mm pistol I owned at the time, a Model 59, fed the 115-grain JHPs with no problems. The BHP has a lot going for it; I just didn't like those things about it. I still kinda have a thing for them; that's why I'm looking at the SA-35. I certainly can't bash a pistol that's been around killing Nazis and commies for almost 90 years now; it just wasn't for me. (And since it's your blog, I'll accept your fallacious assertion that I'm wrong without dissent. But if I ever start a blog of my own, watch out!)
ReplyDeleteThe four things that are most complained about with the HP are (in no particular order)
Delete1. The original, small-flat safety. The 2nd gen's ambi safety addressed that for the most part. Cylinder and Slide makes on very similar to the one I see on the SA-35.
2. The magazine disconnect. That's very simple to remove if you want it gone. I did on mine just to see, and it did improve the trigger a lot. I put it back because I wanted the warts for the collection.
3. Hammer bite. Several choices to fix the problem. Mine bites because of the warts decision.
4. Hard to replace the sights on the 2nd gen and earlier guns.
Bonus thing for a really old HP is the 1911 style extractor. But that only comes up if you break it because there aren't any spares around for anything reasonable.
Since we're talking about a subjective item, the "wrong" is also subjective.
I don't get the magic that so many others see in the CZ-75, for example. More guns for others, I says.
My only complaint with the HP was the trigger was like dragging steel pipe across a gravel driveway (that durn mag disconnect). Otherwise, the pistol is pure ergo perfection. and it was crazy expensive when I looked at one back in the day.
Deleteso I got a Cz-75 instead. Why?
1. Price. For the price of one HP (or a classic P series sig), I could get two CZs at the time. Are HPs and SIGs really twice the pistol as a CZ?
2. Ergos. the CZ is close enough in the ergo department compared to a HP and leagues ahead of all the other pistols out there. Oh, and no hammer bite.
3 .Accurate. It's VERY accurate. Accuracy is fun. Inaccurate pistols are not fun.
3. The ability to carry hammer down (and the safety can't engage with hammer down which is ideal for my needs). You can also rock your 1911 vibe and carry or cocked&locked (not my bag, but you got choices)
4. The safety is in the right place (I'm looking at your Beretta 92)
5.Reliable.
But if CZ never existed, the classic P series Sig ...or Beretta 92 with frame mounted safety (or 92g )are very solid options.
-jking
jking: (and one of the reasons I require a signature is revealed)
DeleteCZ-75 is definitely a viable choice! It is, after all, like the second or third wonder-nine ever developed.
The HP was always going to be expensive in a world where labor is getting ever more expensive. FN moved production to Portugal from Belgium because of it.
SIG has gone through iterations over the amount of labor it takes to make guns too. FN is... special.
The good news for the Beretta 92 fan who wants a frame mounted safety is that Taurus' clone is a clone of that model.