One Of Us One Of Us

Today we welcome Marv into the cult club of double-stack .45 ACP goodness.   Also into the Cult of Gaston.

He's obtained an ex-cop Glock 21.3SF.  (That's model 21, Gen 3, slim-frame).

Glock Talk's serial number project has not yet reached his prefix, so we're not sure exactly when it was made.  Guessing 2011 from the number on the trigger bar.

The trigger breaks with a crisp 7.5 lb; but the take up is atrociously gritty.

The gritty could be from it having never been cleaned in the approximately 15 years it has been in service.

From the pattern of scratches and wear, it was worn by a right handed officer.

It's ever so much lighter than my Gen 2 and the "slim" part of the frame is in the palm.  We didn't know that.

I expect we're going to be making a range report before too long.

Glock Magazine Quick-Disassembly Tool

After struggling with the Otis tool, I wondered if there was a better way.

Real-Avid must have as well!

It works so much better!

You put the button on the post sticking out horizontally:

Then you push down against the bar, that levers the base off the little tabs.

Then you put the hole in the baseplate over the vertical post and slide the body back:

It drops the baseplate and locking plate into the little tray and you just lift the body up and the spring remains controlled.

You can reverse that last step to reassemble them!

Works with Glock 21 magazines too!

This is so much better than the Otis one, I highly recommend!

The underside is also a magazine unloader.

The JMB Collection

Braved the cold to show off the "Touched by JMB" collection.

L->R

Colt 1908 Pocket Hammerless (.380 ACP)

Colt 1908 Vest Pocket (.25 ACP)

FN 1905 Vest Pocket (.25ACP)

Colt Challenger (.22 LR)

Ithaca M1911A1 (.45 ACP)

Colt Gov't Model (.38 Super)

FN Hi-Power (9x19mm Parabellum)

They Come And Go

I once had three .45 ACP handguns...

Not anymore!  I sold the M&P 45C.

Now I just have, uh, three .45 ACP handguns.

Something's off about my math...

I Don't Need To GET One

An anonymous commenter, remember we don't allow that here, suggested I get me a Glock 21 and convert it to 10mm.

The short answer is: I don't wanna.

If I'm going to have a 10mm gun, I want a complete one and not a pile of parts I need to swap back and forth.  It's the same reason I don't have a .22 conversion for the AR's or 1911's.

An additional wrinkle is my Glock is from the very first batch made.  Not sure of the parts compatibility with the, more common 3rd gen guns.

Flashing Back

Because I am resetting my ancient 5th Gen 80gb iPod in the hopes that it gets full function back in The Beast I am posting from the Mac Pro!

But the flashback is about Glocks and which one is best...

Personally, I've liked Gen2 best, but my single Gen5 example has been excellent.

WAAAAAY back in 1989 I owned a Gen1, which I had to sell because Army.

Then I got another Gen1 when I got back to The World in 1990 and stupidly traded it for something I wanted more at the time.

The Gen2 I got to replace it went to Aunt The Bat and she still has it.

I've managed to hang onto the Model 21 (which despite being the first iteration of the 21, is still a Gen2) I got new the first time I saw one for sale.

I got another 17.2 (all the cool kids put the generation after a decimal place, and my Mom says I'm cool!) that I like a lot and didn't add another Glock to the safe until I tested out the Blue Label for veterans discount and got a Model 45 (which despite being the first iteration of the 45, is still a Gen5).

I skipped all things Gen3 and Gen4 on purpose.  I never got along with the finger grooves.

Despite limiting myself to just .45 ACP and 9x19mm, I didn't actively avoid other calibers, I just didn't need a gun in them.  Especially once the number of 9mm guns ballooned around here.

I've occasionally thought I should have a .40 S&W or a 10mm to round out the pack.

Occasionally...

He's Right

Willard noticed that the Luger P.08 is slightly bigger in every dimension than the M1911A1.

The Luger looks so much slimmer in profile you don't notice it by itself.

Magazine Problem

That 1947 Colt we was shootin' the other day?

The OG style mags that came with the gun ran great.

The 8-shot, stainless, Nighthawk brand mag...

Not so much.

The last round would fail to eject and the slide would munch the spent case about half the time.

I don't think that's acceptable for a $40 magazine.

Gone Shootin'

The daughter of a friend is into guns in a big way.

She's just learning, but has the eager support of us all.

Especially her grandpa.

Sold her this fine, 1947 made, 1911 he's owned for... as long as anyone can remember.

It was nearly bound up from old, solidified lubricants.

So I gave it a detail strip.

It's been a while since I'd had a 1911 apart that far and I, of course, got the sear spring in all wrong.

I did that the very first time I detail stripped one in the Army too, and I had supervision for that!

I got it unfucked, but it's frustrating when you do that with both the sear and disconnect springs UNDER the parts they're supposed to be on top of.

I still don't know how I did it, but...

Proof I got it back together properly.

Sproing

I've felt that the recoil spring on the P220 was getting weak for a while.

The slide was getting sluggish after just a few magazines.

Since SIG's are known for consuming such springs, I ordered a replacement 18 lb. spring.

Wolff calls it a reduced power spring, but I found that the stock spring could be 15 lb. or 24 lb. from the factory.  With older German guns coming with the 15.

The new spring is noticeably longer than the older one.

The slide feels snappier with the new spring installed.

Included in the kit was this, smaller, spring.

What could this be for?  I wondered.

Well, reading the instructions informed me that it's a firing pin spring.

I'd never taken the firing pin block out before, so this was a fun new thing!

Simple and easy and I didn't even have to hit YouTube to figure it out.

Huzzah!

Sanity Prevailed

Every once and a while, I wonder about a S&W 4506.

Marsellus Wallace toted one in Pulp Fiction.

Bigger and heavier than the P220 I already own.

Prices have come down a bit, but not so far that I'm even tempted.

I suppose if I skipped non-essential things like food and shelter I could have one paid for in a few months.

I've Some Passing Familiarity

 

I own and have owned a "couple" plastic polymer framed, striker-fired pistols over the years.

They are, at the end of the day, amazingly similar.

Yet can be entirely different.

The differences are polarizing and people quickly fall into camps.

Of the above pictured, the Glock 21 is the one I shoot best.  I've also owned it longer than any other gun I still own.  It's a WIDE gun, so it doesn't get carried... anymore.

None have been unreliable for me.  I shoot all of them acceptably well.

The Sheild Plus gets carried most because of its size.

I like shooting the M&P 2.0 9 Compact best, and it gets carried when I can wear enough clothes.

The rest?  Because I am a curious and acquisitive monkey.

Some nostalgia too, I think I have owned almost as many individual Glock 17's as there are guns in that picture, so I have to have one example to actually keep this time. 

Because there's so little to distinguish between them, I recommend to my friends that ask they get the gun they like shooting the most.

One even went with an FNS-9!  Which, I have to admit, shot very nice.

My 1911 Likes And Dislikes

 

I've been issued a couple.

I've owned a few.

They fit my hand well and I shoot them well.

I've, thankfully, had no problems with any I've owned.

My last issue gun kept shedding its front sight because the unit armorer didn't know how to stake a new one in.  I don't know either, but it's not my job.

I like how they are slim.

I dislike that they are heavy.

I think that I shoot them well enough that their lower capacity compared to the soulless plastic that has supplanted it doesn't matter.  But I prefer more chances to hit the target afforded by the newer designs.

I must have the correct sized meat hooks that the grip safety never gave me a bit of trouble.

1911's have soul.  As does an HP-35.

There's even soul in a metal framed Smith auto, like the 59.

I like the storied history of the thing and how it remains in production despite the advances in technology and the naysayers.

I like how you can make it completely yours from a list of parts that's at least as big as what you can do with an AR, even if it lacks the Lego-like simplicity and ease of installation.

Heresy

Dare I express heresy and say that I prefer the P220 over the 1911?

I feel dirty just thinking it.

The more I take it to the range, the more I'm diggin' it.

It doesn't hurt that it groups pretty well for me too.  I'm nearly at GURPS RoF 2 with it!

Shared target with Harvey the smaller holes are hers.

It's a bit odd to be reloading at seven shots after putting in so much 9mm practice.

Way back when I got it, it had those pretty wooden stocks on it.  They felt really good while coon-fingering it, but the narrower plastic stocks feel much better shooting.

Some things you can't learn on dry land; or some other metaphor.

The Brand I Tinker With

One thing I've done with both of my SIG's is to replace the grips.

On the P320 it was simple.

On the P220 it took a bit more doing.  Details here, here and here.

Just Like Except

Caught a video about a "1911 that takes P320 magazines."

I went in thinking, "NEAT!" because I kinda think that double stack 1911's are cool.

And, despite the cool, magazines are the frustrating part.

By the time I was done, the list of things they'd changed from a 1911 to what they were showing told me...

This isn't even close to being a 1911 anymore.

Not necessarily bad, but not what they're billing it to be.

The barrel lock up is Hi-Power.

The grip safety is gone...

A 1911 slide (with modifications) will go on...

Yeah, it's its own thing.

Round 3!

The CMP has announced a third period of submission of packets to get yourself a genuine NSN 1005-00-726-5655 Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic: M1911A1! 

Link for the instructions.

If you already have a CMP 1911, you are ineligible for this round. 

Good luck!

Resurrected

Unfortunately, I had to cut off the conversation just as Willard was warming to his argument... We're often in agreement about a point in a way that doesn't SEEM like we agree.

But I have theorized that the three enemy combatants at The Battle of the BTR-152 whom were shot with the, now, obsolete and useless Colt Commander and Winchester Silver-Tip ammo are now alive.

What with all this new fangled, better, guns and ammo available now, anyone killed with something so old and out of fashion must surely be rendered alive again because all such gauche guns could not possibly have ever been effective.

Right?

I am sure that snarkily calling .45 ACP "forty-five AARP" scores points with the Instructorati, but it doesn't erase decades of effective stops.

And 9x19mm Parabellum ain't no spring fucking chicken neither.  It's OLDER than .45 ACP by three years!

What's happened in recent years is bullet design has allowed 9mm to perform as well as .45 did; but in smaller, lighter guns that hold more bullets and are easier to shoot.

Perform as well.

That means .45 will still get the job done, you'll just have fewer chances to hit and your gun will be bigger and heavier and you're going to have to invest more time into learning to shoot it well.

I happen to like both rounds and own several guns in each caliber.

It should be noted that those same advances in bullet design don't apply to .45 ACP because of the much lower velocities, even in light +P loads.  Those same advances might explain why 10mm ACP is making a bit of a comeback, you can't accuse that round of being low velocity in most loads.

It should also be remembered that there's not a lot of difference between suitable pistol rounds at all.

We've really been arguing around the margins for a long while.

Do You Need A Clone Of An M1911A1?

Do you lack the kilobuck pricing that normally comes with M1911A1 clones?

Worry no more (while supplies last).

For $320 I'm damn tempted, to be honest.

A temptation that's tempered by the knowledge that we're going to have hospital bills coming soon.

The Great .45 ACP Comparison Of 2022

We started off with the Kahr CT45 then changed to a Colt Mk.IV Series 80.

My shots are on the left, Marv's on the right.  Ammo selection was random brand 230gr FMJ.  I was trying to shoot about as fast as I could get the sights on, Marv reports he was being very careful with the first two or three, but then speeding up as he went through the magazine.

I am so rusty.  It's clear that I am not fully recovered from my injuries and am also out of practice.  The only cure is to get to the range more often.

The CT45 is just; strange.  It's like a double action but still a single...  The LONG trigger pull means extra focus on the sights while you're pulling, and the gun wants to nose down while you're doing it.  Marv was better at correcting this tendency than I was.

Next we shot the Star Model PD and my Ithaca/Remington-Rand M1911A1.

The shooting low thing appears to be my glasses tricking me about getting the front sight in line with the rear.

Next is a S&W M&P 45C and a SIG-Sauer P220.

I can see the rust is starting to fall off a bit now.  I'm definitely liking the SIG better as time goes on.  After the harshness of the PD and Kahr, it was very soft shooting.

Now we get a 2nd Gen Glock 21 and a CZ Cz97B.

The Glock was remembering an old friend.  I've put a ton of rounds through that pipe.  Surprising was the CZ.  Soft shooting, well mannered and accurate.

Finally, not even a pistol, the mighty S&W 625-3 Model of 1989!

If ever there was a revolver that didn't fit me as it is, it's this one.  With practice, I bet I could greatly improve this group.  This gun breaks funny.  I can't really put my finger on it, even Marv commented that it wasn't breaking where he expected.

What did we learn?

We learned that even average shooters, such our ourselves, can get minute of bad-guy at 7 yards with virtually any .45 ACP gun we can readily lay our hands on.

We shoot the bigger guns better than the smaller ones.

Neither of us is very good double action.